by A. R. Perry
“Hey.” She nudges me as my boots squish into the mushy grass. The weather has been warmer, melting the layer of snow and leaving everything wet. But I guess that’s why man made cement and the reason I’m headed toward the blacktop that is used to torture us during PE.
“What’s up?” I tuck my phone into my pocket and shoot her a warning glare. She tried to talk about everything on Tuesday. It didn’t go well. She’s kept her distance since then.
“Are you working tonight?”
I snort. “I work every Friday. Right next to you.”
“Just checking. You called off Monday, so I wasn’t sure.”
“I’m working.” Friday nights are either so busy we can barely breathe or dead enough to make time tick by at a snail’s pace.
“So…” She clears her throat and flicks her long ponytail over her shoulder almost nailing me in the eye. “Have you spoken to—”
“I’m gonna stop you right there.” I hold up a hand between us. “I don’t want to talk about it. I don’t want to hear his name. What I want is to enjoy a peaceful week.” I bite my lip as my heart rate skyrockets the same way it does every single time I think about Braden. “I want to pretend it didn’t happen.”
Zari’s face is set in the same familiar look of disapproval she wears when I curse or act in my normal prickly fashion. “But it happened. And I think you should listen to his side.”
I take a step back and shake my head. She did not just say that. Why the hell would I hear his side? He didn’t even give me the same courtesy.
Then it hits me. Of course she’s standing by him. He’s one of them. The popular kids. I mean, for crying out loud, Michelle proudly admitted to vandalizing my locker on Twitter according to Devon and all anyone did was congratulate her on a prank well-done.
“I don’t want to hear his side,” I growl through clenched teeth. “What about it is defensible? How he dumped me at work without giving me the courtesy of explaining my side? Or how about him making out with his ex and my current tormenter. Oooh. How about how he beat Jesse into a pulp at school because he thinks Jesse stole his new toy.” I run an agitated hand down my braid. “None of that is defensible. None of it warrants sympathy or understanding.”
Zari nods but her expression doesn’t change. “I get it. But I still think you should talk to him. You might feel different if you hea—”
“I. Do. Not. Want. To. Talk. To. Him.” I punctuate each of my words with a step backward until there is enough space between us that I have to yell.
Zari shakes her head. “I think you’re making a mistake.”
I turn away and leave her standing in the soggy grass. She had on a nice pair of ankle boots today. I hope they get ruined.
She doesn’t follow me but I knew she wouldn’t. Not when I’m stuck with her all night. Calling off sounds amazing, but with Christmas coming at us faster than paychecks, I can’t afford to lose money. Hopefully it will be crazy busy and it will leave us no time for idle chitchat.
We’re not busy. In fact, this is the slowest night I’ve ever seen.
Why does the universe hate me?
For the first two hours, I’ve done everything imaginable to avoid Zari including volunteering to shovel and salt the front. Most of the time we have to draw straws to determine who will bite that bullet.
I shake the snow off my jacket and survey the back of the store where I’ve cleaned every surface including a mocha stain that has been on the wall over the sink for the past four months.
Right as I’m tying my apron, Zari rounds the corner, blocking my escape. Well, unless I run outside, which sounds terrible since I still can’t feel my toes.
“Hey. Melody had to run to the store for napkins. I guess we ran out, and the delivery doesn’t come until Monday.”
“I just restocked them and we had half a box.”
Zari shrugs, her eyes focusing on anything but my face. I squint mine in response. I’ve never seen her act so shifty. She can’t even stand still, for crying out loud.
“There was half a box right here.” I shoulder past her and point to the rack where I placed the box a few minutes before I went outside. It’s gone.
I duck down and scan the other boxes, glancing at several sizes of paper cups and packets of different sugars before standing.
“I swear it was right here.”
Zari shrugs again and thumbs toward the front. “I could use help out front. I took care of a few customers, but there’s someone here requesting some strange drink. Figured you would know how to make it.”
The only strange drink I know how to make that Zari can never get right is mine, but I have a feeling that’s just because she can’t stand the thought of creating something with that much caffeine.
I walk out first with Zari uncomfortably close to my back. From the looks of it, the customer gave up and left. I scan the rest of the store only to stop dead in my tracks, forcing Zari to run into me when I spot a person by the door.
No. Not just any person. Braden is leaning against the wall, his face downcast and his full bottom lip rolling between his teeth.
I try to turn and flee, but Zari’s fingers dig into my shoulders and she holds me in place allowing Braden the opportunity to notice me.
“Stella.” My name is spoken like a sigh and even from here I can see his shoulders relax.
But mine haven’t. It feels like someone shoved a metal rod down the length of my spine. I backpedal into Zari, but she shoves me forward with a small laugh blowing the hairs off the back of my neck.
I never pegged her for conniving, but damn, she surprised me. She even got Melody out of the store.
“Stella, I—” I hold up my hand and the rest of whatever Braden was going to say dies on his lips.
“I need…” I glance around the room. What do I need? More oxygen? Something to lean against? A new friend who won’t trick me into talking to the boy to fractured my heart.
“Why don’t you sit down?” Zari leads me to the table closest to the counter and I can’t help but laugh at the irony. This is right where Braden dumped Michelle all those months ago.
I sit down and run a clammy hand over my forehead. Braden pauses looking about as uncomfortable as me. It’s not until Zari announces that she’s going to the back and will keep an eye out for customers on the monitor that he closes the distance in a few stiff steps.
“What do you want?” I ask as he sits.
“I need to explain.”
“How you’re an ass?”
He laughs but there is no humor in it. “Well. Yeah.” His fingers tap a familiar rhythm on the tabletop, matching the frantic beat of my heart and it seems as if he’s waiting for my okay to continue.
If it will get me out of this situation sooner… “So explain.”
He pauses for a few seconds before sighing. “Well, for starters I am an ass.”
“Agreed.”
“I should have talked to you first before—”
“Dumping me?”
He reaches over and snags one of my hands, pulling it to the center of the table where he intertwines our fingers. The urge to pull away is almost as strong as the comforting sensation of his body heat as it soaks into my not quite thawed skin.
“Listen, I’m not saying how I went about it was right, but all the proof is stacked against you.”
This time I pull away letting his hand slap into the tabletop after the sudden movement. “Stacked or not, you could have asked me!”
“I could have but after Michelle showed me those text messages and pictures, I couldn’t even look at you. I hadn’t planned on saying anything until I calmed down but then I ran into you here. I lost it.”
“So then you made out with your ex. Nice way to recover.”
His eyebrows scrunch together and he tilts his head to the side. “What?”
And he wants me to be honest. “I saw the video so no need to lie.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about. The last time
I talked to Michelle was here when we ran into each other and there was no making out.”
“I saw. The. Video. If you wanted to keep it a secret, you should have told your girlfriend to keep it off Instagram.” I emphasize the word girlfriend with as much disgust in my tone as possible.
Braden leans forward, lowering his voice. “She’s not my girlfriend. She’s not my anything. Not after the crap she pulled.”
“Then you shouldn’t have stuck your tongue down her throat!” I throw my hands in the air and stand. “Are we done here?”
He stands too, pivoting in front of me. “No. What are you talking about?”
“Pull out your phone and look.”
“I deleted my Instagram account after that picture she posted of us.”
“Well I deleted mine after the video.”
The door to the back cracks open and Zari’s hand appears holding a phone. Great. So she’s eavesdropping. Braden grabs it without another word and the room fills with the same rap music. I cringe as the video plays in my head in crystal clear HD.
After a few minutes Braden laughs and continues to laugh until his eyes water and he’s leaning forward, clutching the phone as the video starts over.
“What’s so funny?” I snap.
“This.” He holds up the phone as if it’s something obvious. “This is an old video. Really old. One of the first parties I went to after moving here. Michelle and I were dared to make out and I guess someone caught it on camera.”
“I…” I snap my mouth shut. It still doesn’t change how he treated me. I cross my arms over my chest and lean against the counter. “Okay, great. You didn’t make out with your ex. You still dumped me at work.”
“You still made out with my best friend.”
“Yeah. Like two years ago! I didn’t know you, and Jesse wasn’t your best friend. I should have told you, but I knew how you would react especially after telling me you wouldn’t date a girl that hooked up with Jesse.”
“Two years ago? You’re really trying to pass this off as a past fling because I’ve seen the photos.” He mimics my posture, leaning against the wall. “Now who’s lying?”
“You mean the pictures of me and Jesse in bed? The ones he used to destroy my reputation freshman year? I can’t believe he kept them, but I guess he’s always been a creep.”
“You in bed? No, I’m talking about you making out with Jesse right by the café door.”
“I—” The bell above the door jingles and I snap straight up, giving the older man a puny smile. “Be right with you, sir.”
Zari zips out of the back and greets him at the counter with a lot more enthusiasm than I could muster. I turn back to Braden, who’s frowning.
“Listen, I have to work to do. You said your peace. We’re over. Can we move on now?” Please let this torture be over because my heart is vehemently disagreeing with letting him go.
“Stella—”
“What? Be right there, Zari.” Both of them shoot me a weird look because she definitely didn’t say anything, but that doesn’t stop me from sliding behind the counter and grabbing the man’s cup to make his order.
Braden stands there a few moments, staring at me before heading for the door. I watch his retreating back and try to calm my nerves.
So he didn’t hook up with Michelle. He still dumped me because of rumors and alleged pictures and never once came to me. Even today, he came to speak his peace but not to hear mine.
Like salt in a freaking wound, he had to come back to my work and make sure I felt all the damn effects of Heartbreak Café.
I guess I should be careful what I wish for. I did after all wish he showed some kind of emotion when he dumped me. And the universe delivered.
By the time my shift ends I’m emotionally and physically drained. After Braden left, we got slammed all the way until closing. Apparently, college kids need a caffeine fix before partying.
I step off the bus and tuck my face into my scarf, breathing in stale air to help keep me from coughing. My mom texted that she has to close, so it’s just me and Netflix tonight.
Like always, Mom left the porch light on for me. Because of that light, I catch the figure slumped against the steps, which gives me time to pull out the can of pepper spray Mom got me a couple weeks ago after seeing some report about child abductions.
Clutching the can in a white-knuckled grip and my phone in the other with 911 ready to call, I walk up the path to my door. The sound of my footsteps alerts whoever the hell it is and their head snaps up to meet my suspicious gaze.
I simultaneously growl and sigh, making the weirdest noise possible. Braden’s lips twitch but never quite rise enough to smile.
“What are you doing here?” I ask, exchanging the pepper spray for my keys. Keys. I should have chosen those. So maybe my mom’s lectures didn’t sink in.
“Wanted to finish our conversation.”
“Well I don’t.” As he rises I shoulder past him. What I want to do is slam the door in his face. But he ruins that idea when he reads my thoughts and sticks his boot into the door.
“Stella.”
“Braden,” I mock and kick at his shoe.
“Let me in.”
“No thanks. I said everything there is to say.”
“Well I have more. A lot more. And a lot more apologies.”
This causes me to stop pushing on the door. I peek out and meet his sad gaze. Damn those stupid eyes of his. They have a power over me. I sigh and open the door all the way, stepping to the side so he can enter.
He shoves his hands into his pockets and rocks back on his heels, surveying the dark living room. The way his eyes shift from the couch to my face has me wondering if he’s thinking about the times we spent there. I know I have for the past week, which is why I remained in my room. The one place in this house he hasn’t tainted.
I kick off my shoes and drop my bag, wanting to get this over with. “So, you said you have apologizing to do?”
“I said I have a lot of apologizing to do.” He follows me into the living room, dropping into the chair as I flick on the light.
“So?” I curl up on the couch, tucking my feet under me, needing the distance even though we are nowhere near each other.
“I went to talk to Michelle after I left the café.”
“Oh yeah?” Is it possible to make someone’s head explode from hating them enough?
“I asked about those photos she wanted Jesse to show me on Monday.”
“And did you see them?”
He nods, his eyes never leaving mine. “He passed those around?”
My laugh is bitter and clipped. “Broadcast them. To a party. On a sixty-five-inch TV roughly four minutes after I gave him my virginity.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I don’t need your sympathy. What I need is for you to tell me why you’re here.”
“So. Considering your past, it’s safe to say you wouldn’t cheat on me with Jesse.”
“I wouldn’t cheat on you with anyone, but yeah for argument’s sake, I would never cheat on you with Jesse.”
He reaches into his pocket and pulls out his phone. “I’m going to show you something.” The phone slides across the table with a photograph on the screen.
Rolling my eyes, I reach for it, then nearly choke on my spit. The photograph is of me, taken from the sidewalk across the street from the café. To the naked eye, it looks as if Jesse and I are tongue deep in each other’s mouths. Damning evidence if someone wanted to make Braden think I cheated on him. Of course, I remember that night and know the truth. Even then I wondered why the hell he would stop by out of the blue. Guess he was working with Michelle to ruin Braden’s and my relationship.
Mission accomplished.
I set the phone down then lean back, gripping my knees. “He stopped by the café after closing to hassle me and throw out a not-so-subtle reminder that I once slept with him and hadn’t told you. But I can see how from this photo it looks like something more.”
“Michelle showed me that night. Showed up at my house.”
I roll my eyes. “Of course she did. She’s been threatening me for weeks. Need I remind you about my locker? Guess it’s hard on her ego to lose someone like you to the fat girl.”
He glares at me over steepled fingers. “You’re not fat.”
“A matter of public opinion.” I prop my head on my forearm and try not to notice how Braden tracks my every moment. “So these pictures did in our relationship, huh?”
“And the text messages.”
“Well this should be good.”
“She showed me some screenshots taken from Jesse’s phone. It had your name.”
“Those are easy to fake.”
“Starting to seem that way.”
“So what? All this clicks Monday and your answer is to beat Jesse up? Not that I’m too heartbroken over it. But you got yourself, what, suspended over it?”
“For the week. Well worth it if you ask me with the way he was running his mouth about you.”
I’m sure he was. Always the king. The master manipulator. “I don’t even want to know.”
Braden’s eyes darken. “No. You don’t. But it was enough to warrant an ass kicking. And from what I hear Zari had a talk with Principal Sawyer. Spilled a bunch of stuff I’m assuming includes you. Jesse was expelled.”
Didn’t see that coming and I’m sure Jesse didn’t either. Serves him right. Karma was bound to catch up with him sooner rather than later.
We both fall silent. The clock above where Braden sits changes to nine thirty. I still have my stupid curfew in place and I plan on keeping to it. So that gives me thirty minutes to get Braden out of here.
“So. We cool then? Everything cleared up? I didn’t cheat. Jesse is a douchebag. Michelle likes to manipulate people. And you’re easily played.”
He laughs sounding genuine. “I guess that sums it up, yeah.”
“Well good because it’s close to curfew.”
His eyes find the clock above his head. “So I have you to myself for the next thirty minutes?”
God, I hate how my heart does a backflip at those words. My brain and I have been running the show for the past week as my heart healed its wounds. Seems like it’s ready to jump back in the game and with force.