Hidden Gem Short Story Collection (9781301405985)

by Lee, India

  “And I’m not the only commuter. The states up here are small, so some of my classmates are even coming from New York,” she shrugged, refreshing his cup of coffee as it began to ran low. Tyler smiled at the gesture, wondering if she was still in server mode, even if their breakfast was technically unofficial.

  There were no lights in the cabin, not during the day. Instead, the sunlight came in through the slat windows that adorned the wall of the entrance. It came in beams, picking up the hazy smoke coming from the kitchen, looking almost like a tranquil, country version of his view while performing on stage. He laughed at the thought, remembering only then the reason why he had come to the restaurant to begin with – he wanted to know if Sophie the server was the same Sophie that was at his concert that night.

  But before he could ask, a familiar melody came on the radio. It was an old song. A song from his past, though not his own. And it had been ages since he had heard that song anywhere. God, why now.

  Queen Bee’s song, “My Choice,” was suddenly playing over the speakers – coming through clearer than any other song that had played before. Gemma’s voice wafted through the thick air, penetrating his skin. What the hell… He tried not to make a face, not when Sophie was still talking calmly, telling him a story of the restaurant’s history, how long her grandfather had owned and worked at the establishment.

  Well, Tyler thought. If that doesn’t answer your question. If Sophie knew who he was, she would have had to have said something right? Acknowledged how awkward it was that Tyler had gone silent at the sound of his ex-girlfriend’s song playing over the speakers?

  He felt his hands gripping his coffee cup tighter and tighter as the song went on.

  “Do you want your tart à la mode?” Sophie disappeared behind some shelves as she busied about the kitchen. Tyler watched as she reached up for something on a top shelf – and suddenly, the radio was off. “We have vanilla and maple pecan ice cream.”

  “I’ll take vanilla,” Tyler replied, trying to ease the tension in his chest by sipping on his coffee. “Thank you.” Sophie returned from behind the shelves with two white plates, the glistening warm apple tart sitting atop them. She placed one in front of Tyler, scooping a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream beside it. Tyler looked up at her, taking in the sight of her moving about casually, as if her arm wasn’t in a sling. Sophie’s eyes met his, crinkling with a warm smile.

  “Vanilla’s my choice too,” she said with a shrug, scooping some ice cream onto her plate as well. “It’s underrated.”

  “Come sit with me,” Tyler beckoned, watching her flutter about behind the counter. “I feel bad enough that I’ve essentially forced you to open your restaurant for me, cook me breakfast, and all the while you’ve got your arm in a sling.”

  “It’s my pleasure,” Sophie laughed, licking her spoon and throwing it into the sink before coming around to the other side of the counter. She sat on the stool next to Tyler’s, facing him. She let her knees graze his.

  “So,” Tyler started. “What happened?”

  “I broke my collarbone,” Sophie explained, digging a spoon into her tart with her free hand. “The sling is so I don’t put any excess pressure on it while it heals. They couldn’t really do anything more than that for me.”

  “How did you break it?” Tyler asked. Sophie’s eyebrows raised, looking up at him with her big blue eyes, a spoon still in her mouth. Flustered, Tyler let out a nervous laugh. “From, I don’t know, snowboarding or something? You don’t have to tell me. If you don’t want to. I’m being nosy.”

  Sophie replaced the spoon quietly onto her plate. She tilted her head slightly, examining Tyler with a peculiar curiosity. Tyler suddenly felt awkward, not knowing what he had triggered when everything was smooth-sailing just moments before.

  “I broke it…” Sophie began. “At your concert.”

  “Aha!” Tyler exclaimed, pointing at her. “I knew it!” He had jumped from his stool in excitement, though he quickly regretted the action. There was no doubt he looked ridiculous in that moment. To his relief, Sophie laughed.

  “I didn’t realize it was some big mystery,” Sophie smiled. She shook her head, staring at Tyler. “I’m sorry, I’m confused – this whole time… you were just trying to figure out if I got hurt at your concert?”

  “Why didn’t you say something?” Tyler asked. He thought about what Mike had said – that it would have been kind of creepy that Sophie hadn’t mentioned that she had been at Tyler’s concert. Was it creepy? He couldn’t answer the question.

  “What was there to say?” Sophie had started eating her apple tart again, watching Tyler pace about the restaurant with a curious eye. “I’m not going to be like, ‘Hey Tyler, check out this dope sling, I got it as a souvenir from your concert.’”

  “But, I mean, you didn’t even say like… I mean…” Tyler shook his head. What he wanted to say was that a fan, a person who would have gotten her hands on tickets to that special event concert, was probably a big enough fan to acknowledge his presence outside of the arena. But he stopped himself. Because he wasn’t so sure he wanted to say something that made him sound so big-headed, self-centered, stupid.

  “I would have asked your name if I didn’t know it already,” Sophie smiled. “And if you’re trying to ask me why I didn’t fuss over you last night while I was serving you, it’s because, like I said, you guys looked like you were having some sort of reunion and I didn’t want to interrupt with something as unnecessary as saying, ‘oh my God, you’re Tyler Chase!’ Because, well, you know you’re Tyler Chase. So why remind you?” Tyler stared at her, leaning casually on the counter with her head propped up on her hand. Even in her sling, she was a stark contrast from the other fans he had just visited the day before.

  “You’re kind of weird,” Tyler blurted out, before he could stop himself. He had done thousands of meet-and-greets over the years and even run into fans in restaurants who were fellow patrons or even servers. Some of them were even celebrities, themselves. Not a single one of them, ever, reacted the way that Sophie did. Therefore, Sophie was definitely weird.

  “Can’t argue that,” she shrugged, patting the stool beside her and signaling towards Tyler’s untouched apple tart. Tyler smiled, shaking his head and returning to his seat.

  “So,” he began, cutting into his tart with his spoon. “Are you like a… fan… of my music?” Tyler cringed. There was no way to ask that question without sounding like an absolute stereotype of “being famous.”

  “I am,” Sophie nodded, a small smile on her pink lips. She lowered her gaze, her long blonde lashes cloaking her sparkling eyes. He had expected some sort of ribbing, perhaps because of his own self-consciousness over the question or just being on guard since seeing Rufus and Moss again. Her simple answer to his question made his heart jump.

  “Okay,” he laughed, knowing it was a strange way to reply to her professed fandom. “I’m just gonna be honest and say I’m not used to my fans being so… chill.” She furrowed her brows in mild confusion before laughing with him. Sophie put her spoon down on her empty plate, putting a hand to her stomach.

  “Oof, I’m shameless,” Sophie said. “I finished before you even started. Why aren’t you eating? Do you want something else, maybe?”

  “No, this is fine,” Tyler picked up his spoon with a perfect bite of tart and ice cream sitting on it. “I was just too busy playing unnecessary detective to get to it.” Sophie laughed, heartily. The motion made the rays of sunshine dance across her hair, her eyes, her shamelessly toothy smile. Tyler put the spoon in his mouth, his eyes still on her.

  As soon as it hit his tongue, he felt the warm, buttery pastry dough meld with the caramelized apples. Small crystals of sugar burst over his taste buds before disappearing into the creaminess of the vanilla ice cream. It had looked so simple to put together, that he hadn’t expected the remarkable sensation he was now feeling over what was essentially four or five ingredients.

  “What do you think?�
� Sophie asked, shyly. Tyler tried not to crumple in his chair, overwhelmed by the delectable pastry that had been specially made for him by an equally delectable girl.

  “It’s really good,” Tyler managed to say, even though what he really wanted to say was that in that second, he was happier than he had been in as long as he could remember.

  Suddenly, his phone rang, shaking him from his moment. He sighed, trying not to sound too disappointed as he reached for the phone. Mike.

  “Hey man,” Tyler answered.

  “Where are you?” Mike sounded confused. Tyler could hear the sound of some sort of video game in the background.

  “I, uh,” Tyler looked up at Sophie. “I was running errands.”

  “Errands?” Mike laughed. “What errands? When have you run your own errands ever? Seriously. Where are you? Why would you just bounce without saying anything? I am trained to immediately assume you’ve been kidnapped or some shit if you pull that kind of thing, you know? And you took the car! We’re supposed to be heading to the city in an hour.”

  “I’ll be back soon,” Tyler replied. “Or now. I’ll come back now.” He hopped off the stool, hanging up and replacing the phone in his back pocket before pulling out a couple tens. He folded them in half, awkwardly slipping it under his barely touched plate. Sophie squinted at him, stepping off the stool and standing beside him.

  “You’re leaving?”

  “Yeah, sorry,” Tyler said. “But thank you for the food. It was incredible. And sorry. For your collarbone, the cancelled concert, pissing off your grandpa last night – all that – so sorry.”

  He ran out the door before she could say anything in reply.

  ~

  It was almost a six-hour drive from their cabin in Vermont to Tyler’s pied-à-terre in Manhattan. Mike had called up some of their old friends in the city to get an impromptu party going and ready upon their arrival. Tyler hated the idea, but he kept his mouth shut once again, appreciating Mike’s effort to create a convivial environment for them wherever they went.

  “I had a lot of fun up in Vermont,” Tyler said, breaking the silence in the back of the car. “I really appreciate you putting that together for me.” Mike cracked a sleepy but happy smile. Perhaps Tyler didn’t express his appreciation often enough.

  “I kind of thought you were having a shit time,” Mike replied. “I forget how Rufus and Moss can be. Probably wasn’t the type of relaxation you were looking for.”

  “No, no,” Tyler shook his head. “I really did have fun. Ultimately.” He laughed.

  “Yeah?” Mike raised an eyebrow. “But no thanks to me, I’m assuming.”

  “What? Why would you say that?”

  “Where did you really go this morning?” Mike said. “Were you meeting someone?”

  “Why would you ask that?”

  “Because you came back with this expression on your face that I haven’t seen in awhile.”

  “No I didn’t.”

  “Uh, yes you did,” Mike laughed. He tried to recreate whatever expression he claimed Tyler had returned with, twisting his face into his best impression. Tyler squinted at him, smiling with an uncomfortable amusement.

  “I wasn’t intentionally meeting with someone. But I guess it ended up being sort of something, maybe? God, I don’t know.”

  “Oh my God, man!” Mike punched Tyler in the shoulder. “Who was she? Why didn’t you say something earlier? Is it someone I know? Oh my God, it wasn’t Azura was it?”

  “No!” Tyler said, shaking his head. “She’s back in L.A. as far as I know, anyway.”

  “Well? Then who is it? And when are you seeing her again?”

  “I don’t know,” Tyler shrugged. Mike’s excitement was causing his heart to speed up, racing without the caution that he had since forced upon it. It made him feel nervous, unprotected. He inhaled sharply. “I went back to the restaurant to ask our waitress, Sophie, if she was that last fan that had gotten injured at the concert.”

  “What?” Mike raised an eyebrow. “Why? I told you, if she was the girl, she would have been flipping out over you. That’s how they all got hurt to begin with, remember?”

  “Yeah, except it was her. It was the same Sophie.”

  “What? Seriously? How?” Mike leaned back in his seat, rubbing his chin in thought. “She didn’t say anything to us about that. She barely even acknowledged you.” Tyler shrugged, concealing the smile that crept up on his lips. Sophie had acknowledged him, but in a way so subtle that he had thought he was imagining it. Throughout their dinner, she had shot him quick glances whenever appropriate, but always left the table to tend to others before Tyler could get in a word.

  “She had driven down to the concert on her own,” Tyler recalled their conversation. “It was a long drive. Her grandpa had to come pick her up afterwards and she left before we got to the hospital. She helps her grandpa run the restaurant.”

  “That grumpy dude was her grandpa?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Damn!” Mike said. “That’s so weird. You don’t think so?”

  “I mean. I guess, a little.” I mean, it’s all weird, Tyler thought. Everything from his first bout with performing on stage again to the fact that Sophie was a fan of his, enough of one to go to a concert of his on her own, and not be the type to freak out over his presence. Tyler wasn’t sure if his ego was bruised by the fact. He had never considered himself the type to care too much about it, but Sophie was throwing him in for a loop. She didn’t make a whole lot of sense to him, but that only made him all the more intrigued.

  “Was she pretty? I don’t remember,” Mike asked.

  “Seriously?” Tyler stared at him, mouth agape. He had recognized the general lack of reaction from Mike, Rufus, and Moss when Sophie had first come to the table. They had apparently only seen a girl in a sling and not the absolutely gorgeous woman that had suddenly sidled up to their table.

  “So she was pretty, then?”

  “She was breathtaking,” Tyler exhaled. As soon as he said it, he knew he was in too deep. You’re doing it again, Tyler. That thing where you fall too hard, too fast.

  “Damn, well, okay,” Mike laughed. “Guess I missed it. Or was still hung up on our mean waitress before her, Jana. Was she really that great? I feel bad for not spotting it now, you know, since it’s clearly such a thing for you.”

  “I seriously don’t understand how no one else saw it,” Tyler said. “She had this beautiful golden hair, these sparkling blue eyes, the sweetest pink lips. She couldn’t be more obviously beautiful.” He stopped for a moment, recalling Sophie’s demeanor as she walked around behind the counter of the restaurant, busying about the kitchen. She was, without argument, incredibly beautiful – but there was that weird little detail about her that made her different, that perhaps was the same reason Mike hadn’t picked up on her allure immediately.

  Mike liked his girls “bad,” the way that Rufus and Moss liked their girls. He liked his girls brazenly sexy, like the Aubrey Gracielles and Azuras of the world. He had approved of Tyler’s pick in the smoky Desiree Silver and even in the heavily-adorned Queen Bee, though less interested in Gemma Hunter as a person outside of her costume. He liked things out there and obvious.

  Despite the radiance of her classic beauty, there was nothing “out there” or “obvious” about Sophie. She had drifted about the restaurant, refilling people’s drinks and cashing out checks without causing a blip on the patrons’ radars. She made things flow and function with a quiet ease. She seemed to shy away from attention, not even bothering with a goodbye before she had left the other night. She watched as things moved about her, seemingly happy as a silent observer, as if her world was just a movie she was watching, or a book she was reading – just a story she wanted to see unravel.

  But she had caught Tyler’s eye and perhaps a little bit more. Sophie seemed to have a bit of a pull on his heart. In the past year, he had stamped down his feelings the best he could, cursing himself for being the romantic that he
was. He would scold himself for anything that could be deemed a dramatic reaction, anything that was perhaps just a little too “passionate” a thought. He allowed himself the feeling now, as he thought about the way that Sophie had so nonchalantly made him breakfast, with so little fanfare. How she had created something so incredible with so little. How she had known who he was but treated him like anyone else.

  “Mike,” Tyler said, breaking himself from his daydreams.

  “What’s up.”

  “We need to turn around.”

  ~

  Thankfully, Mike was happy to do another couple of days holed up in the Vermont cabin, snuggled up to his Xbox. He was also seemingly excited for Tyler and the notion of him seeing Sophie again. Tyler was pretty sure Mike could sense that this wasn’t some fleeting crush – after all, Tyler didn’t have many of those.

  They were halfway to Manhattan when they turned around, arriving back at the cabin around the same time that they would have gotten to the pied-à-terre. Tyler didn’t have Sophie’s number and was just a little bit nervous about running into her grandfather again, but he calmed his nerves by taking a quick shower. He was probably being stupid, making his short exchange with Sophie into something more than it was. He was probably making a huge mistake, allowing himself to feel for anyone again, let alone someone he had known for less than twenty-four hours. Besides, he had also never dated a fan, though it had become clear that Sophie wasn’t exactly the type of fan that he had come to known.

  The restaurant closed at 11pm and they had left well past 1am the night before. He had a couple of hours before the restaurant would close once again and he wanted to catch Sophie at the perfect moment, so they could do a little more talking, maybe. Tyler tried not to get too excited, tried not to make such a big deal about the moment he’d see her, but his old habits were returning with full force. When he crushed, he crushed hard. He just couldn’t help himself.