by Riley Jean
He had his arm around a pretty brunette, who must have been Evelyn. I perked up, happy to finally meet the girl who gave Vance his never-ending smile, his perpetual sunshine. They looked adorable together.
I gave the group a friendly welcome, then turned to Vance. “Isn’t it your day off? Don’t tell me you missed this place.”
He grinned back. “Couldn’t stay away. Is that your new ride parked out back?”
“Of course.”
“How many times did you stall on the way in?”
“Three,” I said with a hand on my hip. I was getting better. My father promised to teach me, and he did… he just didn’t have a whole lot of patience.
“Not bad,” Vance nodded. “What’s the hardest part for you? Downshifting?”
“No. Going uphill.”
“Ah. There’s definitely a knack for it. I can show you a trick next time we’re working together.”
I smiled at the offer. “Cool.”
“Can I take a closer look?” I tossed him the keys from my pocket and he caught them without missing a beat. “C’mon Cole, check this out!” The boys disappeared through the back as Vance started boasting about engines, cylinders, horsepower, and other details I had texted him earlier.
My attention returned to the two girls standing in front of the ice cream case. “Just let me know whatever you’d like,” I said with a friendly smile, giving them time to browse our selection.
The blond eyed the neon blue flavor skeptically. “Extreme.”
“Stay away from that one,” I warned, pointing at the cotton candy with my scoop.
“Uh, yeah. Then what do you recommend?”
“Well,” I said, “Are you feeling fruit, or peanut butter?”
“Definitely peanut butter.”
“Awesome. I got this,” I said, confident, and began scooping out the chocolate ice cream. I carried it over to the icy mixing board, added in crushed peanut butter cups and mini Reeses Pieces, then put it in a cup and topped it with a swirl of peanut butter sauce. It was a work of peanut butter art.
I was just handing it over with a plastic spoon when the two boys finally returned. They entered through the swinging door, still babbling on about cars, when Evelyn spoke up, interrupting.
“Babe, I know what I want. Make it for me?”
Startled, I glanced at him, hoping he wouldn’t think I neglected his girlfriend’s order. I would be happy to serve them all. He shouldn’t have to get behind the counter when he wasn’t even on the clock.
But Vance, seeming unbothered, just turned and smiled at her, ceasing his conversation with Cole. “Sure Princess, what’ll it be?” he asked, and walked behind me to get a scooper.
For some reason (unbeknownst to me), the endearment kinda rubbed me the wrong way this time.
While Vance was fixing her order, I chatted with Cole and his date by the register. He used to work at Mooshi before I got hired, and had since moved on to work at a nearby conference hotel. The sandy-haired boy was Vance’s best friend and Summer’s twin brother, and I even vaguely remembered him from school. But we had not yet had the opportunity to talk.
“You’re James Rossi’s little sister, aren’t you?” Cole asked.
Of course that’s what he’d remember.
My eyes narrowed, watching for it, for that look that said, “I wonder if batshit crazy is hereditary?” I’d gotten it before. And maybe they were right. But the funny thing was, I didn’t hate being James’ little sister, I just hated being judged for it. Sure, I thought he was a degenerate asshole, but no one else was allowed to say that to my face. Especially a stranger.
“Yes,” I said, sure but wary, “I am.”
But he just smiled kindly. “Thought so. My dad used to be the Scout Leader. James was in his troop.”
I stared, aghast. “Boy Scouts? Wow! That was so long ago!” Before James was old enough to boycott my parents’ insistence in organized activities. “I even went to the meetings sometimes and sat in the back.”
“I know,” said Cole. “I was always back there with you.”
I’d always had a vague recollection of Colton Elliott. Now I knew why. The memories were dim and fuzzy as an old fashioned film, but they were there—Wednesday night pack meetings with the little sandy-haired boy who always shared his crayons.
“I remember that! We used to hang out during their meetings and color!”
Cole glanced to his date and back to me with a sheepish grin. “Coloring? No. I only did manly things, like build stuff. With tools.”
Amused, I shook my head. “We must have been six and seven years old, Cole. I don’t recall any tools.”
At that point Vance and Evelyn rejoined their friends, ice creams in hand. I looked at his girlfriend, hoping to introduce myself or at least offer a cordial smile, but she would not acknowledge me. And I was unsure what to say.
“You’re here by yourself,” Vance observed. “Who’s supposed to be working with you?”
“Um, Gwen, but she called out again,” I shrugged sadly. “At least it’s been slow.”
Vance’s forehead creased. “Will you need help closing up?”
“Don’t worry about me,” I waved him off. “You guys have fun tonight.”
Vance hesitated, but his girlfriend put her hand on his arm. “Ready to go, babe?”
“Sure,” he responded to her, then turned back to me with disquiet in his eyes. “Call if you need anything?”
I nodded, knowing full well I wouldn’t be calling anyone for help. I may not be a lead, technically, but I was competent. I wished the foursome a nice evening, received three warm replies, then watched as they walked out the door.
* * *
“Your girlfriend doesn’t seem to like me,” I said quietly, gripping the warm sides of my hot chocolate, and watching the whipped cream melt into foamy swirls.
After another long night of closing at Mooshi, we sat in our regular booth at Honey’s, waiting for our food to arrive. I had been curious if our pancake nights would continue since we no longer needed to carpool. But when Vance suggested we meet, I agreed and drove separately. It was the perfect opportunity to bring this up, anyway.
I had been feeling off ever since earlier this week when he came in with Evelyn. I was really looking forward to meeting her, but it hadn’t gone well. To be honest, it seemed like she had purposefully ignored me. Surely she was a sweet girl to have captured the heart of someone like Vance, so I couldn’t help but take her snub personally.
Vance grimaced. “Yeah, don’t mind her.”
“So it’s true?” I probed, disappointed. “Did I do something wrong?”
“No. She just…” he shook his head, stirring his drink. “She needs time to warm up to people, that’s all.”
Sensing that he wanted to drop the subject, I let it go. I didn’t want to step on any toes. I almost commented on the fact that he cleaned up nicely, then didn’t think that was appropriate.
“I finally got a chance to talk to Cole.”
That made him relax. “Yeah, he mentioned that.”
“Whadduya know? I’ve known him almost as long as you have,” I said, sipping my drink. “I wonder if our paths ever crossed that far back.”
Cracking a wistful smile, his eyes unfocused. “You wouldn’t remember me. I was all buck teeth and glasses back then.”
I laughed, trying to picture Vance in his awkward phase, while the waitress delivered our plates. We didn’t even need to order anymore. She knew.
“Were you a Boy Scout?”
“Sure was. Me and Cole,” he said, digging in. “And I didn’t know you had a brother.”
Now it was my turn to dodge the subject. “Yep.”
“And he was in Scouts with Cole and Summer’s dad, too?”
“Mmmhmm.”
“And you don’t like to talk about him?” he deduced with a chuckle.
“There’s a perfectly good reason for that.”
“Which is?”
�
�He’s an asshole.”
Vance laughed outright. “I have two older brothers. I get the gist.”
I gave him a tepid smile. I’d never met his older brothers, but I seriously doubted they were anything like James. For his sake I hoped they weren’t.
“Have you talked to Gwen?”
“Just for a few minutes on the phone,” I said. “She and Hunter are getting back together.”
“Oh,” he said, and his green eyes went soft. “Did you tell her how you feel?”
“You mean about how it still counts as cheating if he breaks up with her just to sleep with a bunch of other women, then wants to get back together? Or how she took him back way too easily, and this sorry excuse for a man should be groveling on his knees, begging for forgiveness for his off-the-charts level of assholery? Or how I have no idea how someone so brilliant could also be such a fool? Or how she could allow herself to be treated that way, especially by the man who supposedly loves her?”
“Well?” he said. “Did you?”
“No. I chickened out. But I did tell her she deserved better.”
“It’s a start,” Vance said around a forkful of pancakes. “So is Gwen your best friend?”
“Um…” I hesitated. It felt weird to pause. Gwen and I had history, but as far back as I could remember, Lexi’s name had rolled off my tongue. Lexi and Scarlett, best friends forever. This time, the old phrase got stuck in my throat. I hadn’t seen or heard from her in months. It was just another thing in my life that had changed. I swallowed and answered honestly. “I don’t really have a best friend, I guess.”
“You guess?”
“I had one, but we’ve kind of… grown apart?”
He shrugged, still chewing. “It happens.”
For some reason, I felt like explaining. “You remember Lexi, my tall, blond friend from high school?” He nodded. “We had this clique of friends. A group of six, tight all through junior high and high school. Gwen was part of it. And Nathan too. But Lexi and I were kind of like you and Cole, inseparable since first grade, when my family moved in next door. We thought we’d be best friends forever.”
“So what happened?”
“I don’t know…” I said, nervously stirring the straw in my water glass. Damn. What didn’t happen? I tried to block out memories of that night… when everything in my life went to hell. It wasn’t the sole reason I left Lexi behind, it was just the final straw to a long buildup. “We’re so different. Living there, with her, became kind of poisonous to me. I just had to get away.”
“Well, good for you then.”
I looked up at him, surprised by his praise. “She doesn’t see it that way. Gwen thinks in her eyes, I abandoned our lifelong friendship.”
“She would prefer you fall deeper into the rabbit hole and rot with her? Great friend,” he scoffed, taking another bite of syrupy pancake.
I looked down at my own plate and began absently cutting my pancakes into pieces. “I don’t know… maybe I didn’t have to cut her off completely… but I tried to stay friends. I tried the whole time I was in college. She just kept trying to change me into someone I didn’t like. I constantly had to hold my tongue, because it was her way or nothing. It was like I was never good enough, just the way I was. Or at least, who I wanted to be. This probably doesn’t make any sense.” I huffed, putting down my fork with more force than necessary. I looked up at Vance, ready to end this rant, but found him staring intently back at me.
There was something about his eyes, deep green and open, that compelled me to keep talking. Suddenly I felt a powerful need for him to hear this. For someone to understand where I was coming from. I left behind everything and everyone I knew. I didn’t regret it and I liked being on my own, but in that moment I needed a little reassurance. Vance was an intelligent, reasonable person; he’d be honest with me if my decision had been ridiculous. And if he backed me up, well… maybe I would feel a little less alone.
I continued, meeting his gaze, “I just wanted to have someone who understands the real me, and likes me anyway. Is that so crazy?”
He stared at me for another long moment, before going back to his pancakes and clearing his throat to mutter, “No.”
I took another bite too, feeling a little embarrassed about unloading all that on him. I couldn’t recall the last time I revealed so much of my heart to someone, and he could barely even respond. Maybe I had misread the openness in his eyes. That whole dramatic speech had probably freaked him out. Trying to lighten the mood, I straightened and returned to the previous subject.
“I wasn’t always a loser, if that’s what you’re thinking,” I joked.
He raised an eyebrow at me. “I wasn’t thinking that. Don’t forget I remember you from high school. I knew your friends. All of them. Honestly, you’re better off.”
That’s right… he remembered me from his senior year of high school, when I was still blond and sheltered and naïve. I supposed the writing was on the wall that our clique wouldn’t really last forever, but I was too blind to see it. It was before my first heartbreak. Before I felt like I had to change who I was in order to be accepted. And before I learned the truth—that happily ever after didn’t really exist.
“Does it always have to be so complicated? Aren’t people ever just… genuine?” I asked aloud, probably freaking him out again.
He considered this, and swallowed before responding. “Maybe not in high school.”
I laughed to myself. He was right. What was I expecting? Regardless of how it felt at the time, it wasn’t like I had it all figured out back then, either. I shook my head and tried to brush it off, despite the desolation of my doubts. “Is it ever even worth it?”
“Oh it’s worth it,” Vance pointed his sticky fork at me in rebuttal. “With the right people, it’s definitely worth it.”
A veiled smile hid my true feelings on the matter. He sounded so certain, but I was just as fixed in my own beliefs. Instead of arguing further, I did what I do best. I made light.
“Then I’m completely hopeless. Apparently I’m a magnet that only attracts the wrong people.”
“Apparently.” He winked and I rolled my eyes. He looked down to his plate before continuing. “But who knows, Rosie? Things can change.”
Chapter 10
Pretender
“Screaming Infidelities” by Dashboard Confessional
The chime of the front door announced our first customers in over an hour.
Ugh.
Slow nights made me feel especially lazy. As time crawled by at a snail’s pace, every random task disrupted my very pleasant evening of sitting.
Vance got up first and I followed reluctantly. As he passed through to the front, the door swung open, but I stopped short and let it shut in front of my face. Stunned, I lifted on my toes to peek through the small window and confirmed my worst suspicion.
The customers were two boys and a girl. And I recognized them all. One of them was Miles.
What was he doing here?
When Vance casted a glance in my direction, I hid, leaning up against the wall so I could listen but wouldn’t be seen. I didn’t think Miles had spotted me yet, but I couldn’t be sure. The only thing I knew for certain is that I could not, under any circumstances, go out there. Vance would have to handle them on his own.
“Welcome to Mooshi Treatery, what can I get for you?” To a stranger’s ear Vance sounded almost totally normal, but in knowing him as well as I did, I could detect a slight hint of unease in his voice.
The other boy and girl made their ice cream selections first and Vance began to serve them. Normally, for three customers, we would work together to get this done faster. But he could handle three. He would have to. I could only hope against an influx of customers until they were gone.
Then, I heard his voice.
“Is Scarlett Rossi working tonight?” Miles asked, sending goosebumps down my arms—and not the good kind.
So it hadn’t been a coincidence. But how did h
e know where to find me? I hadn’t so much as maintained a Facebook page since our split. My stomach strained like a pulled rubber band, set to snap. I wondered if his friends knew the real reason for coming to Mooshi Treatery tonight was more than just dessert.
There was a pause, then Vance replied, “Nope. Would you like to try any samples?”
“When is she working next?”
Another pause. “I can’t give out my coworkers’ schedules. Privacy rights, you know. I can only help you with ice cream.”
“Listen—”
“I’m afraid if you’re not going to order something, I have to ask you to leave.”
Vance was a team lead and all, but this was an ice cream shop, not a bar. I’d never heard him raise his voice, much less speak in such a firm, authoritative manner to a customer. From behind the wall, my eyes popped in disbelief. He was protecting me. It had been a long time since anyone had protected me…
A few moments passed before I heard Miles scoff, “Whatever, man,” and the door chime announced their departure.
I sagged in relief, sliding all the way down the wall and landing on my butt.
When Vance came back, he smirked at me on the floor. “Got yourself an admirer?”
I wrapped my arms around my knees self-consciously, unable to look up. “Thanks, I owe you big time.”
“Anytime, Rosie,” he said, offering me a hand. “Everything okay?”
I stayed on the floor and rudely ignored his offer to help me up. All I could manage was a nod. A few seconds went by before his hand slowly retracted.
“Who was that guy? If he’s bothering you, I need to tell management.”
Not wanting to be cause a scene, I brushed it off. “It’s fine. Just an old ex that I don’t care to see.”
“You dated that guy?”
“Actually we—” I stopped. He didn’t need to know all the gritty details. “Yes, we dated my senior year.”
“So what does he want?”
I shrugged. I honestly had no clue.
I could feel Vance’s eyes on me, assessing. After a thoughtful pause, he responded, “You should feel safe here. I’ll tell management.”