Mitch held up his hands and started backing away.
"Sorry, Amber," he said, "But I can't spare anyone else. We're training Ethan on the grill and I'm already taking orders at the front counter myself."
"Stick Ethan out front," she hissed.
Mitch had the nerve to look alarmed at the idea. Ugh! He knew how slow Randy was.
Sighing, Amber hurried back to serve the next customer. So much for working closely with Ethan. Mitch seemed determined to keep him on the back grill. Amber's only consolation was that gorgeous grin in her direction every time she sneaked back there for a rushed soda break. Hm . . . She supposed that was still a step in the right direction.
♠ ♠ ♠ ♠ ♠
8:20, Friday night, Thornton suburbs
Hunter should have been having a great Friday night. The Porsche was an early graduation present from his parents and driving it around with a pretty date normally made him happy. His date for the night, Savannah Watson, sat in the passenger seat. Savannah, a raven-haired junior easily counted as one of Thornton High School's most beautiful and popular students.
Unfortunately, Savannah's beauty didn't extend to either her intellect or her personality. She cared nothing about art or current events, leaving Hunter hopelessly trying to come up with safe topics for conversation. Further, Hunter discovered that the girl kept a constant wad of gum in her mouth that she noisily smacked. He was beginning to wonder if a night alone would have been preferable.
"Do you mind if I crack the window?" Hunter asked, his eyes watering from Savannah's overpowering perfume.
"Not if we're going through the square," Savannah replied, eagerly chomping her gum.
"So you don't want to see the movie?" Hunter asked, surprised.
Savannah's parents had been adamant about knowing where he was taking their daughter that night. Hunter realized that he knew very little about the girl at all. Was there a particular reason that Mr. Watson, who had given Hunter tennis lessons in middle school, had seemed particularly gruff that evening?
Savannah's laugh came out like a little snort.
"Are you kidding me? See some boring movie when one of the hottest parties is happening? That's why I suggested such a late movie. Mom and Dad won't expect me back until nearly one o'clock."
With an inward groan, Hunter remembered Jason Hadley's party. Not surprisingly, Hunter hadn't been invited himself. But then again, he and Jason mutually hated each other.
"Jason's party?" he asked, even though the question was pointless. No one in their right mind would have scheduled another party on the same evening.
"Of course," Savannah said.
She tapped her heavy handbag. "That's why we need to make a little stop at Karen's house. I need to change clothes there."
Too late, Hunter realized he was being used. Unfortunately, it wasn't a new feeling.
"Look, Savannah," he said, his voice firm. "I told your dad I was taking you to the movies. This was supposed to be a date for just the two of us."
"Don't be some damn uppity!" Savannah said, sighing. "Bethany said you would be worth hanging out with for some good times. Said you were amazingly good on going down on a girl. But she didn't say you were so uptight."
Hunter sighed. So this was all a setup by Bethany. Savannah had flirted with him for nearly three weeks before he broke down and asked her out.
Hunter's first reaction was to immediately turn the car around and take the girl home. Too late, however, he realized that he was already stuck in the ridiculous traffic around the square. Around him, girls hung out of cars and screamed at their friends. This was what passed for early evening entertainment on a Friday night in Thornton. Teens gathered there and simply drove in a huge circle for hours on end before finding house parties with booze or drugs.
The fastest way out was to cut through the drive-thru of one of the local fast food restaurants. Of course that would take a while as there was a huge line of cars already. While some kids feasted on burgers and fries, the real lure was ice. Kids ordered cups of ice to cool down liquor that passed from car to car in the darkened streets.
When he reached the ordering board, he asked Savannah if she wanted anything.
"Cup of ice," she said, smiling. "I saw a few girls who are sure to have something to drink."
"Two cokes," Hunter said, speaking firmly into the intercom.
Beside, him Savannah frowned. "Like that's going to stop me," she said.
When the drinks came, she made a show out of pouring out her coke right there in the drive-thru.
"I'm really sorry, man," Hunter said, apologizing to the teen who had taken their order.
The kid simply shrugged.
"If I was not going to the party, I would so not be going out with you," Savannah said, her tone turning ugly.
Hunter turned on the radio loud to try to drown her out. Once he got back out on a main street again, he turned down the highway. He really didn't want to hear Savannah complaining all the way back to her house. But he didn't have any other option to driving her back. His mom would kill him if he didn't play the part of the perfect gentleman.
Fortunately, he was quite familiar with where Jason lived. The two had been friends at one point. That is, until Hunter was told to give up his friendship with Caleb Hanson. Apparently, Jason thought Caleb wasn't good enough to hang out with because his parents were divorced, he lived alone with his mom, and lived in the wrong neighborhood. The argument had ended in a brutal fist fight. Hunter didn't win. But he also never planned to speak to Jason again.
"You know I wasn't invited to this party," he found himself telling Savannah as he lowered the volume on the radio.
Maybe if he kept her talking then she wouldn't notice when he purposely missed the turnoff to Jason's house. He was hoping that if he used back roads that Savannah wouldn't recognize her neighborhood until it was too late to bitch and moan for very long.
"It's because you hang out with that loser, Caleb," Savannah said. "I don't see what you see in him."
"Caleb's been my best friend since we were little kids," Hunter said. "And he's been a loyal friend. I'd take him over anybody else I've met at school."
Savannah sniffed.
"Stay unpopular, then," she said. "The cool kids are never going to want anything to do with him. He doesn't even have a car. I mean, that's kind of sad. But no girl in the world is going to want to be picked up on a bicycle."
Hunter tried to keep his temper.
"From what I've seen, Caleb doesn't have any trouble finding girls to go out with," he said.
In reality, Caleb dated more than he did. What Savannah and her snooty friends didn't know was that Hunter always made sure that Caleb had transportation.
Savannah didn't seem to know what to say to that. She chomped furiously on her gum and stared out the window.
Hunter had a fantasy of the gum sticking her mouth shut. In reality, he simply cranked the volume on the radio again. Twenty minutes later, he walked Savannah to her door.
When she refused to go inside, he rang the bell.
"You are such an asshole!" Savannah hissed, texting furiously on her phone.
When her confused parents answered, Hunter quickly explained that Savannah had changed her mind. He said good night quickly, turned and hurried to his car. He
Afterward, Hunter drove around aimlessly, not wanting to go back home. When he found himself approaching the neighboring town of Dawson, he pulled off the highway.
♠ ♠ ♠ ♠ ♠
9:35 P.M., Town of Dawson, local burger joint
Amber sighed, thankful that the long line in the drive-thru was finally letting up. Even with a steady intake of sugary soda, she was feeling weak. As she handed out change to a customer, she saw, out of the corner of her eye, Mitch approaching.
"Sorry you haven't had your break yet, Amber," he said. "How about showing Ethan the ropes and taking him downstairs for his break as well."
Amber smiled genuinely for perhaps th
e first time that evening. Not only was she getting food and a break from standing, but she got to spend it with the incredibly hot Ethan.
Five minutes later, she tried to control how quickly she stuffed her face. Fortunately, Ethan was too busy stuffing his own face to worry about etiquette.
"I had no idea that we would have to wait so long for a break," he said, after he swallowed the last bite of his burger and gulped down half his soda.
"Tonight isn't typical," Amber said. "Usually, they make us take our break too early. Eating at five o'clock on nights when you're scheduled to close can be brutal."
Ethan shook his head ruefully.
"It's definitely hard work and my feet are already tired. But everybody here seems pretty cool. Mitch said that he tries to keep the sports channel on the radio unless he thinks the owner might drop by."
Amber smiled. "Mitch is a pretty good manager. After closing time, he lets us eat whatever is left in the food bins."
She laughed when Ethan frowned.
"Trust me, when you're really hungry you won't care you already had a burger earlier. Besides, sometimes we can get the pizza place next door to trade any pizzas they have left over. Depends on which manager there is closing. One is really nice. But the other is a jerk."
"Pizza would be awesome," Ethan said, dunking the last of his fries in ketchup. "When do we have to be back up?"
Amber grinned. "Right now. But we're taking an extra five minutes because we had to wait so long. I doubt if Mitch is going to want to walk down here to get us."
"I don't want to get in trouble my first day," Ethan said doubtfully.
Amber smiled. "Trust me. Mitch isn't going to say anything. He's been trying to get me to go out with him."
"How old is he?" Ethan looked appalled.
Amber giggled. "It's okay. He goes to our school. You probably just never saw him around. He has Work Study so he can leave early every day. He's only seventeen like us."
Ethan relaxed. "That's good to know that you can be a manager so young here."
"Already planning for your promotion?" Amber teased as she cleared her space on the table and started to head upstairs.
"Oh, I plan to wait at least a week before I try to take over his job," Ethan responded, chuckling and following her.
♠ ♠ ♠ ♠ ♠
9:45 P.M., Town of Dawson, local burger joint
Seeing the huge blinking light from the burger joint reminded Hunter how hungry he was. He had planned on taking Savannah to a nice local restaurant for dinner prior to the movie. In his anger after taking her home, he had simply forgotten about eating.
He pulled into the parking lot, glad to see that most of the tables were empty. Even though he was in a neighboring town, it was possible to bump into someone he knew. He didn't feel like explaining why he was out on a Friday night all by himself.
As he walked in, Hunter found himself wondering if this was the burger joint one of his friends had mentioned a few weeks earlier. Apparently, there was an attractive girl working the drive-thru.
"And you're telling me this for what reason?" Hunter remembered asking.
"Because, dude, she seems your type."
Hunter had laughed. "And what type is that?"
"You know. Little or no makeup. Naturally pretty. She was really cute. I asked about her and they said she's the smart type. Good in school. That sort of thing."
Hunter had brushed off the friend's comments but now he stared around the restaurant curiously. But he didn't see anyone who matched his friend's description.
Maybe it hadn't even been this restaurant. He sighed. Suddenly, he didn't really want a greasy burger or fries. Instead, he ordered a chocolate shake.
"That's one chocolate shake," the guy said, very seriously. "Will there be anything else?"
Hunter wanted to laugh. "Just the shake. Thanks."
He watched as the kid carefully pulled out a paper cup and meticulously filled the cup. He acted as if he had all the time in the world. When he returned, he repeated the amount Hunter owed, and then slowly counted out his change.
Hunter finally took his shake and left the restaurant, conscious of a rather plain girl with glasses eying him openly.
Tonight had been a very weird evening all around. He couldn't wait to get home. Hopefully, there were leftovers from the pot roast his mom was planning to make that night. Perhaps he could take her into a board game. Unlike his dad, she was a night owl like him.
"You're such a nerd," he muttered under his breath.
If he couldn't be with a girl who liked him just for himself, he would just as soon hang out with his best friend or his parents.
He didn't think Caleb had a date. Punching in his best friend's number, he sat in the parking lot.
"Dude, change of plans if you want to head over," he started out, grinning from the sound of Caleb's voice.
As he drove home he couldn't help but wonder if he was ever going to meet the girl of his dreams. Did she even exist?
♠ ♠ ♠ ♠ ♠
9:50 P.M., Town of Dawson, local burger joint
As Amber walked back to the drive-thru, Megan, a plain girl with glasses rushed over.
"Oh, my gosh!" she said. "You just missed seeing a really gorgeous guy come in. He had the sexiest green eyes you can imagine."
"Great!" Amber said. "Any other night and I would have seen him. Was he from around here?"
Megan shook her head. "There's no way I would forget that gorgeous face or those sexy eyes. I mean, he looked like a model that you would find in magazines."
"And he just left?" Amber said, hopefully peering out in the parking lot.
"Literally a minute before you came back up," Megan said. "The weird thing is that he looked like he was searching for somebody."
"Maybe he will come back then," Amber said, sighing.
But with her luck, she didn't think so. She glanced over and saw Mitch looking at her curiously.
"Be right there," she said. "Just want to run to the restroom first."
As she walked to the back of the restaurant, she wondered why she couldn't be interested in Mitch. It wasn't like he was ugly or anything. He would probably be a decent boyfriend.
But she couldn't help herself. She felt as thought her perfect half was out there waiting on her. As she thought of the mysterious gorgeous stranger, she felt kind of weird. She knew it didn't make any sense, but she felt like she might have just missed out on meeting the love of her life.
And if she had, was she destined to meet him? For now, she could only hope.
####
The end of Sketches of Desire. Please consider leaving a review, xoxo Amanda
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Amanda has a literary soul and has been in love with books since her early childhood. Some of the first books she ever read were from her aunt's collection of romance novels. The library was a special place for Amanda where she'd escape into the many worlds created by authors. Today, there is always a stack of books on her bedside table and loaded onto her Kindle.
Amanda loves the arts and has been writing stories for almost as long as she has been reading. She has taken many creative writing courses and has published numerous works in children's and young adult fiction, nonfiction, and now setting on her journey writing contemporary romance. Art courses that Amanda took in college provide the inspiration for creating a world of new adult romance in The Art Models Club series. Amanda lives in Texas with her husband, son, and their family dog.
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