know what bitter and old looks like, I can reintroduce you to my dad.”
Nate shoved his way out of the bathroom. “Ready, Eli?” He picked up the soda and finished it off. Between the fluid, the sweet syrup in the soda and the Tylenol, he was starting to feel human.
“I was right.” One corner of Eli’s mouth lifted in a smirk as he looked from Nate to Kellan.
Nate was ready to ignore him, but Kellan had to ask. “About what?”
“Who got the I’m-sorry blowjob. Nate’s—uh—pretty vocal, so I was sure it wasn’t him.”
Nate started to shove the smirking Eli through the door but turned in time to see Kellan’s brows arch as he mouthed Vocal, huh ? at him.
Maybe the paper should send Eli on an assignment—to West Virginia.
Chapter Nine
Working at a coffee shop didn’t suck, Kellan decided. The manager, Yolanda, had him fill out some paperwork and then showed him some video about how to interact with customers. Brandi, one of the girls who worked there, brought him an awesome iced mocha with tons of extra syrup. He tried to pay more attention to the video than to Brandi’s ass as she walked out of the office, but the job wasn’t rocket science or anything.
The other girl Sandra was nice too, if not as friendly, and the guy Terrell hadn’t seemed to make up his mind yet about whether he was going to like Kellan. They didn’t let him make any drinks. He got stuff out of the pastry case, brought people sandwiches or their orders if they had something complicated and were sitting at a table. He cleaned off the tables and carried stuff back into the kitchen to load the dishwasher. He smiled, the customers smiled back. He could do this.
After about an hour he had to clean out the prep area, restock the stuff for the front, and that’s when he started to get an ache at the back of his neck because the place was small, and he was always ducking down at the doorway. Then someone in the outside world must have made some announcement that the café had winning lottery numbers or something. All of a sudden there were about a hundred people in line. As he tried to navigate around the crowd with his tray full of dishes, Brandi looked up from where she was spreading cream cheese and peanut butter on a bagel and mouthed Lunch.
He wanted to check his phone to see the time, but Yolanda was yelling at him to bring up more bean sprouts. He couldn’t get away from fucking beans—and the fact that these looked like little sperm to him didn’t make him any more fond of the nasty things. As he unpacked the slimy-looking sprouts, he tried to think of something nicer: Brandi.
Curvy, blonde and working hard to get him to notice her. Exactly the type Kellan liked to flirt out of her clothes. As he dropped the container of bean sperm in the hole that Brandi pointed to, he ended up right next to Terrell. Instead of aiming a wink at Brandi, Kellan found himself wondering whether the ink on the light brown skin of Terrell’s neck and the heavy piercings in his ears meant he was punk or gay. On the way back with the container of honey-walnut cream cheese, he found himself wondering if Terrell’s full lips would be soft like Eli’s or if the soul patch on his chin would feel different from Nate’s fuller beard. It should have freaked him out, but when he looked at Brandi’s lips and knew what they’d taste like, feel like under the shine of her lip gloss, his little soldier reported ready for action.
So one day of pretending to be gay hadn’t actually made him switch teams. Which reminded him of that other time when he’d been confused about what side he was on, and too much thinking for one day was probably why as he lugged out a big container of egg salad, he crashed into Brandi with her arms full of clean plates.
Brandi managed to stay on her feet, but Kellan had tried to swerve and his foot slid on a slice of tomato. A banana peel couldn’t have been slipperier. The egg-salad container hit the ground and puked
Nate shoved his way out of the bathroom. “Ready, Eli?” He picked up the soda and finished it off. Between the fluid, the sweet syrup in the soda and the Tylenol, he was starting to feel human.
“I was right.” One corner of Eli’s mouth lifted in a smirk as he looked from Nate to Kellan.
Nate was ready to ignore him, but Kellan had to ask. “About what?”
“Who got the I’m-sorry blowjob. Nate’s—uh—pretty vocal, so I was sure it wasn’t him.”
Nate started to shove the smirking Eli through the door but turned in time to see Kellan’s brows arch as he mouthed Vocal, huh ? at him.
Maybe the paper should send Eli on an assignment—to West Virginia.
Chapter Nine
Working at a coffee shop didn’t suck, Kellan decided. The manager, Yolanda, had him fill out some paperwork and then showed him some video about how to interact with customers. Brandi, one of the girls who worked there, brought him an awesome iced mocha with tons of extra syrup. He tried to pay more attention to the video than to Brandi’s ass as she walked out of the office, but the job wasn’t rocket science or anything.
The other girl Sandra was nice too, if not as friendly, and the guy Terrell hadn’t seemed to make up his mind yet about whether he was going to like Kellan. They didn’t let him make any drinks. He got stuff out of the pastry case, brought people sandwiches or their orders if they had something complicated and were sitting at a table. He cleaned off the tables and carried stuff back into the kitchen to load the dishwasher. He smiled, the customers smiled back. He could do this.
After about an hour he had to clean out the prep area, restock the stuff for the front, and that’s when he started to get an ache at the back of his neck because the place was small, and he was always ducking down at the doorway. Then someone in the outside world must have made some announcement that the café had winning lottery numbers or something. All of a sudden there were about a hundred people in line. As he tried to navigate around the crowd with his tray full of dishes, Brandi looked up from where she was spreading cream cheese and peanut butter on a bagel and mouthed Lunch.
He wanted to check his phone to see the time, but Yolanda was yelling at him to bring up more bean sprouts. He couldn’t get away from fucking beans—and the fact that these looked like little sperm to him didn’t make him any more fond of the nasty things. As he unpacked the slimy-looking sprouts, he tried to think of something nicer: Brandi.
Curvy, blonde and working hard to get him to notice her. Exactly the type Kellan liked to flirt out of her clothes. As he dropped the container of bean sperm in the hole that Brandi pointed to, he ended up right next to Terrell. Instead of aiming a wink at Brandi, Kellan found himself wondering whether the ink on the light brown skin of Terrell’s neck and the heavy piercings in his ears meant he was punk or gay. On the way back with the container of honey-walnut cream cheese, he found himself wondering if Terrell’s full lips would be soft like Eli’s or if the soul patch on his chin would feel different from Nate’s fuller beard. It should have freaked him out, but when he looked at Brandi’s lips and knew what they’d taste like, feel like under the shine of her lip gloss, his little soldier reported ready for action.
So one day of pretending to be gay hadn’t actually made him switch teams. Which reminded him of that other time when he’d been confused about what side he was on, and too much thinking for one day was probably why as he lugged out a big container of egg salad, he crashed into Brandi with her arms full of clean plates.
Brandi managed to stay on her feet, but Kellan had tried to swerve and his foot slid on a slice of tomato. A banana peel couldn’t have been slipperier. The egg-salad container hit the ground and puked
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