Lust

“Back to work, Manning,” he ordered Beth. “You’re on a shift, not a date.”

“Yes, Mr. White “Beth said meekly“! was just about to take their order.”

“That’s a good little girl,” he smarmed, nodding his head sharply.

Beth blinked her eyes furiously for a moment, then whipped out her notebook and drew back her lips in a poor imitation of a smile.

“So, uh, what can I get for you all?” she asked in a coolly professional voice.

“How about the 411 on where I can find an outfit like that for myself?” Kaia asked sarcastically, gesturing to Beth’s bright green poodle skirt.” Its just stunning.”

Everyone laughed, including-Kaia was pleased to note-Adam. A bit of the frustration of the afternoon slipped away, and Kaia suddenly realized this dinner might be a lot more pleasant than she’d thought. Goodbye damsel in distress, hello other woman.

After they’d downed their drinks and scraped the bottom of their ice-cream sundaes, everyone left-except Adam, who waited dutifully for Beth to finish up her shift. He liked watching her work-she was so efficient, every move measured and practiced, as if she’d been behind the counter for years, rather than hours. As the restaurant emptied out, he followed along behind her as she wiped down the tables and collected the bills from a few final lingering customers, trying to keep her company, but she refused to give him more than one- or two-word responses to his steady stream of chatter.

“Can you just let me finish this up?” she finally said sharply, as he traced his hand down her back. She shrugged him off. “You don’t have to wait around for me-just go home if you want.”

“No way,” Adam protested. “Of course I’m waiting.” They’d planned a night out on the town to celebrate her new job-and although the options open at this hour ranged from a stale cup of coffee at the imitation Starbucks to a greasy slice of pizza at Guido’s, he was determined to give her a stellar night and make the most of the little time he was finally getting to spend with her. Not to mention, make up for whatever it was she thought he’d done. (And to make up for what he had done-though Beth could never find out about that.)

Her shift ended at eleven, and she disappeared into the back to clean up and change. Adam fidgeted as he waited, fiddling with the jukebox, studiously ignoring her manager’s glare, and reading the newspaper headlines and vintage movie posters hanging on the wall. Revenge of the Forty Foot Woman, read one. Her love will move mountains… and her wrath will crush cities. Adam shivered-he could relate.

Beth eventually reemerged and, hesitating for a moment, made her way toward the door, gesturing to Adam that he should follow her.

“Hey, you did great!” Adam said, hurrying over and throwing his arms around her. Maybe if he ignored the tension, it would just go away. “How was it?”

Beth extricated herself from his grasp.

“It was fine,” she snapped. “No thanks to you.”

Here it came. Adam ran a hand through his hair and sighed. “What are you talking about?”

“Let’s just get out of here” she muttered, brushing past and stalking out of the restaurant. She walked briskly to the beat-up Chevy, one of the only cars left in the lot, and stood silently, arms crossed, waiting for him to unlock the doors.

“So, where to?” he asked, opening her door for her. She climbed past him without a word and tossed her backpack into the backseat. “Coffee? Ice cream? Beer? All three?”

“You know what?” she said irritably. “Just take me home.”

Adam climbed into the car and slammed the door behind him, feeling an immediate spasm of guilt-after all, it wasn’t poor Bertha’s fault that Beth was throwing some sort of PMS shit fit. The old car couldn’t take too many more fights like this.

“What’s your problem?” he asked, hostility seeping into his voice. He put the key into the ignition, but paused before turning the key. Better to finish this. Now. “I’m trying to be nice here,” he pointed out. “I thought we were celebrating. And you’re being a total-” He stopped himself just in time.

“What? I’m being a total what?”

“Forget it,” he said in a softer voice. “Seriously, what’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong? What’s wrong?” she screeched, her voice rising in decibels with every word. “What’s wrong is that I was just totally humiliated in front of all of our supposed friends, and you just sat there and watched. No-no, better, you helped!” A few tears leaked out of her eyes, and she angrily wiped them away.

“What are you talking about?” he asked helplessly. “I was trying to be supportive. We all were.”

“Yeah, thanks so much for the support,” she drawled. “You bring them all here, without asking me, without even telling me-like it’s not bad enough it’s my first day at a new job, I have to serve my friends. Did it ever occur to you that might be a little embarrassing for me?”

“Look, I’m sorry, I didn’t-you should have said something,” he stammered.

“Said something?” she asked, her voice choked with emotion. “When? When you didn’t tell me you were bringing them? Or when Kaia was making a fool out of me and they were all laughing at me? When you were laughing at me?”

Adam looked down-there was too much pain in her voice, in her eyes.

“Should I have said something when Kaia dumped her milkshake on the floor and I had to get down on my hands and knees and clean up her mess? Adam, how could you not know that would be horrible for me?” she pleaded. “How could you, of all people, not understand that?”

“That’s not fair,” he protested, holding his hands in front of him as if to stem the torrent of accusations. “First of all, that milkshake thing was an accident-”

“That’s all you’ve got to say?” she asked incredulously. “You’re defending her? I’m sitting here telling you all this, and I’ve had the worst night ever, and-and all you can do is tell me I’m being too hard on Kaia?” She shrugged and turned away from him. “I guess it’s good to know where your loyalties lie,” she told him in a muffled voice.

“What are you even talking about? I’m so loyal to you that I-” He cut himself off. Somehow, he didn’t think it would help his case to point out the temptation he’d valiantly resisted this afternoon. But his anger rose, throbbing beneath the surface, as he thought about the beautiful girl he’d pushed out of his arms, about everything he had given up, was still giving up, all for Beth. And did he get any credit for that? Any gratitude or understanding? Anything?

“You know what?” she asked, when it became clear he was never going to finish his thought. “That’s not even the point. I just can’t believe you thought this was a good idea. I mean, it’s like you don’t even know me at all. How is that even possible?”

“If this is the way you’re going to be, maybe I don’t want to know you!” he shouted back, his temper finally snapping.

She burst into tears-but he was far too angry to care.

Harper was tired. Tired of the whole hidden unrequited love thing, tired of being consumed by bitterness and jealousy and paranoia, tired of feeling bested by other girls-blonder girls, bitchier girls, lamer girls, and most of all, tired of sitting around waiting for something to happen.

She wasn’t that kind of girl.

Not usually, at least. And not tonight.

So after the meeting in the diner (and Harper had at least derived a measure of pleasure from watching Beth twist in the wind, as Adam cluelessly dug himself into a deeper and deeper hole), Harper had decided she needed a break. A vacation from this unsettling and ineffective good girl version of herself that was trying to forge some kind of honest emotional bond with her oldest friend. A return, if brief, to reality.

Enter Derek.

Derek was blond, built, brainless-and had been chasing after her for months. A few dates with him had been all she needed to deem him more irritating than nails scraping on a blackboard, but tonight? Tonight he had seemed just what she needed.

So here she was, an hour after her unabashed booty call, tangled up in his idiotic arms. It hadn’t taken much. She’d washed off the diner grease, slipped into a red camisole and black faux leather skirt, applied a fresh coat of makeup, and been more than ready to go fifteen minutes later when his black SUV pulled up to her house and honked until she emerged from the front door. Derek had, of course, been all over her the moment she stepped into