“So, how’s the first day going?” Luke asks me.
“Great. Thanks again for getting me an interview.”
“Don’t worry about it.” He smiles. “Jen, not too hard on her, I hope?”
Jenny laughs. “I don’t have to, she’s a natural. But I do need my employee back sometime today, Jenson.”
It’s clear they know each other well. Luke probably hung around the store often back when his aunt ran it—this was her first store. When asked if he’s got somewhere to be by Jenny, Luke starts fidgeting with his jersey.
He doesn’t want to leave.
“Yeah, hm… Kass, before I go, I wanted to ask you… Can I take you out sometime?”
Shit.
I can feel Jenny and Ethan staring directly into my soul. There isn’t a single person in the vicinity not awaiting my reply—I bet even the fucking fishes are on the edge of their seats. Everybody’s impatient to see if I’m going to be that girl. The one who says no to her boss’s nephew, not to mention the guy who got her the job.
“Sure.” I crumble to the peer pressure.
“Really?” His eyes widen. “I mean, cool.” He retracts his excitement, and guilt floods my stomach. He’s such a nice guy. I don’t want to lead him on. Truth is, I’m just not that interested. And at the risk of sounding like a walking cliché, it’s not him, it’s me. I need a break from boys. We can talk in a year.
“Next weekend?” he asks.
“Okay.” I force a smile.
“Great. I’ll text you.”
I nod.
“See you at school.” Luke makes his way to the door, angles his head back for one last smile, and exits the now completely silent store. Immediately, Ethan goes off.
“Holy guacamole.”
Jenny muffles a laugh.
“It’s his first time seeing Luke,” she explains.
So… Ethan is gay.
Cue the disappointed girls all over the world.
I trail back to the counter, punching in on the computer.
“What’s wrong with you?” Ethan’s scandalized. “How are you not more excited about this? Are you blind? He’s smoking hot.”
It’s my turn to restrain my laughter.
Jenny calls us to order. “Okay, back to work you two. These fish tanks aren’t going to clean themselves.”
“Women, I swear. They don’t appreciate the gifts of God,” Ethan puffs as he walks away.
Climbing inside my car after locking up the store with Jenny, I wonder if it’d be okay to tell my mom I need a weekend on top of this weekend. Today was downright exhausting. Squeezing years of information into a six-hour shift will do that to you. Firing up my car, I eye my phone on the passenger seat and catch myself wanting to text Will.
I select our conversation before I can overthink it.
Kass: You’ll be happy to know I decided to give Luke a chance.
Five minutes go by.
Willy Wonka: Weren’t you just telling me how much you don’t want to date him?
Kass: I know but I felt bad. He asked me out in front of my co-workers. On my first day at the job HE got me. What was I supposed to do?
Willy Wonka: Say you have a boyfriend?
Kass: I don’t?
Willy Wonka: He doesn’t know that.
Kass: You were bugging me to date him just yesterday. What happened?
Willy Wonka: That’s before I knew how goddamn annoying he was.
Okay?
Kass: Stop. He’s nice. I even bet when he says “Netflix and Chill” he means “Watching a movie”
Willy Wonka: Can you hear me snoring?
Kass: Shut up. Just because a guy is a gentleman doesn’t make him boring.
Willy Wonka: Yeah but that’s not what you need.
My mind runs a marathon.
Kass: You don’t know shit about what I need, Willy.
Willy Wonka: Wrong.
Kass: Okay. What do I need?
Willy Wonka: You need a guy who can’t keep his hands, eyes and mouth off you. Not some mama’s boy who doesn’t have the balls to kiss you.
Something in my chest gives a jolt.
But it’s not my heart. It can’t be.
I won’t allow it.
I don’t understand my body’s reaction to his message, but what I understand even less… are the images invading my brain when I soak in his words.
I imagine him.
Will.
Doing all these things to me.
Kissing me, touching me, fu—
Willy Wonka: But that’s just my opinion
I nibble on my lower lip. My mind went to a seriously weird place for a second there.
Kass: Yeah, well, if you know a guy who can do all these things, hit me up. Until then I’ll keep going on my “boring” dates.
I blink at my screen, confused by my own damn self. I don’t know why I said that, why I was just going on about how much I don’t want to date anyone only to try and get a reaction out of Will a second later.
He doesn’t text back. Not in the first five minutes, not in the next. Fifteen minutes later, I grow sick of waiting and speed out of the store parking lot. As soon as I pull into my driveway, my phone lights up with his reply.
Willy Wonka: I’ll let you get back to golden boy now.
First thing I learned today:
I can’t figure out William Martins.
Second thing I learned today:
I sure as hell am going to try.
Kassidy
Groaning in annoyance, I rifle through my purse, desperate to find my keys. Stress ball, sticky notes, lipstick. No keys. I release a scoff, mocking myself for hoarding so much useless shit. I’ve never, in the five years I’ve had it, used that stress ball, but I still carry it around, just in case.
I’ve been working at the pet store for a few days now. The adjustment period wasn’t easy—processing truckloads of information in a completely new environment never is—but the silver lining is, I got to meet my long-lost gay soul mate, Ethan. We skipped the awkward, work friend moment and jumped straight into the “let’s hang out” phase.
He fed me bits and pieces of his life story, skimming over the details, but it didn’t take a PhD to
