The Upside of Being Let Down (new adult romance - 1) (17 page)

(19)

First day jitters suck. Especially
when you face your first real customer as a paid employee. I tried to put the
lid on a cup for them to go, but I pressed too hard and the hot coffee spilled everywhere.
Thankfully, the coffee spilled towards me and not the guy standing in a pair of
shorts and polo shirt that looked more expensive than everything I owned.

He smiled as I got him a new one.

I told him it was my first day and
he replied,
hope it won
’
t
be your last
.

Thanks for the vote of confidence.

The morning flew by though which I
welcomed because every free second of time I got I was forced into thinking about
Bryan and the situation that happened the night before. That
’
s what I decided to call it...
the
situation
... because there was no other term for it. Each time I stopped
working, my neck started to feel tight and sore. It made me think of sleeping
in my car. Which then made me think of why I didn
’
t
sleep in Bryan
’
s apartment,
in his big, comfy bed with his strong arm around me. Because of some drunk
girl. I wanted to assume it was his ex, but I couldn
’
t be sure. It wouldn
’
t
shock me if it turned out that Bryan had a girlfriend. That just always seemed
to be the way things went in my life. You know how they say when one door
closes another one opens? For me it
’
s
more like when one door closes, it slams my fingers in it and as I reach for
the new open door, it slams too.

Hope asked me a few times if
everything was okay and something about her blue eyes forced me to be open
about everything. And I mean everything. At one point, during a five minute
span when there wasn
’
t a
single customer in the place (the only five minute span I
’
d see without a customer) I
caught myself telling Hope how good sex was with Bryan.

She laughed and said,
“
Sometimes it
’
s okay to not follow your heart.
”

“
But
isn
’
t that how you opened
this place?
”
I asked.

“
Yeah.
But there are times when it
’
s
okay to just go with the flow of life. See where it takes you. I mean, you have
to be smart of course, but sometimes there
’
s
nothing more freeing than opening your arms and falling forward a little.
”

“
You
mean that literally, don
’
t
you?
”
I asked and smiled.

“
Well,
yeah,
”
Hope said.

She bent her arm and pointed to a
wicked looking scar on her elbow.

“
What
’
s that from?
”
I asked.
“
Did you wrestle a bear or
something?
”

“
Not
quite, AJ. I was on top of a peak on my bike and I knew going down the other
side was a bad idea. The group I was with wanted to go a different way. It was
less angled, with less rocks. But as I stared down the steep ledge, I had to do
it. So I warned them I was going. I looked, smiled, swallowed my fear, and I
just went.
”

It gave me chills. I didn
’
t like the height of a ladder,
let alone mountain peaks.

“
Must
have been a fun ride?
”

“
Sure.
I made it no more than ten feet before my front tire hit a huge rock and I
flipped the bike three times. Busted my elbow open and needed a lot of
stitches.
”

“
And
that
’
s supposed to make me
feel good?
”
I asked.

“
All
I
’
m saying AJ is that
sometimes you can stare down the tallest cliffs and want to try it. There
’
s no right or wrong answer.
There
’
s fear, there
’
s fate, and there
’
s hope. And you never know where
it could lead you.
”

The bell next to me rang.

I nodded at Hope and walked to the
front to greet the next customer.

Tall, skinny, blue eyes like Hope
’
s, short hair, and kind of sexy.
I froze for a second, taken back by his good looks. He walked with a cool,
confident swagger, as though he owned the place.

“
Can
I help you?
”
I asked.

“
Uh...
”

The guy stopped, reached behind
him, and pulled out a black t-shirt. He snapped it once with his wrist and then
looked at me.

“
Who
are you?
”
he asked.

“
This
is AJ,
”
Hope said, coming
from the back.
“
It
’
s her first day.
”

I looked back at Hope and saw the
look in her eye. She was just full of surprises, wasn
’
t she? Like throwing me on the floor that first day
as part of an interview. And now...

“
AJ,
this is my nephew,
”
Hope
said.

I looked at the guy and could tell
where his eyes came from.

“
I
’
m Jon,
”
he said as he put his hand out.

I shook my head and felt my cheeks
starting to turn red.

I didn
’
t know what was wrong with me. It was more or less
shock because I hadn
’
t
realized Hope had other employees. Well, if that
’
s
what Jon was.

“
Jon
helps on the weekend,
”
Hope
said.

“
So
my crazy aunt can go on her crazy adventures,
”
Jon said.

“
Got
to keep young,
”
Hope said.

She untied her apron and took it
off. She threw it at Jon.

I looked at Hope, then at Jon. I
knew what was happening before it happened. But even as Hope started to walk
from behind the counter I asked the obvious question.

“
Are
you leaving?
”

“
Yup,
”
Hope said.
“
No matter what you do in life,
AJ, you have keep living. Dream, live, repeat.
”

My mouth opened a little and Hope
smiled. She then left the caf
é
and left me alone with her nephew. With Jon. Who wasn
’
t shy about the fact that he did own the place in a
way and that he was naturally good looking.

“
AJ,
”
Jon said as he walked by me to
the back.

“
Something
wrong with that?
”
I asked.

“
That
’
s a guy
’
s name,
”
he said.
“
No offense.
”

He disappeared into the back and I
went after him.

Like hell I was going to let
someone talk to me like that. Especially right after meeting me. I made it one
step into the back, thinking of what to say back at him, but it was all stolen
when I saw Jon taking his shirt off.

“
What
are you doing?
”
I managed
to say.

He was skinny and had skinny muscles.

And tattoos.

Some kind of tribal stuff that
started at his shoulders and went down to the bend of his elbows.

He looked at me and said,
“
I
’
m
getting changed for work.
”

“
You
can
’
t do that in a
bathroom?
”

“
I
’
m not used to sharing the place
with someone,
”
he said.
“
Do you mind?
”

I scoffed.
“
Do you?
”

Jon looked at me, confused, with
his arms in the black t-shirt that he and I wore with the name of the caf
é
on it. I had nothing else to
say because I wasn
’
t even
sure if my last question made sense.

Jon put the t-shirt on and his
tattoos were still very visible.

“
Are
you allowed to have tattoos showing?
”
I asked.

“
My
aunt owns the place,
”
Jon
said.

“
Yeah?
”

“
She
paid for the tattoos,
”
Jon
said.
“
Present when I
graduated high school. You should ask her about all her tattoos.
”

That changed my course of thought
for a few seconds. I tried to imagine Hope with tattoos. What they were, where
they were...

“
I
have an interesting family,
”
Jon said. He touched my back as he walked to the front of the caf
é
.

I hurried after him as a group of
people came in.

“
Okay,
show me your stuff,
”
Jon
said.

“
Show
what?
”
I asked.

I don
’
t
know why but I thought of Winnie when he said that. I wondered how many guys on
a nightly basis asked her the same question. I wasn
’
t a stripper though, I was a waitress.

“
Go
wait on those customers,
”
Jon said.
“
I
’
ll run the register and the
grill.
”

“
You
know how to cook?
”
I asked.

“
Well,
isn
’
t that just... mean,
”
Jon said.
“
Because I
’
m a guy I can
’
t
cook?
”

“
Hey,
you were the one who said I have a guy
’
s
name.
”

“
Well,
you do.
”

I curled my lip but said nothing
more. As I walked towards the two new tables, I told myself I
’
d keep my distance from Jon. I
only had three more hours on my shift and I
’
d
be done. And with the way the morning had been so far, I
’
d already made more money just that day than any
other shitty part-time job I
’
d
had before.

I took drink orders, food orders,
chatted with the two tables, and I actually found myself enjoying it all. For
being somewhat of a social outcast, I had stumbled into a job as a waitress at
this little caf
é
and it
worked. It was relaxed and fun, that is until I had to deal with Jon.

Something about him was obnoxious
but addicting.

He always had comments and had dumb
jokes, but they seemed to just smooth right over when he looked at me. It wasn
’
t just the color of his eyes. I
wasn
’
t one of those girls
that could find a feature on someone and fall in love forever. It was just the
way his eyes looked at me. He seemed so open, so free, uncaring, not worried. Like
the total opposite of myself.

Each time he looked at me though, I
thought of Bryan. There wasn
’
t
much need to think about Bryan because there was nothing there with Bryan. We
were just...
whatever
... I stayed at his place. He was a nice guy,
helping me out for a little bit. I already promised myself that I
’
d grab a paper on the way out of
work and start looking for a place to live. If I could make the same amount of
money all the time, I
’
d be
fine.

The two tables left only to be
replaced by four more.

It was seriously busy.

I walked into the back and watched
Jon with his back to me, getting something out of the fridge. He had a radio on
that was linked up to the rest of the caf
é
.
The music was on some kind of indie station. They were songs I never heard of
before but were kind of catchy. As he stood there, singing his heart away,
digging around, I smiled.

Was I honestly checking him out?

Then he bent over, way down,
sticking his butt in the air. I rolled my eyes and turned my head for a second,
trying not to stare. When I looked back at him, he had his head turned to me.

“
Is
this better?
”
he asked.

“
What?
”

“
Is
this better? I mean, if you
’
re
going to stand there and eye hump me...
”

“
You
’
re really high on yourself, aren
’
t you?
”
I asked.

Jon stood and walked to the
grilling area. He had a big smile on his face.

“
I
’
m high on life,
”
he said and put his head back,
taking a deep breath.

“
You
’
re pathetic,
”
I said.

He put a spatula under a grilled
cheese and flipped it in the air. It landed to the other side, sizzling. He
pointed the spatula at me.

“
Are
you impressed?
”
he asked.

“
Not
at all,
”
I threw back.