Parking out front, I ask, "Do you want to go in alone?"
"Why? Does it look suspicious if you come with me?"
"Would it?"
"No, it's fine," she says with a confidence I've never seen in her before.
Locking the car, I follow behind her and spot Tawny immediately.
"Are you working today?" Tawny asks Amelia, while also pretending I do not exist.
"No, I needed coffee. An extra,extralarge one."
Benny comes out from the back and gives her a wave but gives me a double take.
I'm invisible to Tawny, yet Benny reacts as though an imaginary spotlight is projected on me.
"Have we met?" Benny asks as he offers a hand. "You look so familiar."
"I used to come a lot when Amelia worked here in high school. I'm her stepbrother, Theo."
My confession makes us both shudder.
"That's right. Wow, you grew up…in a good way." Benny says with a smile.
"Thanks."
"Amelia, you never texted me back about getting dinner."
"Ah, I'm so sorry."
"Mind if I steal her real quick to look at the schedule? We won't be gone longer than a minute," Benny asks, while also not waiting for my response and dragging her back anyway.
Not only will she be spilling all the gossip to him back there, but I'm left alone with Tawny and some other barista who won't stop looking at me.
"How have you been?" I ask Tawny.
"Good, and you?"
"Great."
"Ya know, if you weren't interested in me, the least you could have done was tell me and not string me along like you did."
"Wait, how did I string you along?"
The other coworker is multitasking well, making our drinks and eavesdropping like a professional spy.
"You said you were interested in me—"
I never did.
"And you invited me back to your place and we did stuff. You even asked me to sleepover."
I never did.
"And you ghosted me."
"I'm sorry you feel that way, but I never said I was looking for a relationship. You can't base all this on one night we shared together, that's not fair."
