A laugh bubbles from my chest, mostly because I haven’t heard the term ‘knockin’ boots’ since my Grams used to say it.Even though the few kisses we shared in my room earlier were so hot they turned me into a melting puddle in his arms and had my panties soaked through, I’m not going to tell Sammy that. I can feel my face turn red as I avoid eye contact and put my purse in my locker. “We like each other.”
“I knew it! I told you! Are the rumors true?” She leans in and lowers her voice for the last question as she waggles her eyebrows, which I can only assume are the rumors about his prowess.
Tipping my head sheepishly, my eyes go wide as I roll them, and I whisper, “I don’t know about that.” Her smile falls, and her hand slips from my arm in disappointment, so I add, “Yet. But he’s a good kisser.” I try to suppress the smile on my face but do a horrible job of it.
Her smile comes back, and she rocks up onto her tiptoes like an eager child. “Yeah?” She grabs my arm again. “But you’ll tell me if the rumors about his size are true?” She pulls on my arm. “Please, will you tell?”
Pulling away in mock horror, I smile as I pull my apron around my waist to tie it. “I will not.”
She’s tying her apron, too, and says, “Fine. I’ll know. Especially if you’re walking funny.”
Twisting my face in distaste, I look at her and wrinkle my nose. “Gross, Sammy.” Without waiting for her to respond, I turn to go to the front, but she’s laughing as she follows behind me.
As I walk up to the bar to grab a notepad and pen, I see Trudy take a beer to Tuck’s table, which is my table, and she leans toward him as she sets it down, her ample boobs on display. She cuts the neck collars of our already low-cut V-shirts to show more cleavage. With her super short skirts and the front of her shirt knotted in the front to show her waist, she looks like she should be in a strip bar instead of a pub.
I’ve wondered if she is looking for more tips or more attention, but hey, whatever.
The blood in my veins turns green even though Tuck barely acknowledges her. She’s in my section on purpose, and she’s trying to get his attention on purpose. At first, I don’t know why that bothers me so much, but then I realize it’s because I know they had a thing once. She knows more about him than I do. Intimate things. Things that I want to be special between him and I.
Sammy should have never told me they had a fling, but maybe it was better coming from her than finding out at, lets say, right now, as the skank tries desperately to get his attention.
I learned a couple of weeks ago that Trudy is close in age to Tuck; I think she’s thirty-one to his thirty-four. That’s a ten-year difference between him and me. I don’t think that matters to him, but it doesn’t stop my over-analyzing mind from wondering if he’s going to compare me to her.
It isn’t lost on me that Trudy and I share similar physiques, we both are well endowed and have wide hips. But that’s where the commonalities end, her box-blond hair and heavy makeup are very different from my flame-red hair and minimal makeup. This just means that my insecurities are having a hay-day trying to determine if Tuck has a type and where I fall on his scale.
Sometimes I really hate Matt for making me question my worth. My mind knows better, but it was the constant little jabs at my self-esteem that took root and created a vining wall of insecurities with leaf upon leaf of slights and hurts.
Sammy bumps me with her shoulder next to me as she grabs another notepad and slides it into her apron. “Don’t pay any attention to Trudy. She saw you come in together, so she’s bein’ a bitch. I swear she thinks she has to have every man’s attention.” She twirls her finger in the air to indicate the entire room. Thenshe winks at me. “Weallsaw you come in together, she’s just making a fool of herself.”
That somewhat soothes the jealousy that’s making the top of my head hot as I look back over at his table. Trudy sets her hand on the smooth wooden surface and cocks her hip, saying something, but he just leans away from her, resting his hands on his thighs, and his eyes lock with mine, ignoring her.
She turns to look over her shoulder at what he’s looking at and sees me watching them. Her lips press into a tight line as she looks back at Tuck to see if he’s looking at me - he is. I can see the angry huff as she rolls her eyes and walks away from his table.
I want so bad to preen right in front of her.
Butterflies are dancing in my stomach, and the memory of his kiss warms me from my head to my toes as he holds my gaze. He doesn’t smile when one side of my lips tips up, but he does the next best thing, he winks at me. It’s not just a wink, the tenderness in his eyes and the intensity of his stare sends a message to everyone watching.
Sammy bumps me again, but against my back this time as she walks by. “Holy shit, girl, that man only has eyes for you.”
Throughout the entire evening, Trudy let me know just how much she doesn’t like me with her catty side-eye and cold shoulder when we waited at the bar together. It was hard to be angry or upset about it since her issue is rooted in some kind of weird jealousy.
However, who acts like that? She barely knows me. I know Sammy said she’s ‘just an unhappy attention whore’, but still. She doesn’t give Sammy a hard time when the customers flirt with her. Is it just about Tuck? Or does she just have some kind of gripe with me?
True to his word, Tuck sat at his usual table all night, nursing a few beers. Stony gave him some disapproving looks for taking up a table all night, but I have a feeling that he would rathershove pins under his fingernails than say anything to Tuck about it. It was kind of odd knowing he stayed for me, since just a few weeks ago I thought he wasn’t a nice person.
Now, he’s one of the best people I know.
One topic of conversation throughout the evening has been the fall festival happening this weekend. Quite a few people asked me if I plan to go, telling me I don’t want to miss it. Apparently, the City of Claremore puts on a festival with carnival rides, games, food trucks and lots of fall-themed activities.
It sounds fun, but I doubt grumpy Tuck would ever ask me to go to something so crowded. I listen politely to the various accounts of how much fun it is, especially since the temperatures have dropped, signaling fall is really here. With each new conversation encouraging me to go, I realize I have become a staple here for the regulars that come in through the week. They think of me as one of them.
It feels good to be included.
Close to last call of the night, I’m at the bar waiting for the last round of drinks for one of my tables. Trudy steps up next to me and calls out an order. Even her perfume is unpleasant, it’s some kind of floral scent that attacks the olfactory and clings to the senses longer than it should.
Against everything in me, my imagination conjures a picture of Tuck kissing Trudy and her perfume lingering on his clothes after. Immediate revulsion squeezes my chest.
“You think he’ll stick around for you?” She says as she slides her eyes in my direction for a moment and turns her attention back to Stony.
