Walking up to the register, I smile at the young woman with a messy bun and hearing aids with purple glittery ear molds.
‘Hi,’ I sign. She looks relieved. I wasn’t watching, but she probably had a bitch of a time dealing with the asshole in front of me. I glance up at the menu briefly. ‘Spanakopita, side pita, side tzatziki, chicken souvlaki…’ My fingers hesitate. ‘Hummus.’
She doesn’t judge me for the massive order. She just types it all in, then turns the iPad around for me to tap my card and hands me my receipt and a little vibrating buzzer to notify me when my order’s ready. ‘You can wait there.’ She points to a bench lining the side wall, and that’s all well and good except…
Mother of god, there’s a couple sitting by the window closest to the takeout bench, and I recognize them both. The absurdly gorgeous woman with long dark hair, and then him.
Sex.
I meanDex, fuck.
He hasn’t seen me yet. At least, I don’t think he’s seen me. The woman glances up and catches my eye for a second, but she goes back to her conversation without missing a beat. I shuffle over, trying to find a blind spot where Dex won’t notice me at all when she reaches over and puts her hand on his bicep, and oh hell.
Ohfuck.
There’s a ring on a very important finger.
So he’s not just seeing someone—he’s engaged. He did all that with me in the goddamn gym shower, and he’sengaged? I want to storm over there and confront him—to let her know what her fiancé is up to.
I want to set it all on fire.
But then he throws his head back and laughs at something she says, and my heart feels like it’s cracking in a thousand pieces. I want to ruin him, and I want to do nothing at all.
I want to choke on the broken shards of my heart while he rides off into the sunset with his model of a bride.
I sink down to the bench instead and hunch into myself, refusing to look up again because I know if I do, I’m going to see them doing something horrible.
Like kissing.
Or worse, looking at each other like they’re in love. Because they probably are.
I squeeze my eyes shut and feel the weight of the order buzzer, praying to whatever god might be listening that I can get out of there without any kind of incident.
Minutes pass that feel like hours, and when I’m brave enough to look up again, their table’s empty.
Shit. Did he see me hunched over here like a fucking goblin?
My phone buzzes in my pocket, and I pull it out in a panic because what if it’s him? I don’t think I can take it.
But I can’t ignore it forever, so I glance down and almost cry when I see Quinn’s name on the screen. I almost throw up on my shoes from relief. Robbie’s brother and I have been friends for years, and we didn’t get the chance to chat much at my coming home party, so whatever he wants, it’ll be a very nice distraction.
Quinn: Have gift for u from mom. When I come over yours?
Me: getting food, then you come, twenty minutes?
Quinn: ok I go now, wait for u.
I send a thumbs-up. If he wants to sit like a gargoyle on my doorstep until I get home, that’s up to him. Robbie and his brothers are all such fucking gremlins, so it’s not a surprise.
And at least this means my evening will be occupied with something else besides Dex. At least, so long as Quinn doesn’t want to talk about him and how happy he’s been since I was away.
As promised, Quinn is waiting for me when I get to my rental, but it doesn’t look like he’s been there long. I wave at him as best I can with my keys, phone, satchel, and all the food.
He relieves me of some of my burden so I can get the door unlocked, and we head into the kitchen, where he helps himself to my shit, because of course he does.
Quinn is one in a family of four Deaf kids though, so he’s used to being a little feral when it comes to food and nosy as fuck when it comes to personal stuff.
I get a couple of plates out when Quinn starts eating directly out of the box, and I give him a pointed stare. His lips part with what I know is a scoff, but he fills his plate like a dignified human being and leaves me with the rest. It isn’t as much as I wanted, but it’s probably more than I need right now.
