Grey took a breath. He turned towards me. “Rafael,” he said, and his tone was conciliatory – patronizingly so. Like I hadn’t seen what just happened right in front of me. Like he hadn’t passed me over right at the time when he would have done to court my loyalty the most.
I laughed at him, too – a freeing, happy laugh that burst out of my chest and surprised me with its violence. “Don’t look at me,”I said, leaping to my feet and yanking at the strings of my apron. Suddenly, the fatigue was gone – I was filled with more energy than I knew what to do with. “I already quit earlier today.”
I threw my apron down on top of Drake’s – threw it! No folding it neatly! – and laughed one last time in Grey’s face for good measure, then turned and sprinted down the corridor. I managed to catch hold of my coat as I ran – there was no leaving anything behind today, not when there was never going to be another chance to come back here and get it – and then burst out into the cold evening air, panting for breath already and looking around for him wildly.
His bike was still there.
“Drake!” I yelled, praying that he would stop and talk to me before he simply rode out of my life for good.
Drake
“Drake!”
My name on his lips – how could I not turn around and stop, and wait for him to catch up with me?
Rafael was panting from a sprint across the parking lot; it was the fastest I’d ever seen him move, and that was saying something given how hectic it had gotten during that last part of service. He came to a stop in front of me, his breath misting in the air in front of him and mingling with mine.
“Yeah?” I asked, waiting. He’d called my name, but now he seemed to be at a loss for what to say.
“You quit,” he said.
“I know,” I replied. The corner of my mouth twitched up in a smile. We’d both been there. Did he think this was news to me?
“I mean, you really did it,” Rafael said. “You – he offered you the job, and you quit.”
“I told you, Raf,” I said. “I was only there to help you get through the evening. I was always planning to quit, no matter what.”
“Yeah, but you…” Rafael didn’t seem to be getting past this point. He didn’t even correct me for using his nickname. “You actually did it!”
“And did you?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. I had no idea what had happened after I left or why it took him so long to follow. Forall I knew, he was happy because he was finally getting the job he’d thought he deserved all along.
“Yes,” Rafael said, an offended look on his face. “I told him where to shove it.” A consternated frown passed over his eyes, darkening them as he turned to look over his shoulder.
“What? Regretting it?”
“I should have told him to fuck off,” Rafael said mournfully. “That was probably my only opportunity.”
Hearing him – straight-laced, precise Rafael Esparza – actually curse was so much of a shock I almost gasped. I found myself chuckling. “Holy shit, Raf. I guess when you mean it, you mean it.”
He looked back at me and shook his head in wonder. “You actuallyquit.”
Alright, now it was starting to wear a little thin. “Did you really think I was that bad of a person that I wouldn’t stand up for Beau?”
“You didn’t stand up for Luca,” Rafael pointed out.
“I didn’t know if Luca was in the wrong,” I countered. “Not until you found the evidence. And when you did, I no longer needed to stand up for him.”
“I thought you just didn’t want to risk your job,” Rafael said.
I sighed and put my helmet onto the seat of my bike, letting it stand so I didn’t need to keep holding it. It was heavy, after all, and we’d been on our feet all evening. “If you stop thinking of me as this big bad rival who came in to steal your job from under your nose, do you really still think I’m a bad guy?” I asked.
Rafael’s mouth worked for a moment, opening and closing, but no sound came out. His eyes dropped to my mouth as mine didthe same to his, and for a long second, I thought he wasn’t going to say anything at all.
“No,” he said, at last. He met my eyes again and, this time, there was something new within the depths of his brown irises. “I don’t think you’re a bad person.”
“Good.” I paused and gave him a rueful smile. “Is ‘not bad’ the best I’m going to get?”
Rafael chuckled. “Well, you do keep getting my name wrong.”
