I shook my head at the cashier. “Please don’t.”
“Scusi. It’s already done,” he said with a heavy Italian accent, smiling at Leo.
Leo took the bags and his coffee. “Grazie, Giuseppe.”
I glared at them both. “So you know the cashier, and he lets you cut in line like this?”
“Something like that.” Leo gestured for me to follow him to a table.
I moved to the side only so I wouldn’t hold the line. “I’m not sitting with you, and you can’t keep doing this.”
“Doing what?”
“Bumping into me wherever I go.”
“Then you shouldn’t turn me down every time I ask you out. You leave me no choice.”
I rolled my eyes. “Can you give me my stuff please? I gotta go.”
He held the bag up as high as his arms allowed, which was way beyond my reach. “Come get it.”
Sometimes I hated it when boys had to be a foot taller than the girls they were interested in. It was sexy and even necessary, but now it was just unfair. “You know I can’t unless I borrow a ladder, so please…”
“I’ll give it to you on one condition.”
“I know the condition, and I can’t. Please stop being a douche.”
“Why can’t you? You’re single. I checked. And you obviously like me, too.”
“You’re so full of yourself, LeoFor Now.”
He chuckled. “Look me in the eye and tell me, without lying, that you don’t like me, and I’ll never ask again.”
I wasn’t that good of a liar, and one dip in these blue eyes would ruin my chances before I uttered a single word. “Why are you going through all this trouble for a girl like me? It’s been like what, six months now since you started our accidental, silent meet-cutes? Aren’t you tired? Since the recital, you’ve asked me out eight times already, and my answer has always been no. Why won’t you go date someone…like you?”
“I’m not tired, and I don’t want someone like me or someone not like me whatever that means.” His arm dropped, and his gaze, dark and intense, held me in place. “I only want you.”
I faltered back a step, his fragrance overpowering the delicious smells of the bakery, his gaze sending a sweet shiver down my spine. “I…um…” I closed my eyes, snapping myself out of his invisible hold. “Unlucky for you, I don’t date. And don’t ask me why. It’s just the way it is.”
It wasn’t like I didn’t want to give boys a try. I wasn’t like Nicky. I needed to give normal a chance, for my sanity, at least. To get over whatever the hellhedid to me. I couldn’t even put a name to it, but it ruined me. A healthy relationship would be nice. Therapeutic.
But I just didn’t know how to do normal or if I’d ever be ready. A boy like Leo, an experienced, rich, college boy who was obviously out of my league, couldn’t be my first.
When he said nothing for a while, I reluctantly opened my eyes to measure his reaction. He just stood there, staring at me, studying me, and then he breathed out. “Va bene. You don’t date, so we won’t date.”
Relief brushed me for a second before he opened his mouth again.
“But you do drink coffee, so you can have that with me.” He didn’t wait for my response. He walked and set his cup and my bag on the table, mumbling something in Italian—I understood enough to gather it was a coffee order—at the cashier.
“C’mon, Leo. Take a hint.”
“I did. I stopped asking, didn’t I?” He pulled a chair out for me. “It’s just coffee, Lina. Doesn’t mean anything.”
I knew it did, but one coffee wouldn’t hurt. Right? It might finally convince him I was a lost cause, and he’d stop trying. I hated how I had to turn him down every time. It needed to end. “I can only stay for ten minutes.” I took the seat he offered.
A server brought my coffee, and I thanked him, keeping it in the space between Leo and me as a shield on the table. He gave me his usual staring, not drinking his either.
“Are you gonna say something?” I wasn’t planning on doing the talking, but this was weird. The staring, even though I’d gotten used to it and maybe even started to like it, made me nervous and self-conscious. There was no way a boy like him would notice a girl like me, let alone like her that much. He was the full package, and I was…well, me.
