“Me?” I questioned. “You’re here, too.”
“Tips are for the waiting staff, you know that.”
“Yeah,” I began, “but you’ve been cooking up a storm in here all day. You deserve half.”
“You’re a sweetie, Frankie, but those tips are yours. You’ve worked hard today, I don’t know what I would have done without you.”
I felt heat stain my cheeks.
“Thanks, Joe, I appreciate it.”
“And I appreciate you, kid.”
I smiled as he turned and got back to work cleaning his workspace. Joe could hold a steady conversation, but he preferred to be alone in the kitchen with his thoughts for company as he cooked. I never felt brushed off by him. In fact, whenever I managed to get his attention and talk to him, he had a way of making me feel like a well-loved and appreciated little kid. I loved that about him.
I looked from Joe and focused my gaze through the hatch. I was glad to see no new customers had come into the diner. I leaned forward, relaxing when I saw my only table were smiling and chatting away as they ate their meal.
I studied the pair, wondering if they were friends, relatives or a couple on a date. From the way the girl kept stealing glances at the lad, and the way he kept licking his lips when he looked at her, I was edging more towards them being a couple on a date. Maybe even their very first date. Thinking of that made me think of my very first date, and funnily enough, it took place in Mary Well’s diner, too, in that exact booth.
I was a few days away from turning fifteen and I had been asked out by my long-time crush . . . Risk Keller.
“Aren’t we supposed to share a milkshake?” I quizzed, trying to downplay the fact that I was so nervous that my palms were sweating. “All the romance movies I’ve seen will have been for nothing if we don’t drink a large strawberry milkshake with two straws while we stare deeply into each other’s eyes.”
Risk stared at me, unblinking. His bruised right eye making him look rugged, dangerous, and a hell of a lot more handsome than he already was. I didn’t ask how he’d gotten it because I knew it was his foster father’s fault. I didn’t want to bring it up and upset him so I kept my mouth shut.
“For that sentence alone,” he began, “I’m considering walking out of this diner and never contacting you ever again.”
“Considering the way you’ve stalked me lately, I find that hard to believe.”
“I can dodge you easily.”
“How easily?” I leaned forward. “How easy would it be to stay away from me?”
“As easy as taking sweets from a baby.”
“You’re a pig,” I said, fighting off a grin as I sat back. “I should have made you buy me chocolates to make this date bearable.”
“How about I give you a kiss instead?” Risk waggled his thick, white-blond eyebrows. “Right here and now. I’ll make it quick in order to put a smile on that semi-decent face of yours. I still remember how much you liked my little peck when I asked you out yesterday.”
I yawned, feigning boredom but Christ, my heart was pounding.
“I agreed to this date because I felt sorry for you. If my answer was based on that embarrassing thing you called a kiss then I wouldn’t be here. For future reference, I need a little more time and appreciation put into my kisses. So unless you can kiss me until I’m weak, thanks but no thanks, rock star.”
Risk, who was looking at his nails, looked up at me and blinked, “I’m sorry, did you say something? I tuned you out; your voice is so bloody annoying.”
“That’s funny,” I blinked. “I was going to say exactly that when you sang earlier.”
Risk sucked in a sharp, dramatic breath. He even placed his hand on his chest in shock. “That was too far,” he scowled. “There is a limit to sarcastic insults and you just exceeded that limit with the biggest lie ever.”
“Who said I was being sarcastic?”
“I am, because you’re obsessed with my voice and you know it.”
“And how do you know that?” I questioned, trying not to let on how close to home he was with that comment. “I could only be on this date because I know you’re gonna be a rich and famous rock star one day and I want you to buy me some pretty things.”
“I know you’re obsessed with me,” Risk smirked. “Because you talk in your sleep.”
I froze. “You lie.”
“I would never.”
“You would too and you know it.”
“I’m a midnight slasher, and when we were camping on our last school trip, I walked right by your sleeping bag. You talk in your sleep, Cherry.”
I felt my cheeks burn. He had recently started calling me Cherry because of my hair colour and each time he called me it, my heart pounded because of how much I loved it, but of course, I couldn’t let him know that.
“You shut your stupid mouth, Risk Keller.”
“You spoke clearly,” he continued as if I hadn’t bellowed. “I stopped walking when I heard my name. My name being moaned from your sweet lips in a deep sleep.”
I choked on air. “Liar.”
“Truther,” Risk grinned. “Why do you think I asked you out yesterday?”
“Because you’re in love with me and always have been!”
“Maybe,” his lips curved up at the corners. “But also because I want to hear you moan my name again, but this time, while I’m looking into those pretty green eyes of yours.”
My cheeks were absolutely scalded.
“You’re a dumb arse.”
“And you have a nice arse.”
“You’re not allowed talk about my arse, Risk Keller. I’ll thump you something fierce otherwise.”
He pointed to his blackened eye. “Get in line, Cherry.”
I scowled at him and he cheekily smiled, making my pulse spike. He sat up and leaned right over our empty table and brought his face so close to mine that I could feel his breath on my skin and count each of his freckles if I wanted to. I could feel my body tremble.
“You want me to admit how much I like you, Frankie?”
Wordlessly, I bobbed my head.
“You’re not just my muse, you’re my music,” he said. “And I want you to be my girlfriend . . . will you?”
He had barely finished asking me when I blurted, “Yes.”
Risk’s face lit up. “Told you that you were obsessed with me.”
“Shut up.”
“Time and appreciation,” he said, his ice-blue eyes locked on mine. “That’s what you want put into your kisses, isn’t that what you said?”
I couldn’t speak, the ability was suddenly lost on me, so I only barely managed to nod.
“Good, because Cherry,” he slid his tongue over my lower lip. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
His lips pressed against mine then and if I thought the little peck we had shared previously was something to gush over, Risk was about to show me that I had seen, and felt, nothing yet.
I was jolted back to the present when loud laughter snagged my attention. I blinked, focusing on the young couple who were beaming at one another and playfully throwing chips, before having the good sense to tidy up after themselves. I swallowed the lump that suddenly formed in my throat and forced myself to relax. I closed my eyes, hoping to regain some sense of calmness, but I knew it was futile so lifted my lids.