I try to regain any resemblance of composure as I fiddle around with the coffee machine, adding milk and sugar the way Celeste likes it.
“So why not tell him about med school? Wouldn’t it be a little weird if you’re dating and suddenly he says he wants to go to Bora Bora but you have a cadaver to work on?”
She only gives me a little shrug in reply as if her future and goals were not worth mentioning to Jude.
“Seriously, Hoot, if he doesn’t see your interests as interesting, he’s not worth your time.”
“I know, I know. Honestly, it just didn’t come up. It’s okay,” she placates. I’m not sure if she’s saying that to reassure me or herself, but I go with it.
“So any other men you want to hit on for me?” she jokes as her smile,a real smile,brightens her face. It’s captivating and infectious, and I just can’t look away.
“Not lately. It’s getting a bit slow around here. I guess people don’t want to spend their limited beautiful summer days in a coffee shop. Weird, right?” I smirk. “Any more plans today? Tutoring Espresso Barbie again?” I ask just to continue our conversation, sipping from my own coffee.
“No,” she glares at me, “and her name is Angelica. Today, I’m as free as a bird.” Celeste opens her arms wide as if she were about to take off in flight, then folds them back under herself and leans on the counter looking at me, her mouth pulled to one side in contemplation. “Not a clue as to what I should do though. See, that’s the problem with normally being so busy, once you’re free you have no idea what to do with yourself.” She huffs and taps her fingers on the countertop, looking around as if there will be something for her to do in here. I look around too at the empty chairs and stacks full of unread books. As much as I like it here, it can get dull. Quite honestly, I’d rather be at home working on a new recipe.
“What about you? What are you doing for the rest of the day?”
“Today, I just so happen to be getting another tattoo,” I say calmly, although I’m positively gleeful inside. Nadine has been workingendlesslyon glitter tattoos that have become so popular in the few years. She has put in the work and I happily agreed to be one of her guinea pigs, once she felt comfortable with the new technique. That was months ago, and now with her new skill in hand, it’s time to pay the piper.
“No freaking way!” Celeste says excitedly, her pouty lips popping open in surprise.
God damn, what I would do to that mouth.
I give my head a shake and try to refocus on needles. And Pain. “Yeah, my friend is doing it.”
“So what are you getting? I’ve always wanted one, but I’m too chicken shit.”
I bark a laugh. “It’s going to be a glitter shark, right here,” I pull my apron aside and lift my shirt to show the empty space across my ribs between my other sea creature tattoos. I look over to Celeste and find her sitting perfectly still, rounded eyes unblinkingly focused on my exposed skin, her teeth sinking into her bottom lip. I hold in my laugh and pull my shirt back down before anyone else sees.
“Fuck, sorry. I know I’m ogling you, but damn boy, I think you should be fined because now all my thoughts are indecent about your exposure. Do you have a treadmill back there? How are you so fit?!” Celeste rambles on at breakneck speed as my cheeks begin to pink at her comments.
“No, ha. No treadmill. I like to run sometimes, I guess, hit the gym with my pal, Olly.” I shrug nonchalantly before switching the conversation back to Celeste. “What about you, what do you want to get?”
“I’d love to get my boobs done, but that’s for another lifetime.” She waves a hand. My eyebrows practically bounce to the ceiling and I try with the might of a freight train not to glance down at her chest. “Oh! You mean tattoos. Right. Well my mom and I wanted to get matching ones but she’s not a huge fan of needles. I want something special though, kind of about her I guess.” A sadness flashes across her features, so briefly I almost miss it. A smile, one of the fake ones she uses to mask an unwanted emotion, is slapped back on her face.
I notice a couple students amble in, making their way towards the coffee bar. Celeste must see as well because she begins gathering up her things.
“You have customers, I’ll let you go. Gotta go stretch my wings and all that! Enjoy my freedom.” She gives me a little salute from her brow and takes off. I glance down and notice my feet pointed directly at Celeste’s frame, walking away from me. It only then hits me that, this entire conversation with Celeste, she had been leaning in towards me. It could mean absolutely nothing but… Something warm and wonderful washes through me and I carry it with me through the rest of my shift, through the pain of my new glitter tattoo, and home with me.
THIRTEEN
Frappuccino
Celeste
I springthrough the doors of Biblio & Brew on the balls of my feet, holding my phone in my hand carefully so as not to scroll out of the Pinterest page I have open on the screen. My eyes immediately find Dominic behind the coffee bar handing a to-go cup to a black-haired beauty. She’s covered in tattoos and her raven hair hangs down so low it skims her backside jeans pockets. She’s outrageously curvy. An unexpected feeling in my stomach makes me squirm on the spot. The joy that had me practically racing through the door has drained from my veins. I hover by a table with a large book display and watch as the black-haired beauty hovers by the counter. I slip my phone in my purse and hastily pick up a book, cracking it open and peeking over the rim, trying to gauge Dominic’s reaction to this mystery woman. I fidget to angle my body so it’s somewhat hidden behind thebook display. He’s gesturing with his hands, but I can’t make out what he’s saying. Since I can only see the back of her head, I can’t tell much more about her. He lifts his shirt a little to show her the new tattoo he just got. On his ribs. They begin laughing, the woman putting a hand on Dominic’s shoulder.
Oh please. Dominic isn’t that funny. If anything his dark humour and sarcasm should send this girl running for the hills.
I lean further around the display, trying to make out what Dominic is saying when the bell chimes above the entrance and I hear two men chatting loudly behind me. They must not see me hiding because I feel a body bump into my back. My feet tangle in the display legs and suddenly my vision tilts sideways as I land with anoomphon my back. The two men immediately apologize profusely, each offering me a hand up. I take them, and while I don’t appreciate the grunt one of them lets out from hauling me upward, I thank them for the helping hands. They both make ensure I’m okay, one passing me the book I was hiding behind, the other handing me my purse that had fallen, before they amble off to another section.
I absolutely cannot face Dominic’s direction. Not yet. I need a moment because I know, I justknow,that he saw all of that and I will not live it down. I take a deep stabilizing breath and make the short walk to the coffee counter. My gaze is pinned to the floor with a pink flush on my cheeks. I get to the counter and slowly raise my eyes to meet Dominic’s. The jerk stands there, his arms braced against the counter, a cloth slung over his broad shoulder, and his lips pressed tightly together as his eyes glimmer in amusement.
This fucker is trying not to laugh at me.
“Don’t. Say. A thing.” I aim for an authoritarian tone, but as his smile slips from between his teeth, I burst out laughing.
Dominic follows suit, the sound warm and fuzzy, like a cozy hug. He doesn’t laugh often, maybe a sarcastic chuckle here andthere, but this? This laugh is a walls-down-no-sarcasm-to-be-found kind of laugh. It washes over me like a soothing wave.
