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“Honey, I don’t even know why you bother looking at the menu.” Shelby takes it from him and looks at it herself.
“Maybe because I want to see what my options are, Shelby dear.” Aiden grabs the menu and flips back to the burger page with force. They both seem agitated and snippy towards one another. I look at Jack, who looks back with raised eyebrows. I’ve never really seen these two get into it before, but I hope things work themselves out while on vacation.
“Then choose away, big guy. Who am I to stand in the way of you and your staid burger?” Shelby crosses her arms over her chest, an uneasy feeling simmering. I push it away when Jack slips his hand under the table to grab mine, his fingers warm and thick, squeezing gently.
“Okay, how about no fighting at the table, kids.” These two would make any sane person crazy. I gingerly take their menus away. We all know what we’re going to order when the waitress comes over anyway. It’s some cheeky girl in a fifties outfit, tiny little nametag over her boobs, and far too many buttons undone, showing her ample cleavage.
Shelby snorts, rolling her eyes. “Stop drooling, Aiden. If you ask her nicely, I’m sure she might let you give her a physical.” The waitress raises her eyebrows, quickly turning tail and walking away.
“All right. What gives? You two bicker all the time, but even this is unlike you.” Disentangling my hand from Jack, I reach across the table, grabbing my best friends’ hands, attempting to shake some sense into them.
“Shelby is pissed I have medical rotations coming up.” Aiden leans back and looks everywhere but at any person in particular, his neck turning a delightful shade of pink.
“With vaginas,” Shelby pouts. I’m glad nobody else heard it…with the exception of the waitress, who turns right around again and heads back to the kitchen, mumbling about coming back in a few minutes.
“So that’s what this is all about?” Jack laughs. I look over at him and shake my head. Things are only going to escalate between these two and, for one unhappy second, I feel like the spotlight is off of Jack and me.
“It’s an OB rotation at the clinic,” he says, exasperated. She makes a sound and a face to match her unhappiness. “Shelby, you look at naked people all day, drawing penises everywhere.” Aiden tosses his hands up in the air and the waitress, who has tried a third time to take our order, just leaves. I’m pretty sure we’re not getting anything except water deluxe.
“Everywhere?” Jack asks. I try shushing him, but it’s no use. I let my forehead fall to the table, hoping the floor will open up and swallow me. Maybe I can get a fancy teleportation device, like that show Aiden loves with the doctor guy and the phone booth.
“The frickin’ bathroom, man.” Aiden leans over the table, whispering, “They are literally everywhere…”
“Oh, please. At least my hands aren’t up some stranger’s cu–”
I cut Shelby’s tirade off, “And that’s when we all think happy thoughts, remembering that I’ve never flown on a plane before and you all love me enough to behave!” I pick up my water glass and shake it, threatening to toss it on one or both of them if they don’t cut it out. “Who needs to cool down?” Grumbling, they stop and we actually get the waitress to come back and take our order. I wish I had something stronger than coffee to handle these two.
Jack
I’m still curious about these random penises drawn all over Aiden’s bathroom, so discussing our trip seems like the best distraction. “Speaking of Miami, I’ve rented a house on the beach and a car for us to drive while we’re there.”
Aiden checks his phone, reviewing the group itinerary. “Flights are all booked. We’ll come to the house and drive together to the airport.”
Aiden joins me in discussing a fishing excursion I want to take, and the girls drift to safer and more interesting topics, like which bikinis they plan to pack.
Looking up, Aiden growls, “Son of bitch.” He suddenly stands up and out of the booth.
I turn to look behind me to see what he sees. “Baby, don’t turn around.” I keep Edith from looking.
“Jack, stop. What are you doing?” Words muffled, she wiggles in the seat. I practically jump on top of her, pushing her face into my chest so she can’t look at the piece of shit who just entered the diner.
“Edie, listen to Jack.” I look at Shelby, who pales. She grabs Aiden by the arm, her trendy nails filed like bird talons, pressing gouges in his skin to pull him back down to his seat. “Hon, he’s not worth it.”
Aiden looks ready to kill Daniel Munson. While I would be right there with him, Sam Autumns has warned me to keep my mouth shut and avoid contact with the fucker. I’m in enough hot water with Sam for being Edith’s professor this past semester. I dare not get him started on how we met while she was in high school, or how she was just barely legal when we kissed. He told me there was nothing worse than trying to convict a dead man, but I’d have to disagree with him on that one.
“Well, if it isn’t the Marvel Mod Squad.” Daniel’s annoying voice grates on my nerves. The second he speaks, Edith starts to shake uncontrollably in my arms. Fucker deserves what he gets.
“There’s a fucking consent order in place, and there’s the fucking door.” Aiden stands ready to pounce like a bear. Shelby falls back down in her seat when he shakes her off. “Do you need me to show it to you, asshole?”
“I wouldn’t want the good doctor to be banned by the medical board before his career even starts.” His smile is a sickening combination of smug entitlement and perverted desires. “I just wanted to thank Edie. My lawyer says I’ll likely get off…” His voice drops to a disgusting whisper, “and that really turns me on.”
Aiden lunges at him and he takes a step back, knocking into our waitress, the tray of food careening to the floor. Laughing, he leaves as our waitress curses him out, bursting into tears. Aiden and Shelby help her pick up what they can.
“Don’t worry about it. We’ll pay for everything,” I tell her, continuing to rub Edith’s back, soothing her panic.
Our waitress continues grumbling and cleaning the mess up. “That idiot has been in here every damn day, making a nuisance of himself.” Aiden, Shelby, and I exchange a knowing look, wondering what the hell Danny boy was doing in a favorite establishment of ours.
Once everything calms down, Shelby begins her inquisition. “What did he mean he was going to get off?”
