You are the Answer {boyxboy} ✓ (Dogs, Bats & Monkeys series, Book I | Riley)

Chapter 11

Updates A/N: As some of you already know, I'm going through some personal hardships and that was why updates on both of my stories and my guidebook were late. I needed some time off, but I'll try to update all three books this week. Thank you for your support of me and my stories! Reading your comments cheers me up (or at least provides a distraction) and seeing you vote makes me happy because it means you enjoy my work. Once again: THANK YOU!

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I took a deep breath, enjoying the sweet scent of the Mocha as I drew a rose with the whipped cream. A smile was spread on my face - a silly grin that was almost constant after my date with Rhys even though it had been five days ago. I slid the cup over the bar and towards the costumer who raised an eyebrow in return.

"Dude, really? A rose?"

It was only then that I realized I'd drawn a flower on a guy's order; a very rugged, macho, one hundred percent surely heterosexual guy's order.

"Sorry, I'll... I'll make you another." I reached for the cup but he pulled it away.

"Never mind," he sighed and walked towards one of our most popular tables – those by the windows.

"That's the third order you mess up in two days," Winnie admonished, placing her tray on the bar and her left hand on her hip. "And all that just because you think you had a good date."

"I don't think, I know," I corrected, taking a towel to wipe the bar.

"Let's recap, shall we?" She tilted her head up and placed a finger on her chin, pretending to be deep in thought while I battled with a sticky stain, most likely from maple syrup. "You went to the movies and actually enjoyed the movie – good; you made out in front of your building – would be good if I trusted the guy," she began to enlist, "you then went to your apartment where he checked how secure it is – weird and scary, and what was the other thing you told me over the phone that night?" I knew she hadn't forgotten, her tone was far too sarcastic. "Oh, yeah: he told you that you were special on your first freakin' date. Creepy," she concluded.

I once again congratulated myself that I had managed to restrain a back then very excited Riley from telling her exactly how special I was – the first person Rhys kissed and the first he'd want to do some bedroom acrobatics with. The main reason I had not shared that with Winona was because it seemed too private and it involved another person; I didn't want to make Rhys even more uncomfortable about it.

The less important yet still present reason was because Winnie was right: it was a kind of creepy to tell a person you were that serious about the two of you as a couple on your first date. Maybe romantic too – surely so, if you believed in the idea of soul mates – but also creepy. If I was rational about the whole situation, I'd go mostly with creepy. But since I really liked Rhys and liked how much Rhys liked me and that we both wanted a stable, monogamous relationship, I was too high on hormones to be rational.

"Riley," Winnie dragged my name out as she waved a hand in front of my face.

"Huh?"

"You spaced off on me. What were you thinking about?"

"I was pretty much repeating 'creepy' and 'like' in my head," I admitted.

"So you like creepy things?" She grimaced but I was spared from replying. The bell above the door chimed and in came our subject of conversation. My hands hurriedly ruffled my hair and I pulled down my shirt, smoothing any possible wrinkles it could have had. I heard Winnie sigh and saw her leave at the corner of my eyes. My main focus was on Rhys, of course, who was approaching me in quick, even strides.