Dear Diary

18. TIME TO INVESTIGATE

Sunday, October 6th

G I O V A N N I

I grab cleaning supplies from the back of the restaurant before heading through the door separating the dining room and kitchen, a dry towel draped over my shoulder.

Chace is standing on the other side of the counter talking to Andre, my coworker. There hasn't been an update on the Chace front as far as how he knows Diana Shove, but aside from it being mildly sketchy, I don't see a reason to be unfriendly.

"Yo, Chace," I greet him, coming to stand next to Andre.

Andre jabs a thumb in Chace's direction. "You know him?"

"Yeah, he goes to our school."

"Oh." Andre turns back to Chace. "You must fly under the radar."

"Yeah, I'm not very popular," says Chace somewhat awkwardly.

"Too bad. You're a cool dude."

Chace's warm beige skin flushes. "I . . . um . . . thanks."

Andre scans the restaurant. "Did you wanna find a place to sit?"

"If he does it'll be in my section," Cassie announces, walking over from a table of people and standing next to Chace.

"Jeez, you've barely worked here a week, and you're already trying to run the place," Andre says, though amused nonetheless.

"It's alright, Cass, I'm ordering to-go," says Chace.

"We'll hang later then." She waves goodbye to him before going on her way to greet a family of four that's sitting in her section.

Andre's attention goes back to Chace. "So what did you want?"

Chace clears his throat before answering. "A regular strawberry banana smoothie."

"Coming right up." Andre winks at him before typing his order into the computer system.

"Well, I'll leave the two of you to your business," I say, heading to an empty table. I dip the towel into the bucket of sanitizer I brought with me and wipe it down. By the time I'm moving on to the next table, Chace is walking over to me, sipping his smoothie through a straw.

"This is Godly," he says.

"For sure. Though, Berry Blast is my personal favorite," I say.

"This is truly the best spot in town. Everything's great here."

"And not just our menu, right?" I ask, giving him a suggestive look.

"Huh?"

"You and Dre were real friendly."

His eyes go wide. "What? No, I . . . I mean . . . He's nice."

I grin. "Right . . . real nice."

He rolls his eyes. "Fine. You win. He's cute, I admit it.

"Aw, Chace has a little crush," I say, setting the cleaning items aside on the table. "That is absolutely adorable."

"Very funny," he says with a laugh. "Do you think he'd be interested?"

"I don't know. Ask him."

"Like that'll happen."

"Ah, right, don't wanna make Rome jealous and all that."

"You're an ass." There's a pause, his eyes fixated on the smoothie rather than meeting my gaze. "I hate that they're trying to pin it on him."