let's light up the sky ☆

Chapter 29

"What can I get ya?" I answered on instinct with my back turned to the counter.

"I'd like to try a scoop of you," a familiar voice teased.

I turned on a heel. Cody showed up on time for the end of my shift. My day today only went up to 2 PM. Instead of going straight home, we voted to make it a day for ourselves. He was already dressed down to his swim trunks, a light blue towel draped over his perfectly toned and tanned shoulders.

I sauntered up to the counter. "Do you think you could wait about ten minutes? Then I'm all yours."

I peeked over my shoulder to see if Aaron was snooping. Like he did weeks ago, he kept himself busy with something else and pretended he didn't see our flirting. I leaned over the counter and gave him a peck on the lips. "But for real, I got a couple things to do around here, then I'll be out there with you."

He winked with a cheesy smile. "You're worth the wait."

"You know it. I'll see you in a bit."

I sighed dreamily as I watched him strut away. I continued to clean the blender I'd used to make a milkshake a few minutes ago. Unfortunately, I was also kinda dumb, and I almost scraped my knuckle against the blending blade. That's what I get for getting distracted with a handsome boy in my line of sight.

Aaron stood right out of the corner of my eye. He wore a soft smile, softer than anything I've ever seen on him, and I've worked with him while he was higher than a loose kite in a tornado. This time, he was lucid and probably aware of the blush that I could feel burning my cheeks.

"You really like him, don't you?"

I nodded with a bit of a mindless, playful pout. "I want this to work between us."

"Can I give you some advice? Like, from a dude's point of view?"

"Sure."

His tone turned serious, and it scared the shit out of me. "Dudes can be fickle," he started. "They can seem great and then turn on a dime. Sometimes they'll come back, and sometimes... they don't."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

He took a seat on his stool. I took that as my cue to join him on the seat across from him. "Anoush, you're a great girl. From what I've learned from you, you've got a lot of love to give and you don't discriminate about who gets it. You want to give your love to Cody. But... I'm scared for you if he ever hurts you. I'm talking about the day-to-day stuff. You might get in a fight or you might have some stupid little tiff that turns into a big deal. Now, don't take this as me telling you to give up on him. You're free to do whatever you want. I'm just giving you a fair heads-up. And if you ever need someone to talk to about this, I'm always open. This stand might not be, but I am."

"Oh shush, you're gonna make me cry, you nerd."

It was mighty rude of him to get me in my feelings like that right at the end of my shift. I fell into his arms, cherishing this hug while I had the chance.

"I give you great love advice, and you call me a nerd?" he teased.

"You know what I mean."

Aaron let me go after a long minute. "Are you sure you wouldn't be down for a couple more shifts before you go back to school?"

I shrugged. "Maybe. Right now, I have a special someone waiting for me." I wanted to finish the chores I was on in the last few minutes of my shift.

Instead, he nudged me away from the dishes that I had in my hands and towards the register to clock out. "Go, have fun. I'll take over from here."