Monster

Five

I was right in thinking I'd hate the malt machine. I was forced to follow another waiter around on my first day, taking mental notes about what she was doing. Now I was required to hand out plates and make my own shakes, though supervised. The machine was a noisy, messy thing that shook violently and could probably use a lot of repair work. If I didn't hate the place so much, I might try to convince Stark to send them an upgrade. Even if it killed the vintage theme.

I had one hand on top of the machine while the other tried to balance the rest of it. I'd already made three shakes, and it wasn't even noon yet. Megan/Morgan slid into place beside me, her dark eyes scanning the breakfast bar full of patrons. She grinned mischievously at me.

"There's a hot guy over there who wants to talk to you," she said.

"A what?" I asked, shouting over the noisy machine rattling my bones.

"A hot guy. Asked for you by name. Over there." She pointed down to the other end of the bar where a man was leaning against the counter. He was wearing sunglasses and a baseball cap, but was obviously watching us. He smiled and waved when I caught sight of him. I had no idea why Sam Wilson wanted to chat. "Do you know him?"

"Uh." I shut off the machine. "Kind of?"

I motioned for him to wait as I finished up the shake. I took it out to the customer and shared a few words and smiled before telling Morgan/Megan I was going on break. Sam waited for me at the end of the bar. He gave me a reassuring smile as I approached.

"Johanna Hayes," he said. I nodded slowly.

"That's me," I replied.

"Sam Wilson. Nice to finally meet you. For real this time." He stuck his hand out, and I shook it.

"Nice to meet you too. For real."

"I came to talk to you about a few things." I glanced around the dining area to see if anyone was watching. Morgan/Megan was sizing him up from the other end of the bar, but she went back to refilling ketchup bottles when we caught her. I nodded back to him.

"Right. Things. Can I get you something to eat? A burger? Some fries? It's hot. I can get you a drink, but please don't ask for a milkshake." He gave me that easy smile again.

"A Coke would be nice."

"Have a seat in the back booth, and I'll go get it."

"Thanks."

He headed toward the booth, and I did another scan of the dining room and windows. But I couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. People ate meals, and people walked by on the sidewalk. Cars moved in and out of sight on the street. There was a building across the street that had dark enough windows that I couldn't see anything through them. But I doubted Barnes would have been able to clear a bank's security and find a vantage point within the few minutes it took Sam to come in.

I slipped into the back to get his drink, and Megan/Morgan followed after, skipping quickly on her chunky shoes just to catch up with me. She glanced at Sam before we pushed through the swinging door.

"He's cute," she remarked as I went through the motions of getting his drink. I only nodded absently.

"He's a friend of my uh...." Calling Rogers my boyfriend didn't sound right. Even though that was the game we were supposed to be playing. "Guy," I decided on. "Friend. That I see on occasion." Her eyebrows rose with pleasant surprise, apparently taking my hesitation to mean something else.

"Nice," she nodded. "So you have an occasional guy friend? What's he like? Is he cute too?"

"He's–tall. Kind of muscular. He rides a motorcycle." That was all I could come up with. I knew nothing about Rogers. And while I did think he was attractive, he didn't do it for me. Probably the only thing that might win me over was the motorcycle. So it felt important to bring that up.