He's An Arrangement

Confession Time

It was nearing the end of my shift and I went to meet my final customer of the night. The job hadn't been as bad as I thought, and it was actually quite amusing. The craziest people came in, and I've only seen a day of it.

A man had his head ducked down into the menu as he hummed a soft tune. A head of curly hair made me stop dead in my tracks.

I cleared my throat and tapped my fingers lightly against the table. He looked up at me with bright, blue eyes.

"Liam," I breathed out. My body began to tremble in anger. It takes all my strength to not grab him by the collar and throw a punch at his face. To yell at him. To tell him everything I wanted to years ago.

Ever since I was put in the hospital, I've felt so much stronger. I feel like I can do so much that I couldn't before. I'm a new person. A new Emma Swan.

He smiled, "I'll have the double cheese burger with a side of fries and a hot cocoa with cinnamon, please."

I wrote down his order, "Hot cocoa? At eleven?" I tilted my head, raised my eyebrows.

"With cinnamon," he added with a flash of a grin.

I rolled my eyes and wrote down his order, "I'm off my shift in half an hour, we can talk then."

He nodded, "Thank you, Ms. Swan."

Without making eye contact again, I turned around and brought his order back to the kitchen. Ruby wriggled her eyebrows, "Don't tell me you've got a third one, now."

"No, that's Killian's brother. Trust me, I'm not into him," I shuttered at the thought of it. It made me want to vomit, then and there.

She nodded, "Well, I'll finish your shift if you need to talk with him."

"That'd be great, thanks Ruby."
I took off my apron, clip on name tag, and let down my hair. Breath in, breath out. Okay, it'll be okay.

But all I can think about is him calling me a slut. How the way I sleep with Killian is slutty. I'm a slut.

I tried shaking the thoughts from my head, wanting them to disappear. Begging for them to disappear. But they don't. That's not how things work.

You can do this, Emma. I assured myself I'd be okay and pushed the door open. I held my chin high and walked to Granny, who stood at the counter, "Ruby's covering the end of my shift. I've gotta talk to a friend."

She had an unhappy glare on her face, "Fine. Only this one time, since you're new." She patted my head and shooed me away.

I thanked her and ran off to the other end of the restaurant. He sat in a corner booth, leaving the other side free for my use. We sat silent for what felt like forever, taking in the sight of one another.

"Tell me why you're back, Liam," I said blunlty. We don't need conversations. That's not useful. I need information.

He leaned forward in his seat and drummed his finger against the table, "I'm worried for my brother, Emma."

This is his common excuse. He's worried for Killian. No, false, he just wants Killian to be perfect. He wants Killian to be just the same as himself. Killian will live his life how he chooses to, and Liam should just stay the hell away.

"He's doing perfectly fine. There's nothing for you to fear of," my blood boiled in rage. He's ridiculous. Damn ridiculous.

Liam shook his head, "Any clear headed person can realize Killian should be back in Ireland, with his wife. Not here with... you," he spit out the word "you" as if I was that disgusting, "Maybe I should just talk to your boyfriend, instead."