Finding Love in a Coffee Shop

Vanilla Chai

Great wasn't a word I should've used to describe my life. Ever. This much was proven to me when I received my car insurance bill on the first of December. Forgetting I'd failed to pay last month's bill, this month's bill was doubled with added late fees. Groaning, I dropped my head into my hands, wishing I could just disappear. If only I'd been born rich— most of my problems would've been solved then. Or maybe just less of an idiot.

"Kate!" Dustin called from the living room. "Kate! I'm hungry!"

"Then make something to eat!" I snapped back at him, clenching the pen I had in my hand tightly. There was a check on the table, ready to be filled out, but I was having trouble with letting my ink meet the green paper. It was only two hundred and thirty dollars. It could've been worse. But with my crap hours at the cinema, the crap pay, and the fact my boss had apparently taken my silence as an okay to now hit on me whenever he felt like it, it was a hard thing to do. The next set of hefty bills would be coming in two weeks, and while I had enough for them this time, soon I wouldn't. Not with the threat of excise tax.

Of course, Dustin had his money from his part-time job, but I refused to ask him for it. He needed some spending money.

"How about I order Chinese? I'll pay."

I rubbed my forehead. Not exactly what I wanted him to spend his spending money on, but I couldn't argue with him. Chinese sounded delicious. There was nothing better to cheer someone up than good, old-fashioned, greasy take-out. "Go for it," I told him, bracing myself and finally scribbling out the check.

A few seconds later he appeared in the doorway of the kitchen, peeking his head in. "I was also thinking we could invite Matt and Will over."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Why?"

"We're friends."

"They're both literally eleven years older than you. Although you both have about the same maturity level as Matt, so I guess that friendship makes sense. But this is still suspicious."

"Can I invite them over, or what?" he repeated, waving my comment off. "Come on. You like Will, don't you? Having dinner together is a step closer in your relationship."

"We're already pretty close," I defended needlessly. We were really close if you ignored the fact that I kept my life pretty much a secret from him. But he didn't keep his life from me, so that counted for something, right?

Dustin gave me a flat look. "Well, since this is my house too, I'm inviting them over anyway."

"Dustin, wait—"

But it was too late. He already had his phone to his ear. I was curious as to when Will had given Dustin his number, but not enough to question it. "Hi," Dustin greeted happily, speaking into the phone. "What are you up to? Really?" He paused to laugh. "That sounds like fun. Wish I could do that."

"Don't flirt too much," I muttered.

Blushing, he shot me a glare. "Nothing. Home with Kate. We're thinking about ordering Chinese for dinner and want to know if you'd be interested in joining us. Matt can come too if he wants." There was another pause. "Oh, can you call him then? I don't have his number. Sure. Okay. See you soon."

"So?" I prompted when he hangs up. My heartbeat picked up, waiting for his response. Not that I was excited.

"Will's in, and he's going to call Matt. Apparently they don't live together."

I wanted to tell him that most siblings don't choose to live with each other when they get older, but I didn't want to give him the wrong idea. Some people might hate living with their younger brothers when they're old enough to live by themselves, but I didn't. "Well, now that we're having two full-grown men over, you're going to have to order a lot more food."