Summer's Loss

Chapter 14

Brice

His heart stopped. Or it was beating too fast. He couldn't tell which one. Christ. What was she doing here? He'd seen her the moment he walked through the door. She was standing near the entrance by herself. She was wearing a white shirt that was barley see-through, just enough that he could glimpse what ever dark colored bra she wore underneath. Her jeans were nothing like the ones she wore to work. These hugged her hips and framed her back side perfectly. Her hair was tied up in a loose ponytail, she wore it like that a lot he'd noticed.

When she walked towards where he saw Tom and the other guys sitting he'd sped to catch her. When she'd turned around and looked up at him through the large frames of her glasses she swore it almost knocked him on his ass right there. He was still struggling to breath. Play it cool, it's fine, you're fine he told himself.

They now sat opposite from each other at the table. He ordered a beer as soon as he'd been able to wave down a waiter and downed it the moment it arrived. Now he waited for his second to come. In front of him Abigail sipped on a glass of water with a lemon wedge in it. The lights of the dimly lit room hit her face just right, highlighting her cheekbones and nose.

"God damn Tom, slow down." Someone down the table said jokingly. There were five of them in total. Tom, Brice, Jared, Jose and Abigail. Tom and Jared were bullshitting about the game playing on the big screen and Jose was nursing a Coors and watching in silence. Brice and Abigail sat at the farthest end of the table.

"I never pegged you for a glasses kind of girl." Brice told her. He'd never realized that she must have been wearing contacts all this time.

She looked up from her drink and met his gaze. The lenses made her eyes just a bit bigger, but he liked it. He liked her eyes a lot.

"I usually only where them at home." She replied.

"You've been wearing contacts to work?" He asked.

"Most of the time." She glances at the tv then back at him, "sometime I just forget to put them in. I get headaches most of the time if I do forget." He remembered the other day when she had to abandon the YCC hike due to a headache. Was she wearing her contacts then? He could tell by her expression she was thinking about the same thing.

"I like them," he said before he knew what he was saying, "I like your glasses. They bring your eyes out."

She blushed and made a motion like she was tucking a stray hair behind her ear, even though it was in a pony tail. "Thanks" She said under her breath.

The waitress stopped and set his second drink down in front of him. He drank that one fast as well. He was out of conversation starters and couldn't think of anything interesting to say. Down the table Tom let out an exasperated sigh and mumbled something fairly foul under his breath about the score of whatever they were watching. He glanced at the tv. It was football, but he didn't know the teams. He was more of a baseball guy. Tom stood and asked if anyone needed anything from the bar. Brice raised his empty glass and got a nod of recognition from Tom, who walked away to order more for both of them at the bar.

Thirty minutes later it was safe to say that Brice was not in a very sober condition. Neither was Tom or the other men. Abigail was now sitting on her phone, zoned out from the world around her. Her pony tail swept over her shoulder. She must have straightened her hair because where it was usually thick waves down her back, it was now straight and sleek. His gaze followed the trail of hair down from her shoulder to where it passed over her chest. Again he could see the outline of what ever she wore underneath, only this time from the front. He found himself getting warm at the sight and brought his eyes back up to her face.

"You're looking bored killer." She looked up from her phone screen, the movement caused her glasses to slip and she had to use her index finger to press them back into place.

"Just a little tired I guess." Was all she said. He looked down at his wrist watch and had to squint to see the time. 9:23pm. "Look whose got bad eyes now, old man." She laughed.

"Not old, just having a hard time seeing this damn watch." He smiled at her and leaned back in his chair, draping an arm over the back of his chair.

"Oh yeah?" She was smiling broadly, "how old are you then?"

"Guess." He wiggled his eye brows and won a louder laugh from her this time.

"Ok, hm," she paused dramatically, "definitely over forty."

"Ouch, I'm hurt!" He placed a hand over his heart, "way off, guess again darlin." He picked up his glass and finished off the contents.

She was laughing wholly now, "ok ok, I'm sorry. Let me think." She leaned forwards placing an elbow on the table and rested her chin on her hand, "I'm guessing mid twenties."

"There you go, getting closer."  He placed his forearms on the table and leaned in closer to her.
he was close enough to smell the faint scent of lemon when she spoke.

"Oh come on Brice, you're going to make me guess the very exact number?"  She was still smiling but there was something else there now as well.  Something in her eyes. The way she met his own but then they'd travel. Only briefly, but he still saw it, how they would flick down to his mouth and then back up as if nothing had happened.  He caught himself doing the same thing.  It was hard to resist not looking at her lips.  They were set on a small mouth but they were full and a natural shade of pink that reminded him of a flower he'd seen growing before in one of the meadows deep in the hills around the valley.

"Twenty-six.  I'll be twenty-seven in October."  He couldn't read her face in that moment but he could tell what she was thinking because he was thinking it too.  She was in high school. It didn't register with him, not completely until that moment. High school he balled his fists. And looked down at his hands.  The room around him was starting to spin. A reality he'd been fending off all week.

"I knew it."  Abigail said quietly, drawing his gaze back to hers, "you're an old man."  She grinned at him.  He couldn't help it. That irresistible smile made it impossible for him not to return her smile.

A voice from down the table broke they're focus on one another and forced Brice to recognize that the others were still there, albeit very drunkenly.  "Abby, you ready to roll kiddo?"  It was Tom.  He tried to stand from his chair but had a hard time not falling backwards as he did so.