Werewolves Don't Wear Cowboy Boots

Chapter 10: When your weaknesses include conversations with girls and silver

"You really don't have to roll silverware for me, you know."

Colum looked up at Kenzie, then down at the silverware with a helpless expression, then slowly pushed the last one he'd done to the side.

"I mean, it's nice." She leaned against the side of the booth as she spoke to him, angled so she could make a run for her customers or the front if she needed to pull herself away. "But you don't have to."

He glanced around the restaurant, came to the conclusion there was nothing else to do to keep himself busy, and then gave a small shrug. "I don't mind." He did mind, a little, because the last thing he wanted was to be thrust among strangers without warning. But, at the same time, he couldn't very well leave a young girl to walk by herself at night, and it wasn't a long wait until the place closed.

"Bored?" Her mouth turned up in a crooked smile. "I guess you would be. Thanks for staying. Bridget said you wouldn't mind giving me a ride, but that was before someone decided to ask her out. I guess I can't blame her for ranking me somewhere behind a boy who will buy her dinner. Speaking of dinner, have you eaten? Food's on me if you're hungry. Least I can do. Just a sec. Angelo's cooking is to die for. You'll love it."

Colum shook his head and raised a hand as if to stop her, but Kenzie was off to the kitchen before he could do anything except sigh and slump in his seat. Well, he was hungry, at least. And eating would give him something to do. In very short order, Kenzie slid a plate of some sort of pasta in front of him, winking as she walked off to check on some of her customers. He ate slowly, partly because he enjoyed the food and wanted to savor it, but mostly because Kenzie kept dropping by to chatter away at him, and he felt awkward eating in front of her.

By closing time, he was fairly certain he knew her entire life story, or nearly. He was also uncomfortably acquainted with all of her ex-boyfriends, or at least her descriptions of them.

"What about you?" she asked after they'd left Angelo to lock up. She stopped in front of him in the parking lot and turned to look up at him. "You've heard all about me, but you haven't said much. Do you have a girlfriend?"

Colum looked past her to his car, weighing the chances he could slip past her and pretend he hadn't heard the question. Not likely, probably. She looked at him expectantly, and he revised that somewhat delusional optimistic thought to, 'Impossible.' He shifted uncomfortably, motioned to the car as if to say, 'It's that one,' even though she must have known which car was his, and gave a tiny shake of the head.

"Sooo ... no girlfriend at all?" She tilted her head and took a step toward him rather than toward the car.

He felt his eyes widen a bit as he stumbled back a step, throwing a panicked look toward the vehicle. "I ... no. But that's not-" He trailed off as a car turned into the parking lot. It was black and sleek and very sporty looking, and it came to a stop just a few feet from them. A tinted window rolled down to reveal a young man with dark hair and professional looking clothing. "Hey, I know the place is closed, but do you all work here?"

Colum rather disliked the boy on sight, but he also felt indebted to him forever for his timing. He pointed with one finger toward Kenzie, who was eyeing the boy with a curious expression, one hand on her hip.

"I do," she said with forced nonchalance. "Do you need something?"

"Yeah, I ... hey, do I know you?" He leaned out, resting his arm against the car door. "It's the hair, you know. Sticks out. You were at a party the other day, right? With that-"

"Yeah," Kenzie cut him off with something in her tone of voice that indicated she really didn't want him to finish that sentence. Colum glanced at her with the slight quirk of his eyebrows, and she blushed and started to ramble. "I mean, maybe. I might have been. Or I probably was. But that's not really important, anyway. You didn't pull into the parking lot to ask me that, did you?"