for, liar

Chapter 27

"She's working with a fucking corporation and it's going to ruin everything. What happened to staying down to earth and keeping this shit local?" Lana rants.

She's furious. She asked me to get drinks after work just to talk. I'm not really sure how to act around her because we both have a mutual hatred for each other. The best I can do is sit and listen.

"What is Cat thinking? She's going to get screwed over or they're totally going to change the entire concept of the place! Then she sends us some strange man who claims to be our new boss? What happened with me becoming manager! Or hell, even you!"

I'm going to excuse that comment because at least she's talking to me and not yelling at me for something stupid.

"Seems like she just wants that big girl paycheck. Can you blame her? They're probably offering a lot."

Lana downs the rest of her wine and sighs. "I just thought she cared about us more than this. I feel like we're getting tossed in the dirt."

Surprisingly, she does have a little bit of a good point. Catherine has never been big on wanting to enter a corporation phase for her business and made most of her money off her book. I'll still never understand why customers are okay with being yelled at by their barista. Entertainment is more important than good customer service, I guess. Our coffee is really addicting though so it must be that too.

"She does care about us, Lana. It's not like this is a permanent job anyway."

"It is to me! I don't really want to work anywhere else. I like what I do and I don't want to be told what to do by some uneducated, big head moron who thinks he can be better at that job than me."

I chuckle and take a sip of my drink. "He does have an above average head."

Lana cracks a smile and leans her chin on hand. She swirls her straw around her glass and puckers her lips slightly. I rarely see her smile.

"Well this has been fun but I really should get going. My roommate is going to kill me for getting drinks without her."

She nods, taking one last look at me. "Thanks for listening. See you later."

I pat her back and head out the bar. That was actually the first time ever that I didn't want to put her in a chokehold for being a bitch. This afternoon was actually almost bearable.

By the time I get to my car I realize I have a few texts from Maddy. I totally forgot she said she had a date tonight.

"Where tf are you?"

"He's picking me up at 8:30."

Does she want me to be there or something? I thought we had a mutual agreement to not meet each other's dudes unless they passed the first date.

"I'm still downtown. Have fun. Keep your location on. :)" I text back and start my car.

My phone starts ringing almost immediately and I answer it without taking a glance at it.

"Maddy, I'm still out."

"Uh, it's not Maddy." Miles says.

Oh well, hello there. Why is he even calling me after the embarrassment he left me to cope with all night and day.

"My bad. What can I do for you?" I ask, quite unintentionally bitchy.

It was probably a little intentional.

"I wanted to see what you were doing, but if you're out you must be busy."

Maddy always told me to play hard to get to see if a guy is really up for the chase. I don't know if I feel like being chased after.

"I'm not doing anything, actually. I got off work a couple of hours ago and went and got drinks with my coworker."

"Can I see you?" He asks, sounding hopeful.

If this is to break things off for good, I don't want to hear it. Though I probably should. I need to know.

"Yeah, sure. Do you want to meet up downtown or back at my apartment? Maddy went on a date."

"I'll pick you up wherever you are. I'm already downtown."

I send Miles my location through text and wait patiently for him to arrive. He pulls up a few minutes later next to my car and unlocks the doors. I get in his car and shut the door. He looks at me for a second and pulls back onto the road.

"Why did you want to see me?" I ask hesitantly.

He keeps his eyes focused on the traffic. "What do you mean?"

What does he mean 'what do you mean?' He hasn't tried to contact me all day and suddenly drops in to say he wants to see me so he picks me up from downtown and drives me off to who knows where?

"I'm a little confused by what's happening here." I admit.

He takes a deep breath and nods. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be confusing. I had a few things to take care of last night so I had to leave a bit earlier than I expected. I definitely wanted to spend more time with you." He explains.

"Why didn't you just tell me that?"

He shrugs and bites his tongue. His hands have a firm grip on the steering wheel, like usual.

"I'm a lousy communicator. I'm sorry." He says softly and reaches one hand over to me to grab mine.

I look at our interlocked hands and close my eyes for a second. This feels right. I don't feel uncomfortable or unwilling to move forward like I had been scared of before. I want to try more than anything. I think I'm ready to.

"So what now?"

"Well...whatever you want. I really like talking to you and hanging out. We can keep doing that if you'd like."

"Yeah...I would really like that. Just no more sketchiness, please. You made me worry last night."

"Worry about what?"

"You just kind of left and freaked me out. I got worried that maybe you lost interest in me or something."

It's embarrassing spilling my guts like this. I have to tell him how I feel so he understands the way his actions came off. Usually I'd think I was overreacting, but even Maddy said it was weird.

"I definitely have not lost interest in you. If anything I feel the exact opposite." He tells me and squeezes my hand.

"Then if you're willing to continue whatever this is without the shade, I'm up for it."

He smiles and looks at me while we're stuck at a red light. "Sounds good to me." 

Revised;