Chapter 20. Seeping.

  Beady bck eyes watch from a short distance away, stalking. Waiting for any opportunity to strike, to take its shot.

  “Quit staring at the bird and say that again.”

  Hands grip my jaw and turn my head back to Casey's face. Thin fingers capped in pink, pluck my still-unlit cigarette from my lips and put it in her own. Her breath tickles against my lips as I take in the details of the blue in her eyes, every speckle, every spot. She’s so close.

  A sharp shriek cuts across the parking lot, tearing my attention back to CrunchBucks. Tara is jumping up and down just outside the door and waving at us.

  “Just do it! Just do it!” She shouts at the top of her lungs.

  On instinct I pull away from Casey and untangle myself from between her legs. Careful not to accidentally kick Casey, I step out from the picnic table and bolt past Tara, back into the store. Into my space.

  Coffee is thick in the air and grounds me back to my tasks, but the shake in my hand keeps me in the moment. The cravings hit me like a truck, I wasted my smoke break. Damnit.

  I lean down and grab a spray bottle and rag. I step to the tables and see Tara and Casey talking outside, they gnce at me now and then. I roll my eyes, the spray bottle squawks in my hand as I spray down a table. Thoughts stick to the closeness of her face. The feel of her breath against my lips. The way she boxed me in.

  The front door wheezes open, sending my thoughts to oil and grease, I need to fix that damn door. A hand nds on my shoulder and rips me around, leaving my thoughts of oil and grease scattered across the finish I was trying to scrub off.

  “Bro what was that? You were right there.” Tara looks like she just accidentally spoiled a movie.

  “What was what? Why do you look like you broke something?” My eyes nd on Casey sitting at the bar by the register. “She looks pissed.”

  “No shit, Romeo. You just let Juliet get away without her kiss!” She squeezes my shoulder harder, I shrug it off. “Go fix it”

  “Fuck off, I was going to anyways.” I shoulder Tara out of my way just a little too hard.

  I sit on the stool next to Casey and y my head on the counter and look up at her. She’s chewing her lip like bubblegum. Her brow knit into a tight expression, as if she’s trying to figure out an optical illusion.

  “You’re gonna eat your own face if you’re not careful… bug.”

  Her lips quirk up into a smirk, despite her best efforts to stay angry. She rolls her eyes so hard I’m afraid she’s gonna go blind. Her hand nds in front of my face with a loud crack as my gifted ring collides with the countertop.

  A sigh skips out of her as she asks “can I touch your face?”

  I nod my head against the counter, she wastes no time resting her palm on my jaw. A finger rubs light circles on my temple as she stares down at me.

  “Can I take-“ I hate myself “I was going to get dinner tonight, if you’d like to come with”

  She doesn’t answer right away. Her thumb hesitates for a moment at my question before rubbing my cheek bone. She doesn’t answer, her eyes just dissect me while she resumes chewing her lip.

  “Please? May I please-“ I take a deep breath “may I please take you on a…date.”

  She tilts her head in mock consideration. Like we both don’t already know her answer, like deying the inevitable by just a few more seconds will add more points onto her side of the board. A frown starts to tease at my lips, I ignore it and focus on her hand on my cheek. The warmth, that damn vanil scent.

  “Why do you always smell like vanil?”

  She drops her act of thinking and ys her head on the counter and stares across at me.

  “I’m not sure. You’ve said that before and I checked my products and none of them should smell like vanil.” Her cheeks pinken a little “yes I’ll go on a date with you tonight. What time should I pick you up?”

  A smile spreads across my face “What? I asked you, isn’t that what I should be asking?”

  The air feels cold against my cheek as she slides her hand back down to the counter. “Nah, I’ll pick you up in my dad’s car. What time?”

  “I guess that depends on what side of town we go to.”

  “What?”

  “Well if we go downtown then we should go at six because you wear gsses and the streets are-” Her hand covers my mouth

  “Brooklyn, I will pick you up at eight.” She says with a barely restrained ugh tickling at her throat.

  Combat boots polished not quite to a mirrored shine, thump against the nding just in time for mom to be passing by. She skids to a stop as her eyes practically fall out of her head.

  “Brooke. Why are you dressed like a pimp?”

  Her description hits me like a sock full of quarters. “I don’t actually look like a pimp, right?” I gnce down at my scks and leather wristband and then back to my mom who is now appraising my outfit like an auctioneer.

  “Maybe not a pimp.” She takes a step onto the first stair and squints at me. “Unbutton your shirt one more button and-” She gasps and rushes past me, up the stairs.

  I bounce up the stairs after her, I know that look, she has an idea. I arrive at the top of the stairs just as she disappears into her bedroom. The sound of frantic searching echoes into the hallway before she bursts back out of her room with a thick band in her hand. She yanks my left hand and shoves it onto my wrist.

  “A watch?” I ask while adjusting the heavy band.

  “Yes, a watch.” She grabs my hand and holds it up to my chest “It keeps a nice bance between your silver chains and your belt buckle. You look like… Alright you look like a sexy pimp.”

  I choke on my spit “Mom!”

  “Oh rex, you look good. What’s the occasion? Are you going to ‘hang out’ with that Casey girl?” Her eyebrows flick up at her emphasis

  I walk past her and down the stairs, her footsteps follow but she waits with a surprising patience for my answer. “I’m actually… going on a… date with her” I turn and step into the kitchen.

  The scream that follows is loud enough to make my ears ring, like those fireworks that just screech on the ground with barely any sparks to make it worthwhile. Felix dives off the back of the couch as the roaring madwoman prances past his sleeping spot.

  The watch feels like lead on my wrist while I watch her. Faux silk clings to my shins in all the wrong ways, and real silk hugs my torso like a conflicting bnket. This outfit doesn’t feel like me, I’d much rather wear some ratty jeans and a slipknot hoodie. Why am I trying so hard to impress Casey, I don’t even know where she’s taking me.

  “Mother, you’ve struck fear into our valiant guardian, please calm thine energetic… freakout” I say in my faux royal accent, hoping a ugh will snap her out of her excited fit.

  Mom returns to the kitchen beside me “Is this the same Casey girl from the other night when you ‘tripped and fell’?”

  “The very same. She’s gonna be here pretty soon, I was hoping you could tell me if my outfit is missing anything.”

  The pnet stops spinning as Mom takes a long, serious look at my outfit. She circles me a couple times, humming and hawing as she tries her best to help me. Every p she takes around me, she’s wearing a new face of concentration.

  “Could use a different belt and different shoes. The combat boots honestly fit your style but it’s still a little tacky. Bonus points for cleaning them at least.”

  She runs her fingers through my hair. I swat at her hands and step to the fridge and pull out a beer. Cracking the tab of the can I already know what look is growing on my moms face as I take a long pull from the crisp beer. Half the beer is gone before I set it back on the counter.

  “Really?”

  “Yes.” I finish off the can and crush it “She scares me”

  “You’re-” She cuts off her compints when the doorbell rings

  It’s only a second before she’s turning the corner and greeting Casey at the door with a dramatic gasp. They greet each other awkwardly just past my sight. My feet are concrete and my legs are immobile. Their steps get closer to the kitchen and my mom says “You’re gonna kill the poor girl.”

  The first thing that pops around the corner is the ccking of high heels on the tile. The sound grows louder until my eyes nd on something extremely familiar, but different. My jaw hits the floor and I almost follow it. The kitchen light sparkles across her dress like embers on a cold night. Her hair, dark brown with a warmth that makes my arms feel heavy and my head feel light. Her smile is the part that almost does me in. She’s nervous.

  “Y- you forgot your gsses, Case.” I say dryly, trying so damn hard to keep my eyes in my head. This gets a light ugh out of both women and a smile from Casey, it’s like the room itself rexed a little.