And fuck, I can’t forget to have a conversation with Jude about the girl situation.
Walking into the diner, the smell of greasy cheeseburgers and salty fries hits my nostrils. After practice, the last thing I should be eating is this kind of food, but man, it smells amazing.
I look around for Vanessa and spot her taking an order. She must feel my eyes on her, because she looks over jolting a little in surprise. Maybe she didn’t think I was serious about showing. With the end of her pen, she indicates a booth for me to sit at.
Shrugging my backpack off, I dig out my laptop and my business management textbook. I still can’t figure out why we have to keep wasting money on physical textbooks when the internet exists.
A few minutes later Vanessa swings by my table, a dark curl trying to escape her hair-clip.
“Hi.” Her voice is soft, and I can sense the underlying awkwardness there that needs to disappear before this weekend. She can be awkward with my parents, since she’ll be meeting them for the first time, but not me. It’ll be a dead giveaway that this is a farce. “Here’s a menu.” She sets it on the table beside my computer. “You want anything to drink?”
“Water’s fine.”
“Okay,” she jerks her head in a nod, “I get a break in an hour, but I’ll check on you as much as I can.”
“Thanks.” I smile at her, sliding the menu closer to me.
She walks away and my eyes zero in on her full, round ass. A light-yellow dress hugs each and every one of her curves.
My dick stirs in my pants and I grind my teeth together. I cannot afford to be getting boners over my fake girlfriend. I’ve been good this year, stayed celibate since July, and I don’t need to screw things up now.
Vanessa comes back a moment later with my water in a red plastic cup with Coca-Cola scrawled on the side.
“First question of the evening,” I start before she can run away from me, “what’s your favorite candy?”
“You know those blue and white shark gummies?” I nod my head, recalling it. “Those are my favorite. I haven’t had them in years, though. What about you?”
“Skittles. The orange one in particular.”
“Interesting. I have to get back…” She points over her shoulder. “Unless you know what you want?”
“A Caesar salad with grilled chicken. Dressing on the side.”
Her nose wrinkles. “That’s it? I thought guys like you would eat way more than a salad.”
“Believe me, I’d love to, but practice kicked my ass, and I’ll get sick if I eat too much.”
She bites her lip, blue eyes darting away from me. “Right. I’ll put that in.” She turns on her heel and walks over to the open kitchen area, hollering my order into the back.
While Vanessa tends to her tables I focus on my schoolwork. Contrary to popular belief I actually like school. I’ve always enjoyed learning new things and expanding my knowledge. I think one of the things that sucks the most when it comes to my father is knowing I’ve put in the work to take over everything our family name stands for, and I’d be good at it, but I don’t want it at the expense it would cost me.
I won’t sell my soul, and that’s what he expects me to do.
Getting my hands on my inheritance will secure me a stable future even if I decided to never work, which isn’t what I want. I might be planning to walk away from my family’s fortune and dynasty, but I fully intend on building my own.
It’s not long before Vanessa is bringing my salad, and she’s about to dart away before I can ask another question, but I gently grab her wrist between my fingers, tugging her to stay.
She purses her lips, eyeing me like an unruly child. It’s not the first time I’ve gotten that look in my twenty-one years, but it is the first time it’s turned me on.
“If you could go anywhere in the world where would you go?”
It wasn’t the question I planned, but maybe it’s because she looks so desperate to flee, ready to be anywhere but here, that makes me ask.
She shrugs her wrist out of my hold, and for a second, I think she’s going to actually run away from me, but then she says, “Paris.”
“Why?” It’s another question, but she doesn’t call me on it.
“It looks so beautiful and rich with history. The lights. The flowers. The architecture. Just … everything.” A wistful smile touches her lips. “There’s a street artist there too, anonymous, of course, and I like that he—or she—leaves behind something beautiful that makes a statement but washes away in the rain.”
“What? Like chalk art?”
“I’m not sure how they do it.” She gives a shrug, seeming to forget that a moment ago she was trying to run from me. “But I love it. Each piece is unique and well thought out, but it’s not permanent, and that feels like such a reflection of life itself.” She seems to come back into herself and says, “Where would you go?”
“I’ve been to a lot of places most only dream of seeing, but I’ve never been to Egypt so that’s where I would go. I want to see the Pyramids.”
“Why?” Now she’s the one asking another question and it makes me smile.
“The history is remarkable and there’s so much we still don’t know. To say I’ve been there feels like I’ve been this close,” I hold up my thumb and forefinger a teeny bit apart, “to something bigger than anyone alive today can even begin to comprehend.”
Her dark blue eyes narrow on me in a speculative way. “You’re different than I thought.”
I grin back at her. “Stick around long enough, Van, and you’ll learn that I’m full of surprises.”
Less than an hour later, Vanessa slides into the booth across from me, letting out a sigh of relief the moment her ass touches the cracking vinyl seat. She lets her hair down, fluffing the dark strands. A burger and fries sit on a plate in front of her, but she eyes it like she’d rather be eating cardboard. It looks good, better than my salad at least, but I’m sure if I worked here and served burgers all evening, I wouldn’t want it either.
She picks up a fry, stares at it for a solid three seconds, and then chews the end of it.
“So,” she finishes the whole fry, “what other questions do you have for me? Credit score? Pretty sure that’s like zilch. Favorite animal? Dogs—particularly pugs. If I don’t own a pug named Penny one day, I’m suing. Favorite book? Little Women. Um…” She taps her bottom lip. “Favorite movie? Titanic. RIP Leo DiCaprio.” She does the sign of the cross, oblivious to my grinning face across from her. “Did I miss anything?”
“I think I’ve got a few more here.” I point to my trusty list.
She sighs. “Should’ve known. You keep adding to it don’t you?” She takes a bite of her burger, groaning in anger when the tomato flies out the bottom and splatters on the plate.
“Perhaps. Do you have any questions for me?”
She tilts her head to the side. “Why baseball?”
“What do you mean?”
She swirls a fry in ketchup. “It seems like most guys like you would go for football. It is the most popular sport in the United States.”