Cheesy on the Eyes by Teagan Hunter Page 0,6
to back up.
“Looking at your eyes.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m curious if they’re brown.”
“What? Why?”
“Just want to see if I’m right about you being full of shit or not.”
She narrows her very green eyes. “Seriously?”
“I could ask you the same thing. You love sweets but you haven’t tried some of their best creations?”
“I just pretend they don’t exist when I’m here.”
“How come you don’t do that at the coffee shop, then?”
She twists her lips. “I’m sorry, is my working here bothering you or something?”
“No, no. Nothing like that. Just…curious.”
Settling into the booth, she crosses her arms over her chest, pushing her breasts up, but not in a pay attention to my tits kind of way. That doesn’t stop me from doing it, though, because…well, boobs. “Smell.”
“Excuse me?”
“Take a whiff of the air in here.”
I do. “It smells like pizza.”
“Exactly. It smells nothing like dessert pizza. What does a coffee shop smell like?”
“Sweet. Ah.” I dip my chin. “I get it now. So, what do you usually get when you come here?”
“Salad. Cheesy bread. Sometimes I just get French fries and water. I’m easy.” She pushes her shoulders back. “Well, not easy—not like that anyway.”
I laugh, sitting back. “Relax, Thea. I promise I’m not trying to sleep with you.”
“Good, because it’s not happening.”
“So you’ve said—many times now. It sounds like you’re trying to convince yourself more than you’re trying to convince me.”
“Whatever,” she mutters as the waitress approaches the table.
“Here’s that shake and basket of fries for you. And your Cherry Coke,” she says, sliding my drink over to me. “Your pizza will be out in just a bit.”
“Thanks, Berenice.”
“No problem, Sully. Good to see you back.”
Berenice smiles at me and scurries off to help her next table.
“Back? Were you gone?”
“Work,” I tell Thea. “I spent the beginning of my summer on a fishing charter. For the last time, thank fuck.”
“That bad?”
“I loved it, except the days were just a little too long and a little too hot. Plus, there was the whole having to touch the fish part.”
She laughs. “That is one sentiment I can get behind. I work on the north end of the island near the docks. I might not have to touch them, but I constantly smell whatever the boats are bringing in.”
“Hmm. We frequent the same places and we work near one another, yet we haven’t run into each other before.” I scratch at the stubble on my chin. “Curious.”
“Maybe—and I’m just spitballing here—we work at different times.”
I chuckle as she throws my words back at me. “Touché.”
Her vibrant grassy eyes spark as she beams, feeling quite proud of herself.
She relaxes into the booth, tucking the papers that were all over the table when I first approached more neatly into their respective folders. A silence looms over us that’s likely a bit too comfortable for two people who just met, but Thea doesn’t seem to mind.
I watch as she meticulously stacks the pages together, making sure every edge lines up just right. She clips them together with different-colored paperclips and then separates them even further inside the folders.
“One Brookies & Cream pie for the lovely couple,” Simon says as he sets our pizza down between us, and I slowly drag my attention from the intriguing woman sitting opposite me.
“What the… H-How…” Thea stutters.
“I may be a little old, but I’m not blind. It’s obvious this is a date.”
“Oh my god, this is not a date!” she seethes.
“That’s not what we just told your ex,” I point out.
“Ah, so that’s what this is.” Simon grazes his fingers over his graying beard. “You’re her buffer.”
“Sure am.”
“And how’d you get roped into that?”
“Honestly? I just happened to be the first person who stood up. Had to take a leak at just the right—or possibly wrong, haven’t decided yet—time, and she accosted me.”
“Accosted you? I waved you over here. You came willingly!”
“I was curious. Besides, when you have a pretty girl waving at you, you pay attention.”
I don’t miss the way her cheeks redden at my words.
“Damn. And here I thought someone was finally brave enough to take you on, Thea.”
She glances up at Simon with a cocky grin. “Take me on? Please. I don’t think there’s a guy in this small town with balls big enough.”
Simon laughs. “You got me there.” He claps me on the shoulder. “Good luck, Sully.”
Then he’s gone, leaving us to our food.
I stare over at Thea as she wastes no time before digging in.
I like the way her eyes light up as the gooey marshmallow topping stretches