Notorious (NeXt #1) - K.M. Scott Page 0,1
block walls with silver trim around the windows makes me wonder if he’s gotten this place mistaken with somewhere else.
I walk toward the entrance and mumble, “You’d think at somewhere called Comfort Food the outside wouldn’t look like I was walking into some dive bar off a dusty highway. Doesn’t feel very comforting to me.”
By the time I find him, he’s all settled into a booth complete with silver seats that have a distinct pleather vibe to them. It’s not pleather, though. By the way the seat squeaks as I slide into the booth, I know it’s vinyl.
“Is this place going for some retro vibe or something? I feel like there should be a jukebox somewhere around here. You know the kind with actual little records in them. Forty-fives I think is what they were called.”
Alex taps his knuckles on the table. “Check it out. Real, honest to goodness Formica! Definitely retro. I love it.”
I arch one eyebrow and study him suspiciously, sure someone has stolen my best friend and replaced him with this hipster sitting across from me admiring the white Formica table with silver and gold designs that look like the nuclear symbol. He actually traces the design with his fingertip, like he’s enchanted by it.
“Remember in fifth grade when the teacher told us all about fallout shelters. That’s what that looks like. Not a good omen for a food place. Radiation poisoning on the menu?” I joke.
He looks up at me and scowls. “It’s not a nuclear symbol. I think it’s got more of a Star Trek vibe with the two swooshes, one silver and one gold.”
Sitting back against the silver vinyl behind me, I shake my head. “You’re sort of freaking me out here, Alex. I was worried that maybe being a serial killer runs in our family, but now I’m more worried about whatever you’re exhibiting at this moment.”
Alex rolls his eyes and goes back to studying the oh-so-interesting ancient table. “Do you remember that server I was seeing a while back? She was into all that fifties stuff big time, so I got to know a little about it. That’s all.”
My mind wanders back to which girlfriend of his he could be talking about, but there have been a lot, so I can’t be blamed for not recalling this particular one. “Which one? The girl who had the Minnie Mouse obsession and loved to wear those big bows in her hair? That, by the way, was bizarre. If you hadn’t told me she was a freak in bed, I would have thought you lost your mind going out with her in public.”
His dark eyebrows come in toward his nose as he makes that pissed off look he gives me any time he’s really angry at something I’ve said. “No, I don’t mean Misty, asshole. And she wasn’t that bad with those bows. She just liked dressing up sometimes. You didn’t like her because of her friend.”
Ugh. That I do remember.
Shaking my head, I try to get rid of the image of her best friend Sandi and her ruby red lips plastered with lipstick. “Damn. How did I let you talk me into going out with her that time? You still owe me for that, and since you made me remember her, you owe me twice. Dude, that was a nightmare.”
“Well, you brought up Misty. That’s on you, not me. But I wasn’t talking about her. I was talking about Tori. You remember. She had black hair and she wore it in that way that pin-up models from the fifties did.”
I vaguely have a sense of who he’s talking about, but because I can’t get Sandi and that horrible lipstick that tasted like plastic when I kissed her out of my mind, I don’t think I can focus on anything now. Alex’s taste in women runs the gamut from wild to utterly bizarre. It’s so odd too because he doesn’t look like he’d go for anyone other than hot women, but he’s got a thing for the strange ones.
“She’s not really registering with me at the moment, but it’s fine. I’m glad she expanded your horizons regarding the fifties diner style.”
“Just open your mind, okay? The pastry chef here makes the most phenomenal desserts. My father and Kane tried to woo her to come work at CK a few months ago, but she wouldn’t even take their calls.”
Looking around at the diner and wondering why we don’t even have menus yet since there are no