replied without turning around. My eyes stayed narrowed on Ryder, not really sure what to do or what to say next. “Thank you” seemed drastically out of the question.
“Excuse me,” he strong-armed me out of the way, his sharp elbow connecting playfully with my ribs. A jolt of electricity zinged up my spine and a lone butterfly flapped its nervous wings in my stomach. “You know what, Tarryn, why don’t you hold off on the two regulars and just make my Chai. I’m going to stay and eat breakfast with my friend here.”
I whipped back around to face the counter, mouth hanging half ajar at Ryder’s announcement. I was assuming he meant me since there was no one else in the café, unless he meant the elderly couple but then I was pretty sure he would have said “friends.” “We’re not friends,” I defended on instinct, more for his sake than mine.
“Fine,” Ryder agreed never looking at me. “Then I’ll be right over there,” Ryder pointed for Tarryn’s benefit, “with my arch-nemesis.”
My mouth dropped the rest of the way opened and I stifled the hysterical giggle that was bubbling up inside of me.
“Come on, Dr. Evil,” Ryder called to me, and then took a seat at a secluded table with a view of the street. He had my plate of pastries in front of him and was busy tearing the corner off my chocolate croissant.
I watched him for a moment as he placed the stolen piece of food in his mouth and chewed on it thoughtfully. His jaw worked at the food, his throat moving once as he swallowed. I tore my eyes from his Adam’s apple just in time to watch his eyes lifted under his thick eyelashes and he just stared at me, waiting for me to do something, waiting for me to make the next move. Obviously he planned on eating everything on my plate. And obviously I couldn’t let him do that. I settled something in my heart, something that felt like warning, and decided that I was obligated to eat breakfast with Ryder after he paid for it…. and before he could eat it all.
“Why am I Dr. Evil?” I followed him over, wondering if I had ever wanted to put up a fight. “I should be Inspector Gadget and you should be Dr. Evil.” I sat down heavily on the chair as if I was being held there against my will and forcefully pulled at the plate so that it was more on my side of the table than his.
“Inspector Gadget?” Ryder’s face clouded in confusion and then cleared just as quickly. “You’re thinking of Dr. Claw. Dr. Evil is from Austin Powers.”
It was my turn to be confused. “I’ve never seen Austin Powers.”
“Are you serious? That’s kind of like a crime against humanity,” Ryder shook his head at me and then reached for my croissant again.
“It’s not a crime against humanity,” I announced obviously.
“It’s kind of a crime,” Ryder argued. “I can’t believe you’ve never seen Austin Powers. It’s like your life isn’t even complete right now.
He had no idea.
I rolled my eyes at him and then made room when Tarryn brought over our hot drinks. I took a long sip of my macchiato suddenly realizing what I looked like. I brushed at hairline, pushing back nonexistent frizz. “I think I’ll survive.”
“Well, just to be sure, we can watch it at Phoenix’s tonight. He has the complete set,” Ryder finished decisively. “Really, thinking you’ll survive and knowing you will are two totally different things.”
A thought occurred to me, an ugly, horrible, awful thought and before I could talk myself out of it I had to find out. “Why are you being nice to me?” I blurted out with no tact whatsoever.
Without even a second to digest my question, Ryder answered, “I’m not being nice to you. We’re arguing about a movie.”
I slumped back in my chair, completely dizzy. He was right of course. But arguing also kind of felt like flirting…. not any kind of flirting I had ever done before, not the kind that guaranteed a boyfriend that same day or the kind that would help groom me for my future career.... but still, maybe this was a different kind of flirting altogether? A more normal and safe version. Or maybe Ryder was right; maybe we were just fighting over an obscure movie.
“You look confused,” Ryder noted. He was staring at me over the rim of his Chai Tea. I could smell