Saturday came along quicker than I thought it would Dom, Vince and the others didn't come into the bar again after offering me the job. I considered going over, especially to see Mia. If I'd be working with her during the week for a few hours I figured it might be best to get to know her but I never did go round. Instead I spent my days with Nate, making the most of it while I was still out of a job and then my nights were spent at the bar 'til Nate finished work.

When Saturday arrived I ended up getting there almost an hour earlier than I needed to. But Mia was already there. She was taking some bags out to the bins. When I reached her I grabbed the last couple of bags from the ground and threw them in.

"Oh, hey," she said, a little startled. "Thanks."

"Might as well start early," I smiled.

"You won't be saying that in a few days," she laughed.

I gulped. "Is it really that bad?"

She led us into the small work space area. "It's just boring, we never packed, y'know? It's always just enough customers to get us through the day. But sometimes you find yourself just sitting here."

"Oh…"

"But have no fear!" She moved over to the 'til and reached into the shelf that was underneath. When she pulled her hand back out there was a magazine. "There's a whole pile of them. Every time I buy a new one I leave it here."

I laughed a little. "Prepared, I like it."

"I also take some food every so often when I'm bored."

I smiled a little at that before being dragged around the place. She explained the office was locked and I shouldn't need anything from there so that was one part I didn't need to worry about. She showed me where the cleaning stuff was, the cutlery, napkins and other things that might be asked for.

Once we'd sorted out where everything went she showed me how to use the hot drinks maker (and how to change/clean it), then where all the food stuff was kept. It was all fairly simple. Everything cold was in the fridge, things that didn't need to be in the fridge were in cupboards and drawers.

"I think that's everything," she said about an hour later.

"Yeah, I think I got everything."

"Oh!" She handed me a set of keys. "When you're finished just pull the shutter down, the gold key locks the lock that's already on the garage and the silver one locks the padlock."

I nodded as I clipped the new keys onto my keychain. "Sounds easy enough."

"If there's any trouble there's a piece of paper pinned inside the magazine shelf, it has mine, Dom's and the garage's number," she explained. "If you want to put them in your phone go ahead, we're fine with it."

"Right," I breathed out slowly. I was trying to remember everything, I didn't really feel like burning the place down or being responsible for a robbery.

She moved over to part of the counter where the hot drinks machine was. "Why don't I make us some coffee?"

"I thought you got weekends off?"

"I do," she nodded, a big smile on her face. "But I figured seen as you're the reason why and it's your first day I could stick around for a bit."

"Oh, thanks," I grinned. "And yeah, I'll take that coffee."

"What do you take in it?"

"Milk, two sugars."

She started to get to work on the coffee straight away. "We can have some sandwiches in a couple of hours if it's not too busy."

"Are we allowed to do that?"

"Dom says I'm allowed a sandwich and something to go with it," Mia explained. "He says it counts as lunch, but he's not gonna know if we take a little extra."

Considering she was about three years younger than me I really liked Mia. She seemed a lot older than she actually was. I gratefully took the mug from her and sipped slowly as she chattered on. She told me about herself and the team. It was nice that she decided to stay even though it was her day off. And honestly, I found what she was saying about herself and the team far too interesting.

I heard the sounds of engines pull up outside and then laughter as they were cut off. Looking up I spotted Dom, Vince, Letty, Leon and Jesse walking in. Letty and Dom were ahead, his arm around her shoulders while the three boy shoved each other and muttered things amongst themselves.

I quickly got up to take mine and Mia's plates and mugs over to the sink. I hadn't seen Vince since I got offered the job so I wasn't entirely sure if he was going to drop those games he seemed to be playing or not. Once I'd washed them I grabbed the cloth and cleaning spray to wipe down a couple of the tables that had been used, anything to avoid talking to Vince.

"Service is terrible around here," I heard Vince laugh.

"Yeah," Leon scoffed. "Where's a beer when you want one?"

"Oh shut up," Mia chuckled. "You usually help yourself so stop being so awkward."

"You yell at us when we get our own beers," Jesse accused.

When I finished I knew I'd have to go back. As I made my way back towards Mia I noticed Dom and Letty had slipped into the office but all three boys sat the bar stools. I dropped the cloth and cleaning spray on the side before grabbing three beers and taking them over to the boys.

"Thanks," Leon said as he grabbed for one.

"How old are you boys?" I questioned, holding the bottles away and out of their reach.

"Twenty-one," Vince grinned so I handed him his.

"Twenty," Leon shrugged. I glanced at him but slid his over anyway.

"Nineteen," Jesse piped up nervously.

"You guys drank at the bar," I groaned. "And you're underage."

"You're boyfriend served us," Leon pointed out.

"I didn't even drink that much," Jesse said defensively.

"You're lucky he's a nice guy," I said as I handed Jesse his beer.

"Sure," Vince scoffed as he started drinking.

I scowled at him as I took my seat next to Mia, unfortunately it put me right in front of him. I could see him smirking behind his bottle. Leon and Jesse were looking between us with amusement. I groaned when I realised that Mia was too.

"Stop staring," I snapped.

"What's going on with you two?" Mia questioned.

"Who says anything is going on?" I shrugged.

"The scoff from, V," Leon said.

"And the scowl," Jesse added.

"He deserved it for not believing Nate is a nice guy."

"He's overprotective but that's it," Vince said. And I realised he was being serious.

"You've hardly seen us together!"

"Well if I have my way I'd definitely prefer to see you without him."

Mia reached over and hit him before I could. The smile that Leon had tried to hide turned into a fit of laughter as Jesse joined in. Vince growled at them but as he sat back in his seat I could see he was trying not to laugh. I reached across and started hitting his nearest shoulder repeatedly.

Suddenly his hands reached up and grabbed my wrists. I squealed involuntarily as he pulled me forward so I was leaning over the counter, his face barely an inch from mine. I cursed as my eyes darted straight to his lips, but I smirked internally when I saw his eyes went straight to mine.

"Play nice," he warned.

"And if I don't?"

That cocky smirk of his appeared. "Keep acting like that and you'll find out."

"What's going on?"

I wriggled away at the sound of Nate's voice. "Tricky customer, you know what they're like."

"Want me to kick him out?"

Vince started to laugh but I ignored him as I shook my head at Nate and motioned for him to come sit with Mia and I. She moved over one so he could sit between us. When he did I leaned into him and his arm came up to wrap around my shoulders. Vince rolled his eyes at us before picking at the label on his beer bottle.

I know going back to Dom's with him, Nate and the others was my idea but how I ended up on the couch wedged between Nate and Vince I didn't know. Awkward wasn't even a strong enough word to describe how I felt. Whenever Nate would hold my hand, put an arm around me or lean over to kiss my cheek Vince would smirk in a way that said 'told you so'.

"How long did you guys know each other for before you started dating?" Mia asked suddenly.

"I was fifteen when we met."

Nate thought about it for a moment. "I was seventeen."

"But we only became friends about a year later," I explained.

"We were friends for a couple of years and when she turned eighteen she moved in with me."

"I'm glad living together before dating worked out better for you guys," Letty chuckled.

Dom poked her in the side. "It worked perfectly for us too."

Nate smiled a little at that. "Considering I made a complete ass of myself most of the time I'm not so sure it went that that well."

"It went well enough," I sighed. "And as I think we've said before that we started dating about eight, nine months."

"Not that long at all," Vince commented.

"Yeah, still the honeymoon phase by the looks of things," Leon added.

"One of those ones that lasts about a week," Vince started. "But everything goes wrong throughout."

I elbowed Vince hard in the side. I couldn't help but grin as string of swear words tumbled out of his mouth. Leon and Jesse both glanced at each other before laughing, I noticed everyone else was trying not to laugh.

Vince glared at me, and I was happy to see his arm was wrapped around his waist. I grinned happily as I got up and skipped towards the kitchen before Vince could really respond. I went straight to the fridge and dug out one of the bottles of water.

I jumped as I turned around. Vince was stood in front of me, effectively trapping me between himself and the fridge. I looked around him and realised from this spot I couldn't see into the living room, and no doubt they couldn't see into here.

"That wasn't very nice." I wanted to slap that smile off of his face.

"You're right," I agreed. "I'd say it was more funny."

"I was only being honest."

I wanted to glare at him but when I saw he was serious it just made my stomach turn. "No you weren't."

"I was." He wasn't smiling anymore. "He's all over you, like the stupid honeymoon phrase that everyone seems to go through. And I know, maybe it's because you guys don't know us that well and he's just looking out for you. But you're not acting the same. You just lean into him. But you don't kiss him every five fucking seconds and you don't have your arms wrapped around him all the time."

"Maybe I just like to be held," I shot back.

"Or maybe you're just not that interested anymore but you're too afraid to say it."

"Wrong," I shrugged as I opened up the bottle and took a sip.

"I don't think so." He snatched the bottle from me and drank from it. "Maybe it's because you live with him, maybe it's because before now you didn't have a job, maybe you just don't like being on your own."

I slapped him without really thinking about it. He dropped the bottle, with the look on his face I guess it was out of shock. I didn't really like his little games but at least before he never stepped over the line, at least not too far over and they were kind of fun. But now he had and I wasn't laughing. Fine, I would admit my feelings for Nate weren't like they used to be in no way was I using him, I was with him because I still felt something and I wasn't about to just throw it away without trying.

As I moved to go pass him he grabbed my hand. I didn't look at him but I could feel his breath on my cheeks. "I was out of line, alright? But I'm not taking back what I said about you not feeling the same way."

"Well you should because you're wrong," I ground out.

"Fine," he shrugged, releasing his hold on me in the process. "Let me take you out for diner or something to make up for it."

"Yeah right, I'm going to be doing everything in my power to stay the hell away from you."

When his hand brushed against my arm I chanced a look at him. He was watching me. He wasn't smiling, in fact he almost looked sad. And angry, yeah, definitely angry but it didn't feel like it was aimed at me.

"I can't let you do that," he whispered.

R&R