A Week Later
"Finally," Nathan sighed. "Summer holidays."
"You're working more, though," Emily pointed out. "Why not take some time and be a kid? You only get one shot at it."
"Gotta save money," Nathan shrugged. Then he grinned. "It's all good. Tito's teaching me some stuff. I think I might be a chef."
"I'm glad you're learning things," Emily smiled. She was fanning herself with a magazine while lying on the couch. It was incredibly hot out. It was one of those times she wished she did swim.
"Going to the lake with Mei," Nathan said on cue. "Get a quick swim in before the diner opens. You coming?"
"No, thanks."
Nathan didn't push, so he waved and went out the door, leaving Emily alone. Her mind wandered back to Luke as usual. Things between them were okay. They hadn't spoken to each other much in the last week. They were better as friends. She knew that. She just wished her brain would stop taking her to what could be. She sighed and decided to get to work a little bit early. No sense in sitting around and letting her mind torture herself.
...
Luke was just not in the mood for Beth. She had come early that morning and made him let her in. Then she got him to pour her a tea, and she held it in her hands as he got ready for opening. Tito was in the back. Emily wasn't there yet, and Mei had gone for a morning swim. Luke wasn't even sure what happened, but he turned around to do something and turned back to find Beth standing there gasping in pain as the hot tea water seeped through her shirt.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"I lost my grip," she answered. "It got me." She was trying to hold her shirt away from her now, her skin smarting where it had burned her a little. At least it had cooled down a bit.
"Here," Luke said. "Take that off and put this on." He wasn't really thinking as he pulled his grey t-shirt off and handed it to her. He went up to find another one while Beth quickly took hers off and put his on. She was sitting at the counter looking smug when Emily came in.
"Oh, hi," Emily said, stopping short. She was not expecting to see someone already there. They still had fifteen minutes to opening.
"Hello," Beth said a little coolly. That was when Emily realized Beth was wearing Luke's shirt.
At this moment, Luke came down the stairs, his shirt half on him as he rounded the corner. He froze upon seeing Emily, gravity finishing the job of pulling his shirt down.
"I'll come back," Emily said, turning to go. He'd slept with Beth?! Her brain was buzzing. She thought he was annoyed by Beth. Had he changed his mind? It appeared so. She felt hurt and knew she was crazy for feeling hurt when he didn't even like her that way. That was what he'd made clear to her last week with their discussion at lunch. They'd had minimal interactions since, but Emily had no idea he had moved on to Beth.
"No, no," Luke said quickly. "It's all good." He finally got his wits about him and fixed his crooked shirt before going to stand across from Beth. His intention was to tell her to leave, but she reached to take a hold of his hand that he had set on the counter. He stared at it, confused.
"We're very good," Beth said, nodding. Emily kept her head held high as she walked to the back out of earshot.
"What the hell are you doing?" Luke demanded, yanking his hand back from Beth.
"I thought we had a connection," she started, sounding like Gary.
"You thought wrong," he cut her off. He hustled back to find Emily leaning against the walk-in fridge. Tito looked at him questioningly.
"Boss?" he asked.
"Out," Luke ordered. Tito set down the knife and left. Emily started to follow when Luke caught her arm. "Not you."
"What did I do now?" she asked. "I suppose I'm breathing the wrong way, am I? It's in the right nostril and out the left one? Or have I got it wrong?"
"You did not see what you think you saw out there," he said. For some reason, he had to make this clear to her. He didn't know why. Well, he did know why, but he still couldn't admit it to himself.
"What did I see?" Emily asked, tilting her head at him.
"It was nothing," he said firmly. "Nothing at all."
"She's in your shirt, and you were shirtless first thing in the morning. Kind of says it all," Emily pointed out.
"It says nothing," he insisted. "She got hot water all over her, and I gave her mine to borrow before going to get another..."
"Luke," Emily cut him off. "It's fine. You can sleep with whoever you want. I'm not your girlfriend."
The word hung in the air after she said it, and something flickered in his face. She recognized it as hurt. But what did he have to be hurt about?
"You're right," he agreed. "You're not." He let go of her arm and backed off.
"Luke," she said. "I didn't mean..." Tito came back in at this point, and he was looking confused.
"Are you Beth's boyfriend now?" he asked.
"No," Luke shook his head. "I'm not."
"She seems to think you are..."
"Oh for God's sake," Luke snapped, moving to go deal with her once and for all. Emily stood there feeling confused. They had agreed to be friends, so why was he hurt by her saying she wasn't his girlfriend? Was he secretly hurting that they were only friends just like she was? She was so confused.
"You okay?" Tito asked, bringing her back to the room.
"I'm fine," she answered automatically. She ignored his skeptical look as she walked past him and back out to the front.
"I just don't understand," Beth was saying, her tone angry.
"What is there to understand?" Luke asked, exasperated.
"Is it her?" Beth demanded, gesturing at Emily.
"Whoa," Emily said, holding up her hands. "Leave me out of this lover's quarrel."
"It's not..." Luke started.
"You need to get over yourself," Beth said to Emily now, ignoring Luke. "You can't just swoop in here and force yourself on someone when they have something going on with someone else!"
"Nobody is forcing anybody on anyone," Luke tried.
"You need to realize that not everything is about you, Beth," Emily said. She turned to Luke. "I suddenly have a headache. You're gonna have to figure this out without me today."
"Emily," Luke said as she walked out the door. She was shaking inside. How dare Beth accuse her of stealing Luke from under her nose! Did Beth not realize Luke was not interested in her? Was she that blind?
"You okay?" Nathan asked, meeting her halfway. He was wrapping his apron around himself as he walked. His hair was still damp from his swim.
"Headache," she answered, passing him without another word. She went into her apartment, found her bed, fell onto it, and cried.
...
Luke was frustrated. It had taken five times to get Beth to finally understand he was not interested in her and that no, Emily had not hoodwinked him. She had left very angry, taking his shirt with her, but he didn't care. He figured she would remove herself from the ball team too, which he also didn't care about. What he did care about was Emily. He had hated seeing her face hurt like that when she left earlier, and he knew he had to make it right.
"What the hell is going on in here?" Mei asked, dodging Beth as she burst out the door.
"A lot of miscommunication and misunderstanding," Luke answered.
"I see," Mei said, looking to see Beth get into her car angrily and take off. Luke said nothing else as he went back to work. Tito kept looking at him, and Luke ignored him. He wasn't in the mood. Nathan at least acted normal, which Luke appreciated. Around one in the afternoon, though, he couldn't take it anymore.
"I'll be back," Luke told Mei. It wasn't busy really. Saturdays weren't usually. He went around to Emily's apartment and stood in front of her door for a moment, trying to figure out what he was even going to say. In the end, he just decided it would come to him when he saw her. He knocked, and he could hear her walking to the door.
"Hi," he said when she opened it.
"I still don't feel well," she started.
"It's not about work," he cut her off.
"Oh."
"May I?" he gestured. She stepped back to let him in, and he stood there feeling awkward suddenly. Why was he there? What was he doing?
"So, you and Beth," she began.
"Are not a thing and never will be," he finished for her quickly.
"I see."
He shifted on his feet. Why was this so hard for him? She stood there looking at him, waiting.
"I just wanted to say sorry for her behavior," he said. "It was uncalled for."
"You don't have to apologize on her behalf," Emily shook her head.
"Well, I'm sorry for not stopping her."
"Fine. Apology accepted."
She went to turn away when he stepped forward and caught her arm, making her stop and look at him again.
"Um, the thing is," he started, moving his hand until it was holding hers. "I...I think I'm interested in someone else."
"Really," she said.
"But I don't know how to tell her," he went on. "I mean, I kissed her one night, and then I did nothing about it. We said we were friends, but...there's a part of me that wants more. I really care about her, and I think she's afraid to get hurt again, but honestly, I'm afraid too."
There. He'd said it. He watched her reaction, and her face softened.
"What are you afraid of?" she asked, going along with it.
"That I'm bad luck," he answered. "If I don't get close to anyone, they can't get hurt on my watch."
"You are not bad luck, Luke," she said softly. She squeezed his hand in reassurance.
"So what should I do?" he asked. "About her?"
"What does your gut tell you?"
"It says I should man up and make my move," he answered.
"Well, then I'd definitely listen to it," she nodded. "Sounds like good advice."
"Yea?" he asked.
"Yea," she smiled.
He moved in closer, and in an instant, he was kissing her. Emily didn't hesitate to reciprocate. It was just as good as the first time he'd kissed her, if not better. She wrapped her fingers around his wrists as his hands were on either side of her face now. When they stopped, he just looked at her, trying to figure out what to say.
"You really want to be with this train wreck?" Emily asked quietly.
"As a fellow train wreck, I think it's safe to say we understand each other, and yes, I want to be with you," he nodded. She touched his face gently before kissing him again, and he pulled her in close.
He had never felt so at peace inside.
...
Mei narrowed her eyes at Luke when he returned. There was a type of goofiness to the smirk on his face, and she had an idea as to why it was there.
"What?" he asked, seeing her. He moved to pour himself a coffee.
"What did you do?" she demanded.
"Nothing," he answered. He and Emily had decided to keep this thing between them on the down low. He knew it wouldn't be long before Lucy had it figured out (and thank God she wasn't at work today to interrogate him). He hadn't expected Mei to be so perceptive, though.
"I'm sure," she snorted. She walked over to him, licked her thumb, and wiped off the obvious remnants of lipstick off the corner of his mouth. She raised a brow at him as she held her thumb out to show him the red on it.
"Huh," he said. "Whatcha got there?"
"Oh, don't play dumb with me," Mei said, annoyed. "Whose lipstick is that?"
"Gosh, I don't know," he said, playing dumb.
She reached to wipe it off on his shirt, giving him another sharp look before returning to help the new customer that just walked in. Luke knew he wasn't out of the woods yet, and he cursed himself for not checking his mouth before leaving Emily.
"Did you get your lady?" Tito asked when he joined him in the kitchen. Nathan was in the fridge.
"Is my life just an open book for everybody?" Luke demanded.
"Yea, man. We're all super bored with ours."
"Nothing happened," Luke insisted.
"Yea, okay," Tito snorted. About thirty minutes later, Emily came back, claiming her headache was gone now. They kept their distance, but Mei still gave them looks all day. Gil came for a round of chess with Mei, and while she was distracted, Luke went to see what Emily was up to.
"What are you doing?" he asked, seeing her underneath a table. She jumped and banged her head underneath the table.
"Ow!" she yelped, twisting to see him while rubbing her head. "Was that necessary?"
"Probably not," he agreed.
"Someone left a hell of a mess under here, so I'm cleaning it up," she answered his earlier question. She crawled out and stood up, smoothing her shirt.
"You want something to eat?" he asked, suddenly not knowing what else to say.
"Okay," she nodded. The door opened then, and some teenage girls came in.
"I'll bring it out when you're finished," he said.
"Sounds good."
He dared to touch her arm before going back to the kitchen. Emily went to dump her dust pan when she heard it.
"Oh my God," one girl snickered. "It's Meeeiiii."
Emily froze, turning to see what was going on. Mei was standing there looking at the four girls, and her face was growing red. Gil was in the washroom.
"If only Scott could see you now," another girl said. She appeared to be the leader.
"You're the real Diner Girl," another mocked.
"Oh, how original," Mei scoffed. "Using a movie's line because you can't come up with your own."
"I don't think you can talk to us like that when you're at work," the leader girl sneered. Emily clenched her fists. She knew better than to intervene...yet. She watched Mei get their stuff, and the leader girl took a sip of her smoothie before deeming it bad and threw it at Mei, hitting her right in the chest.
"Clean it up," she ordered Mei. Then she called Mei something that made Emily see red. She was there in a flash, the girl's elbow in her vice grip.
"Ow!" she cried.
"Listen here, you little snot," Emily said menacingly. "If I ever catch you in here again, you'll be sorry. Learn how to be decent because your looks will fade and no one will give a shit about you unless you're an actual human being and care about something other than yourself."
The other three girls were gaping at Emily, and the one in her grip was shocked until she got her brave back and yanked free.
"Bitch," she said as she stumbled towards the door, her friends behind her.
"I'd rather be a bitch than a heartless, soulless, satanic broad like you!" Emily called after her. She was shaking a little, her adrenaline on high. She turned to see Mei staring at her in shock and Luke covering his mouth to hide his laughter.
"What?" she asked.
"Wow," Mei said. "Just...wow."
"She had it coming," Emily sniffed, holding her head up as she went to go get the mop. Gil came back out at this moment, having missed everything. Mei went to change, and Emily could tell she was upset about what happened. When Mei came back, though, she went over to Gil to finish their game, not saying a word about it.
After she finished cleaning, Emily went out to the picnic table to cool off and get her wits back. She wasn't really sure what had come over her. She felt very sheepish suddenly when Luke joined her.
"So," he said. "Heartless, soulless, satanic broad, huh?"
"I'm sorry," she replied, wincing. "It just came out."
"I didn't say I wasn't agreeing with you," he laughed.
"I just really hate girls like that, which is ironic," Emily sighed.
"Why's that?"
"Once upon a time, I behaved like her, but not that extreme," she replied. "I haven't always been the nicest person, but I think I learned my lesson the hard way." She looked at him, seeing that he was watching her carefully.
"I don't see it," he declared.
"See what?"
"The mean girl side of you."
"I could say some cutting things," Emily assured him. "But I changed. I hope that girl does too."
"She might," he nodded. He slid her plate over to her then, and she took it. They didn't talk for a while, which Emily was okay with. She was still processing what she had done. It had felt good to have a voice again, to stand up and fight back even if it was only aimed at a teenage girl. She knew she shouldn't have gone quite so far with it, though. One step at a time, but she was getting there.
When Luke gave her his smile, she felt her heart kick start, but they kept up being discreet and didn't do anything else as they finished lunch and went back inside. The only thing he did was put his hand on the small of her back as they went through the door, and she felt the electricity from his touch.
She was looking forward to the end of the day.