“Tweethearts, really?” Curtis says
“Like you and your fiancée, love birds.”
“Dude seriously, calm down. Your nerd is showing,” I say
“Hey, just cause I have a respectable hobby, doesn’t make me a nerd. It makes me a bird nerd, now get it right.” he says and laughs
“So, for real. Ya’ll aren’t a thing. Cause according to the town gossip, you two have something magical behind the bar together.” Troy says.
WHEN YOU'RE READY
97
“So, because we are good coworkers, we must be a couple?” I ask
“I mean. If there’s chemistry, there’s chemistry.”
“Yeah, but she’s not staying.”
“Who’s to say you can’t convince her otherwise? It’s obvious that you like her,” Chris says
“I don’t know. I thought about asking her to stay but I don’t think it’s my place. It’s not who she is. She likes to travel.”
“So, travel with her,” Curtis says nonchalantly
“Yeah, okay. And what would Gennie do? or my parents?”
“Uhhh hire someone new. And your parents only want what’s best for you.”
“I can’t leave. I have too much to lose here.”
“Whatever man. I hope you’re not making a mistake.”
Yeah. Me too.
Chapter Sixteen
Riley
IT’S THE YOUNG GUYS who crack me up. They usually come in here already drunk, because let face it, it’s cheaper to get drunk at home. But when they come in huge groups, they love on each other and everyone else that walks in.
Tonight, is one of those nights. Young guys, recently turned twenty-one has pulled everyone from the bar into a big circle and they are all singing “Friends in Low Places.”
“This song gets them up every time.” Olivia says to me as she pops the tops off of beer bottles.
“I think it’s cute. No one cares if they know each other. At this moment, they are all friends.”
Olivia nods her head and starts lining the bottles on the bar. One of the freshly turned twenty-one-year old’s bought a round of beers.
Once she’s done, she takes a step back and joins me at the end of the bar, where Lenard usually sits, but he’s long gone by this hour. She leans her forearms on the bar and looks at me. Her dark green eyes are inquisitive.
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T. SPEAR
“So… what’s happening between you and Grayson?” she gives a little smirk
“Grayson? Nothing, why do you ask?”