He exhales a laugh, uncaring and bitter. “Well, I guess we’re even. Because I don’t like you much either. And don’t worry about the knowing me part… because you won’t.” He rattles the words off with such venom I have to wonder where the anger is coming from. But I’m certainly not sticking around and subjecting myself to it.
“Arrgg.” I huff out my frustration and stalk over to Troy and Avery.
“Wasn’t that a great little lunchtime show,” Avery muses with too much enjoyment as I drop my tray on the table.
“He is so annoying.” I hook a leg over the bench seat and twist the cap off my Snapple Iced Tea, chugging down my aggravation.
“Yes,” Avery replies with a smug grin, talking around a mouthful of apple. “I can see just how annoying he is.”
“Okay.” Troy steals a look at Vance then leans into the table. “Will someone please tell me what’s going on? Because that dude is hot, and annoying turns me on.”
“Oh my God.” I playfully smack his shoulder then twirl spaghetti onto my fork. “Trust me on this, Troy. That one is hostile. I’d stay as far away as possible.”
“Just like you’re doing?” Avery counters, and I give her a dirty look as I bring the pasta to my mouth.
“Wait. I’m totally confused. Are you into this guy, Ems? And how do you even know him?” Before I have a chance to answer, Troy stabs at my cake adding, “Because you’ve gone through quite a dry spell and if you are, I fully support it.” The humor in his words is muted by the concern in his eyes. I know he worries about me. But the truth is, I’m okay. The last thing I need in my life right now is a guy. I’ve got work, my sculpting, Troy, and Avery. That’s enough for me.
“No.” I drag my cake to the far end of the tray. “I’m not. He and his brother moved in down the street so they’re our neighbors now. I was just,” I shrug, “Well, I don’t know what I was doing.”
“That’s okay, love.” Troy puts a hand on my shoulder. “You don’t have to know.”
“Well this is a surprise, neighbor.” I look up as Julian plops down next to Avery. He has a huge smile on his face and an enthusiastic spark in his hazel eyes. “What’s up?”
“And who might you be?” Troy brushes his hair away from his forehead and studies Julian.
Julian sticks his hand out in the middle of the table. “I’m Julian. And you are?”
“Entranced.”
Avery and I snort a laugh and Julian’s straight nose crinkles in the center. “I don’t get the joke.”
Troy shakes his offered hand then pulls it away as he finally puts the pieces together. “Ohhhh, you’re the new neighbor.”
“Talking about me already, huh?” Julian winks and a huge grin splits his face. He really is quite charming.
“I’m Troy,” he presses his palms together and makes a swinging motion with his arms. “I bat for the other team. It’s nice to meet you.”
“Yeah. Good to meet you too,” Julian responds.
“How come your brother is sitting all by himself?” Avery blurts out, fluttering her eyelashes at Julian. I want to roll my eyes and laugh at the same time. She’s so obvious.
The smile disintegrates from his lips almost as quickly as it appeared and he lets out a long sigh. “Vance is, well, kind of a loner.” He glances over at his brother. “Hey, Vance,” he yells out, gesturing to our table. I turn my head in time to catch Vance smirking and flipping his brother the bird. Julian shakes it off and returns his attention to us. “He’s got a lot going on.”
I want to ask him what. But I don’t. It’s obvious that Vance wants to be left alone, and the fact that I’m even analyzing this to begin with is enough to make me push the spaghetti away and go right for the chocolate cake.
“Hey.” Troy tries to insert his fork into the fortress I’ve built around my cake. “I thought you were sharing with me.”
I glare at him, a playful narrowing of my eyes. “I don’t think so. I need it more than you do.”
His chin skims his shoulder as he takes another look at Vance. “Yeah, I kind of think you do.”
AVERY AND TROY take off after lunch to peruse the stores. They tried every which way to persuade me to join them, but shopping doesn’t hold my interest. I need to be at Anna’s for work at three anyway. What I should probably do is dive into my presentation or finish the sculpture I started over the weekend.
Emptying my tray at the far end of the restaurant, I stack it on top of the others when I notice a book left on one of the benches. It doesn’t matter that it happens to be close to where Vance was eating his lunch. I look around first as if someone is watching me, before I walk over to check it out. The moment I see the title—The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway—I decide it doesn’t belong to Vance. Still, I pick the book up to bring it to the register in case someone comes back for it.