When I'm With You (Little Hollow Series, #2)(2)

I storm up the apartment stairs and open the door to her upbeat face. “Hey, stranger, where’ve you been?”

Sam owes me for this. Big time.

I’m sat in a booth waiting on Lewis to finish up talking to his friend. This is the last place I want to be, but I can never say no to Sam. I just had the most awkward introduction with said friend, and now I sit here wishing I was anywhere but.

“Can I get you a drink?” The waitress asks, popping her gum at me.

I cringe. It’s a habit that grinds on me. “Just a water, thanks.”

She nods at me and walks off, leaving me to sit on my own. I watch as Lewis straightens up and by the look on his friends face, they’re having a tense conversation, but it’s over before I know it and now he’s heading this way.

Here we go.

“Hey, Keeley. Sorry about that, I was just catching up with an old friend.”

He sits down opposite me and forces a cheesy grin out, which just makes him look constipated. This is gonna be a loooong meal.

“That’s alright, I love sitting on my own,” I quip, giving him a sarcastic smile back. His megawatt one drops from his face at my comment. “You can go eat with your friend if you want, you don’t have to sit with me.”

He studies me for a minute, then smiles. “No, I think I’ll stay here.”

“Subject us both to a night of awkwardness, okay then,” I shrug and mumble to myself, but I know he’s heard me.

He doesn’t say anything, just clears his throat.

“Have you decided what you’re going to have yet?” He asks, perusing the menu in front of him like it’s the most fascinating thing on the planet.

I pick up my menu and point to the first thing I see so we don’t have to draw this out any longer than necessary. “Yeah.”

I don’t expand on my answer and he worries his bottom lip, drawing my attention to them. His full lips have me thinking all sorts of dirty things, it catches me off guard which in turn makes me blush. He’s handsome, not my regular type, but I can’t say he’s not nice to look at.

“Hey, guys. How are you this evening?” The waitress asks, putting my water down in front of me.

She smiles at Lewis and then looks back at me, lifting an eyebrow with a smirk. Yeah I know we look like the most unlikely couple going, but is it really that hard to believe he’d go out with someone like me?

“Great thanks, we’re ready to order now. Keeley, you go first,” Lewis says.

He’s oblivious to the waitresses blatant come hither eyes and just looks at me, waiting for me to order.

I shake my head. “Sure, I’ll have the half rack of St Louis Ribs with ‘slaw and fries. Oh and a beer too,” I add as I look at my water.

She writes down my order then turns to Lewis. “And for you?” Her smile is sickening and I bite back a laugh that desperately wants to escape .

He’s still oblivious to what’s going on. “I’ll have the piggyback burger with sweet potato fries and ‘slaw.”

“Sure, I’ll put that in for you. Can I get you another beer?”

He shakes his head. “No thanks, an iced tea would be nice though.”

She nods at him and saunters off, throwing a wink over her shoulder.

The laugh finally slips free at her blatant flirting. “Well she’s subtle.”

I take a sip of water and look up at Lewis who’s watching me intently. “Huh?”

I play with the straw in my glass. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a guy not react to come fuck me eyes before.”

He nearly spits out his beer. “What? She was not.”

“You’re clearly blind,” I retort.

He laughs and sits back against the booth in a relaxed position. “What’s your story, Keeley?”

I straighten up and stare him down. “I don’t have a story, what you see is what you get.”

I shrug my shoulders nonchalantly while feeling anything but.

He leans forward, putting one of his elbows on the table between us. “Everyone has a story.”

“I don’t,” I say with finality.

He searches my face, for what I don’t know, then nods. “Okay, no story... What’s your middle name?”

He’s caught me off guard and I cough to cover the chuckle that escapes. “What? Why would you want to know that?”

It’s possibly one of the most random questions he could’ve asked.

“Well it’s customary to get to know the person you’re having a meal with,” he says, gulping down the last of his beer.

Well I can’t argue against his logic, but I’m not sure whether I want to get to know him. He seems nice enough, but maybe a little too nice?

Deciding it’d be easier to just go along with it, I lean forward on my elbows. “It’s Rae. Yours?”

He leans forward more, mimicking me. “I don’t have one.”

Is he turning what I said back on me? “Everyone has a middle name,” I counter.

He smirks. “Not me. My mom thought it’d be easier for me to have less names to learn to spell through school.”

I laugh a genuine laugh. “I guess you weren’t the brightest spark then.”

I say it as more of a statement but he answers anyway. “I’ll let you off for saying that because I was actually pretty smart. Passed Kindergarten with flying colors.”