West [ COMPLETED ]

XXVIII

" What are you so happy about at seven in the morning? " Scott asked disdainfully as he looked at me over his cup of coffee.

"Oh I'm just glad I have a job I like, and I think I'm finally over that bastard I've been in love with for the past two years," I said, grinning.

"Is that so?" He said dryly.

"Yes. Quite so. "

"Whatever, he was way too old for you anyway," he shrugged.

My mind immediately flashed to the image of Dego's smiling face, and the fact that I knew he was older even than Weston, but I told myself it didn't matter because it's not like I liked Dego in that way. At least not yet.

I finished up my breakfast and went to my room to finish doing my makeup. I'd gotten a lot better at it recently, and put more effort into it now that I had invested in more expensive items to pull off the look I wanted.

I preferred a light, elegant look, and I was always surprised at how much makeup it took to make it look like you weren't wearing makeup: it made me appear to be older than I was though and somewhat turned my childlike features into something reasonably sophisticated.

I finished up the look with a warm cherry shade of lip gloss and fastened two small gold earrings in my ears.

I had gotten them pierced only a few weeks ago, when I remembered how once Weston told me he hated earrings and he liked how I'd never gotten mine pierced. I had been in the mall looking at jewelery when I had a flashback of that time, and ten minutes later I had bought three pairs of earrings and walked out of the store with a pair fastened to my lobes.

I realized that I was becoming bitter over Weston, but I did nothing to curb those feelings. A cold, uncaring glance was all I spared that knowledge.

I combed my hair smoothly into a knot at the back of my head, fastened it, and then bent to put my shoes on.

I knew I was changing, it was something I felt, but didn't know how to react to; I felt a little unsure whenever I found myself doing something bout of character with myself, but I wasn't sure what to do about it, so I ignored it.

Perhaps I was just growing up, I thought, becoming more ladylike. I'd never had an interest in dressing up or makeup, or my impression on other people before, not even around Weston really, and I vaguely wondered what had changed.

But just like I did with all the thoughts and feelings Id ever had about Weston, I shoved that one to the back of my mind and chose not to dwell on it.

Time for work.

The rutted dirt road only got worse every month, but my old Jeep jounced over the ruts as faithfully as ever.

The Sangre de Cristos were a backdrop of beauty to the dry, rocky landscape, and I reveled in the beauty of them every morning.

I was able to get in a lot of thinking every morning in the thirty minute drive to the restaurant, since the radio in the Jeep didn't work, and I did a lot of praying as well.

I felt myself attracted to this intriguing man every time I saw him, every time I heard him speak, but it scared me. I think something about Dego scared me, or my feelings about him.

Maybe it was nothing more than lust. He was one of the most carnally appealing men I'd ever been around, every glance, ever curl of his lips laced in unconscious sensuality.

But no, I'd kept my distance from him, regardless of my acknowledgement to myself off his attractiveness, until he made himself known to me, and it was only now, after id spent that whole evening at his house, that I was beginning to dwell on his physical appeal. So it had to be more than a base attraction, I reasoned internally.

I sighed and shook my head to clear it as I pulled into the parking lot.

Work mode.

Work mode threatened to falter the second I stepped through the back door though and was met with the sight of Dego leaning over his desk, working on papers, hair falling over his brow and the too button of his shirt undone to reveal a smooth, tanned collar bone.

My breath seemed to leave me and I had to manually put it into function mode once again. Attraction or lust?

He looked up once he heard the door shut and immediately his face curled into a smile.

"Hey Ave," he said softly.

He'd been gentle with me the last couple weeks, I don't know if he just wanted to be careful to not scare me off or what, but he hasn't asked to hang out a second time, and he left me alone a bit more at work, albeit he was almost sweeter than before, less charismatic.

Whatever he was doing, it was working. I wanted to spend time with him again. I was more intrigued by him than before because of his sudden reservedness and I wondered what it meant.

"Goodmorning Dego, how's it going?"

"Good, can't complain."

I nodded and quickly went to write on the time schedule my clock in time.

"Avery, how many hours do you want to work again?"

"I-i- um, forty to f-fifty would be nice," I stammered, and wanted to kick myself for stuttering like that.

He was gazing at me with a gleam of amusement in his dark fiery eyes, his eyes that always looked like that, no matter his mood.

"Okay. That's more than you wanted at first." He tapped his pen on the stack of papers.

"I-i- know, I just decided it's not too difficult of a job to work more. "

"Alright, if that's what you want," he shrugged.

"Yeah that would be good," I said, and turned back to the log.

"You wanna come over and chill after work? I'll have something to eat, we could watch a movie..." He said, not looking up.

I marked my time and turned around, not being able to keep the smile from my face.

"Yeah, I'd be into that. I can't stay too late but I think it would be nice for a change," I said which was quite true.

So far, the only friends I'd made the entire time I'd lived in Colorado were the people at this restaurant, and so far, with the exception of Dego, that friendship hadn't extended beyond the workplace.

Loneliness was not something I would ever admit to, but I vaguely realized, perhaps by the eagerness with which I responded to Dego's continued offer of friendship, and maybe more, that loneliness had been a part of my life for so long I had never quite felt as if some part of me wasn't lonely.

"Good, that's what we'll do then," he said, nodding, still not having taken his eyes from his paperwork.

"Splendid, can't wait," I said in an affected british accent, and gave him a little wave before exiting into the next room, but not before I saw his lips curl in a little smile at the corner of his mouth.