Heels of Steel [1]

Chapter 2

"I love you but wow... you look rough, princess." Drew said looking at me from across the table. I looked at him through my sunglasses and smiled softly. I had a raging hangover but my boyfriend's kind eyes and knowing smile eased the ringing in my head just a little and that was something amazing to me. "Come here." He patted the seat next to him.

I lazily got up from my seat which was across from him and plopped down on the seat to the left of the square table. This put us right next to each other and I leaned on his shoulder inhaling deeply and enjoy his familiar cologne.

"Maybe Des and I should've taken it easy last night." I admitted sheepishly. That 'maybe' was a "definitely". We were reeling from being laid off from SuKitch, we were in despair. Well, that's what we told ourselves to justify the seventh round of tequila shots.

"Maybe you should've invited me and we wouldn't be having these problems." A familiar voice remarked. I'd know that sassy tone anywhere. I looked up at my best friend as she stood at our tables, arms folded and head cocked to the side.

Mia looked like she was taking pleasure in my suffering. Her brown eyes were lit up as she smiled but the curl of her lips was more sinister than sweet.

"I hate you." I mumbled.

"I think you deserve every moment of that hangover." She said pulling out the seat I was sitting in moments before. She sat down and put her small handbag on the table. "Awwww, babygirl, do they hurt?" She asked in a faked baby voice "Do the consequences of your own actions hurt?" She added.

"You're a menace in my life." I retorted.

"Yet here I still am." She smirked, leaning back into the soft chair. "Always here to help nurse you back to health." As she finished speaking our waiter approached the table.

"Welcome, Miss, can I get you anything?" He asked politely. His name tag said "Oliver" and the calm expression on his face said that he was good at being polite but not particularly warm. That is until Mia turned on her charm.

"Hmmm... let me see..." she glanced at his name tag, "Oliver, my best friend here decided to go binge drinking unsupervised last night and now she's nursing her hangover at your fine establishment so tell me, do you have any tea blends you can recommend to help her sort out this crippling self-inflicted illness?"

Oliver listened intently, maintaining eye contact with her.

"We have an excellent matcha tea that we make with coconut water that can help ease the effects of a hangover." He replied. His tone was laced with the slightest hint of nerves but he seemed to keep it unnoticeable. But Mia had taken notice and leaned on the table with her elbows, moving closer to him as she looked up at him from under her long lashes.

"I love that." She replied. Oliver hung onto every word she uttered. "And for me? I'm in the mood for something sweet, maybe cold and with a little... edge."

"I..." Oliver started but the rest of the sentence never seemed to make it out of his mouth. His hazel eyes were fixed on Mia almost as if his breath had run out and he needed her to resuscitate him. "I..." he still couldn't complete a sentence.

"Just bring her an iced café mocha, Oliver. Thank you." Drew interjected. His voice resonated from his chest and I could feel some of the vibrations as I rested my head on his shoulder.

Oliver snapped out of it, nodded and quickly walked away, leaving Mia to let out a little chuckle.

"You need to stop doing that to people that are just trying to work." I stated.

Mia had this habit. She was a flirt. She couldn't help it. My best friend was attractive. She wasn't very tall, maybe about 10cm shorter than me but she had this insane figure and the most dazzling smile. Her brown eyes were warm when they weren't alluring and she had this bounce in her step when she walked. Some would say she wasn't "conventionally" attractive just because she's plus size but there was no denying that both men and women's eyes lingered on her a little longer than they should. Very few people could command a room with just their presence the way Mia could.