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chapter eleven; cleo, ━━━━━
IT'S FUCKING RIDICULOUS; but she couldn't help the jealousy that stirred deeply inside of her as she recalls Lando's unabashed flirting with the waitress from the restaurant. She didn't anticipate him indulging in her prowess nor did she think that the waitress would have the gall to approach him so cavalier while she was sitting right there with him. Granted, she knows that Lando's dismissive reassurance that they weren't dating provided her the opportunity of pursuing her chance but Cleo was still aghast by the girl's hubris to be so openly flirtatious with him while she was present.
And she was even more bewildered at the fact that they'd used Cleo's temporary egress to the restroom, to further their flirtation and exchange numbers! She knows she's overreacting to a situation that she obtained no right in being jealous about—her and Lando were friends and he was single so he was allowed to do what he pleased with whomever he pleased, but that didn't stop her impending jealousy from its raging onslaught.
She tries to masquerade her jealousy behind a insouciant facade, because she didn't want him to know that she was upset and she didn't want to inadvertently turn that into another argument or issue between them when they'd just got back to this point of reconciliation but it truly bothered her. Lando's handsome so it's not completely lost on Cleo as to why the waitress was so avid to approach him, she just foolishly and naively thought that maybe there'd been something or someone that would have deterred him from wanting to his attention to another girl.
But it's obvious that her assumptions were totally and completely wrong.
It didn't help that Halen had been texting her throughout the morning, asking for her to come over to his room so that they could finish the last section of the project together even though she'd told him that she wasn't currently in town. And even if she was, she's not oblivious to Halen's games. He'd wanted her to come over for his own sexual benefit, not for the sake of the project. But she surceased any and every romantic and sexual aspect of that relationship and had no intentions of ever being pulled back into that toxicity.
All throughout the time that they were there eating, it seemed as if the waitress was doing more flirting than working. She overindulged in her customer service, using any and every excuse to return to their table just to talk to Lando. She didn't completely disregard Cleo's presence, she asked if she needed anything but it was obvious that her attention was fully directed on Lando. Cleo resisted the urge of rolling her eyes at their unabashed flirting, holding back the disgust and annoyance that withered inside of her.
When they'd finished eating and approached the counter to pay for their meal, he'd given her compensation for her gratuity along with a promise of texting her at his earliest convenience. She felt silly and petulant, but Cleo was admittedly glad when they finally left the restaurant so that she didn't have to bear witness their flirting any longer.
