Wylde Ride

Chapter 2: A day in the life...

~Lesia~

I wanted to see how much more I could fluster my Scott but it became obvious pretty quickly that he and his dad were having a serious talk. I hadn't met his folks but given that the older guy across from him was basically his dopelganger, I went with my gut. I kept half an eye on them out of curiousity and because I had difficulty not looking at Scott when he was in the same room. It was like I knew I belonged there, next to him, like a part of my soul needed to be with his. I sighed at my thoughts. I've been reading too many romances again. My eyes flitted to Scott. He hid his inner struggle well but since I was intimately familiar with that kind of thing, I could see it. He didn't like what he was hearing. It scared him? No, worried him.

"Miss?" A voice called to me from the counter. I mentally smacked myself. Pay attention to the job, Lesia! I smiled at the customer in apology.

"How can I help you sir?"

"I'm here to pick up an order for Harridan." I nod at him and check the section of the window separating the counter from the kitchen reserved for take out orders. Finding his, I check it against the ticket, hand it him and ring him up.

"$18.65" He paid me and left. I glanced back to Scott to find him alone and looking shell shocked. We weren't busy for a Sunday morning and Luke seemed to have a handle on things.

"Luke, I'm going to take a short break." I called out to him. He grinned back at me.

"No prob, Lee" I smiled at that. He refused to call me by my first name no matter how hard I protested. I liked him though so I didn't mind. He and my dad would have got along great. Dad had the same kind of laid back, jokey attitude Luke did. My fingers automatically went to the dog tags hanging around my neck as I made my way to where Scott sat.

Sliding in next to him, I ran a hand up his arm to get his attention, "Hey," I didn't include my customary Sexy since he still looked like he was in shock. I heard a sharp intake of breath, and he looked at me, eyes wide. My inner cheerleader did a back handspring. I loved evidence of how I affected him. He blinked a few times, then jerked a bit before slumping, head dropping onto the table. What was going on? I wrapped an arm around him and leaned into him, my other hand stroking his arm softly.

"Are you okay? Did something happen?" he drew in a shaky breath.

"I. I can't be what he wants." His voice was partly muffled by the table but I could make out what he was saying. "He's sending me to..." he cut off abruptly and lifted his head to look at me, his face mere breaths from mine. We hadn't even been this close at the dance last night. A part of me wanted to seize the moment and close the distance, but another part needed him to be the one to initiate our first kiss. He got a wild, semi panicked look in his eyes that I knew meant my boy was about to cut and run.

"I..I...I...I gotta go," He stammered out, pushing against me a little. I slid out of the booth. I didn't want to let him go, he looked like he really needed to talk. You can't force it though, the connection to someone else. He was one of the few people I wanted to try to make a connection to since my dad died and I wasn't about to push my luck. I wanted him off balance not off interested. Still I reached out put a hand on his arm as he stood.

"You can talk to me, you know. I make a pretty good listener." I watched Scott argue with himself in his eyes and it hurt to see him struggle. I wanted to hold him, to make the pain and worry and fear melt away with love but he wasn't ready to let me that close yet. Soon, maybe but not quite yet.

"I can't" It was nearly a whisper and then he was gone. Someday I was going to figure out what all those conflicting emotions I kept seeing in his eyes were about, maybe then I could help him feel less lost.