The ever attractive Jared. (He's my favorite! Yummy!)
December 15, 2014 3PM
I place the cupcakes in the oven and grab the to-go orders from the back.
"Here you go. Thank you for buying. Merry Christmas." I say with a smile as I hand the woman her bag of sweets.
"No thank you. Merry Christmas dear." She says sweetly and smiles before leaving.
Tomorrow is my brother, Gage's, birthday. He's turning 22 so I'm tasked with preparing his cupcakes. They'll be done soon and I'll have them frosted before I leave at 5:30.
The bell rings telling me someone is here.
"Hey welcome to Fried Apples. Would you like to try a sample of our homemade signature fried apple pie?" I ask with a smile at the man.
"Alice?" The man asks with a confused look.
"I'm glad you can read my name tag." I say and look down to see I forgot to put it on. "Wait, how do you know me?" I ask shocked.
"Wow, 5 years pass and you don't recognize me? Well I guess in your defense I'm not drunk and hanging all over you on the top of a mountain." He says with a charming and perfect smile. I know him from somewhere.
"God that was years ago. Do you work with my dad?" I ask.
"Yeah. God remember when you had just turned 18 and your dad thought we should celebrate. You didn't drink of course and you got to be the DD." The man smiles and it finally clicks.
"Jared! Oh my god! Look at you!" I say as I climb over the counter very unladylike and wrap my arms around him.
"It's good to see you remembered." He says with a deep chuckle.
"You look so much older. I think it's the beard." I say as I pull back and tug gently on the facial hair.
"Hey easy there killer." He says with a wink.
"How have you been? I haven't seen you in forever." I say as I rest my hands on his shoulders subconsciously.
"I've been working with your dad. We just finished the subdivision over in Draketown, ya know?" He says.
"Yeah dad was telling me about that. Yall finished it early and got an early break and a Christmas paycheck." I tell him though he already knows.
"Your dad deserves most of the credit."
"Oh that old man gets enough credit." I say as my hands trail down his arms.
"Excuse me?" I hear someone ask. I turn to see Leo.
"Hey Leo. This is Jared. He's been a friend of my family for a while." I say as my hands drop to my side.
"Hey man. Don't you know Levi? He talks about a Leo sometimes." Jared says cooly as he reaches a hand out.
"Nah. Must be a different Leo." He says but I notice how he hesitated.
"Must be. It's nice to meet you. Alice, if you could, Id like one of those fried Apple pies and I'll be on my way." Jared says as he lays a big hand on my shoulder.
"Sure. Let me just ring you up and I'll go grab one." I say with a smile.
I properly walk through the swinging door to the back and grab a fried Apple pie before walking back up to the front.
"That'll be 2.07." I say with a smile.
He hands me a 5 and I ring it up and hand him his change. He drops it in my tip jar.
"Thanks Jared. I'll see you around." I say sweetly.
"Bye Alice." He says with a smile before walking outside.
I bring my eyes back to Leo. He looks angry again.
"What the fuck was that?" He asks.
"That was an old friend." I say defensively.
"Oh yeah. Like I believe that. Y'all couldn't keep your hands off each other!" He says loudly.
"Leo, I'm not doing this here. It's nice to finally hear from you after 2 days. I didn't worry at all. Didn't even phase me that you could have been dead in a ditch it worse." I say coldly.
"What I do is my business. If I wanted another mother I would've stayed at home with mine." He spits.
"It became my business when you put this ring on my finger. You can have it back if you think otherwise." I say as I slide the ring off my finger and set it on the counter.
"I'm sorry Alice. Please put the ring back on. I just got jealous that's all." He says sadly. I almost believe him.
"And my birthday?" I ask.
"I might've had a bit to drink." He says. I know that's a lie though.
"That's what you get for drinking then. Now take the ring and leave. I'm working." I say as I turn away from him to check the cupcakes in the back.
I look down at my finger and notice how bare it looks now. My eyes fill with tears and I swallow hard to stop them from coming out.
"I'm not leaving Alice until you put the fucking ring on." Leo calls out
I walk back to the front and out the swinging door so I'm in front of the counter with him.
He gets on one knee and grabs my hand. He kisses it softly before sliding the ring back on. He stands up and I wrap my arms around his neck. His jacket moves and I see something smeared on his neck.
"What's that?" I ask as I rub my fingers over it.
He ignores my question and kisses me hard.
"I love you baby." He says softly and walks towards the door. He rubs his neck and smiles before walking out. That's his nervous gesture.
I think he's lying to me about more than just drinking.
YOU ARE READING
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