Candy [h.s.]

nine

tw: mention of drug use

Tate's POV

"Charming asked about you today."

"Shut up. No he didn't" Diana begins telling me about her day the second that she walks in the apartment door. "Yes, he did. He was asking is you were working tonight. Seemed pretty disappointed when I told him that you were off." Her smirk is growing on her face as she watches the red in my cheeks grows brighter. "Also, he didn't know you're name? Did he forget or did you not tell him?" My eyes widen and I whine back to her. "Diana!? You told him my name?" She knows better than to do that. "Not your full name, calm down. I told him that it's T. I just assumed he had heard it a few times at the diner so I thought he already knew, I'm sorry." I breathe a sigh of relief knowing that he doesn't actually know my name.

"Okay, thank you." Knowing that he knows a little bit more about me now is exciting and makes my stomach clench at the thought of him walking around the world thinking about me and knowing what I let everyone call me. "Did he say anything else about me?" I hate myself for being so blatantly interested in what he said about me, but I can't help it. "No, he just asked where you were, I took his order, and he left really abruptly after I placed the order to the kitchen." My eyebrows raise at the last part. That seems really out of the ordinary, even for him. "He just left?" I asked in clarification. "Like without eating anything?" Diana stops eating her dinner to look at me in confusion. "Yeah? He left money for it and was just gone." Granted, I don't know him very well, this still seemed weird. "I wonder what happened?" I'm trying so hard to sound nonchalant even thought I know Diana knows that I'm stupidly kind of into him. 

"I have no idea man, but he's a good tipper. No wonder you like him." She resumes eating and doesn't seem to notice my mouth hanging wide open at those words. "Did you just say he's a good tipper?" There's no way she's talking about the same Charming that I know. "Yeah, he left me like ten bucks tonight." I barely let her finish her sentence before I jump up and push her in the chest. "Shut up! No he didn't!" She bends over and coughs as she chokes on her dinner, probably my fault. 

"Jesus, T. Yeah he did. Why is that so surprising?" She gains her breath back and coughs before sitting back in her chair. "He is the worst tipper I have ever served in my life, D." Of course he tipped her well. God, he pisses me off. 

Diana laughs at me before responding. "Damn, that sucks for you, T. I told you he liked you though." She wasn't wrong. Boys always tease and pick on the girls they like, which I have always detested. I don't understand why it's expected for boys to be mean to us and we're supposed to associate that abuse with love? It's one of many things that is fucked up in our society. I firmly believe that the phrase "He teases you because he likes you" is one of the reasons that domestic abuse has been so glossed over in our society. 

"No, fuck him for that. He likes me so he's going to be a dick? Does that make any sense to you at all?" I was fuming. I cannot believe that he makes me put up with soaked dollar bills and literal nickels just to turn around and give my best friend a ten dollar tip when she didn't even do anything. 

"You're right," Diana's words make me turn around to glare at her. "You should fuck him for that." She thinks she's funny. "I would, but I try to not make it a habit of sleeping with men who make me want to punch them in the face." I smirk back at her before turning on my heel and walking back to my bedroom. "C'mon! Hate sex is the best, T!" I can hear Diana shouting her retort at me through the hallway. Not responding, I shut my door to go into my bathroom and start getting ready for bed.