Straighter than Parallel Parking

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"Yeah," he said. "That's the thing where you put lettuce and that white dressing thing. Believe it or not, people eat it."

"I bet they add sarcasm to that meal," she said. "Okay, I'll find a booth."

"No, you get the ice cream," he said, before he handed her a crisp twenty. "I'll just go and try and get something from New York Fries. Whoever get's their meal first, just get a seat and the other will try and find them. Deal?"

"Deal," Janice said, before rushing off to get in line. Thankfully, it wasn't long before her order came in, and since there weren't a lot of people lounging in the area, she'd easily located a spot for her and James to sit.

Licking her mint chocolate, she clucks her tongue on the roof of her mouth as she thinks about how quickly the day had progressed. Seriously, one minute she walks into the mall distraught and hopeless and now she's having ice cream cones and salads with a guy she only just met.

It could be worse, she told herself, your boss could've been hairy and ugly and your job could've been to clean the public bathrooms. She shuddered at the atrocities partnered with the thought; she lived with four males who apparently only know how to use urinals at home. The last thing she needed was to do it for most of the population of Ohio and then some.

Partially finished her cone, she looks up to see James looking around for her. She catches his eye and beckons him over, his salad on a tray, along with two bottles of water. He slides in on the chair opposite of her. "Hey. God, I didn't realize how hungry I was until I had the order in my hand."

"I'm surprised that you could live off of that." She gestured to the little black, see-through box in his hands.

"What do you have against my meal, anyways?" he said, plowing down with his plastic fork.

"I have three brothers. If they had to eat a salad, they'd probably order something that use five lettuces, ten tomatoes and a whole lot of whatever they have in stock."

"I guess you could say I get filled up easily," he said. "And I didn't realize you had three brothers. I knew you had one, but three? Should I be scared?"

"Petrified," she said.

"Thanks for the reassuring consolidation."

"That's what I'm here for," she said cheerfully. "What about you? Got any siblings?"

"I have a sister named Kori," he told her through the bites of his salad. "She used to be all sweet and cute when she was a baby. Now she's a huge pain in the ass when it comes boys and everything."

"How old is your sister?"

"Not dating material yet!"

Janice nodded, as if she expected this. "It starts off young. How much older are you from her?"

"You mean how much older am I from you?" he teases, and she blows on the hair that falls in her mouth. "I'm a year older, I'm almost 19, though."

"You're almost the same age as my oldest brother, Karlo. Then comes the twins, who're your age and then there's me."

"Which one was the one who ditched you?" he asks, and James couldn't understand why he was so curious about this particular red head, but he was enthralled and it didn't seem like this intense curiosity was going to be fading anytime soon.

"Karlo," she said. "But he had a good reason. He does this autocar dealership with my dad and it kind of snuck up on him."

"Sounds like your family and you are close," he remarks, noticing how defensive she is about her brother.