"I have never been more exhausted in my entire life. It's almost as if sleep and I were married for sixteen years, and I caught them having an affair with my sister." I groan and Blake nods, looking up at the menu hanging from the wall.
"Trust me when I say it only gets worse after high school." He sighs and scratches the nape of his neck. "I'll have a plain black coffee and a-- uhhhhh." He looks down at the case where we keep the desserts and snacks.
I roll my eyes and pretend to be annoyed. "You usually get a Cream Cheese Danish with Blueberry glaze. We both know that's what you're going to get again, so let's not make this more tedious than it needs to be." We make eye contact for a few long, awkward seconds before he nods and smiles.
"You're right. Get me the Danish." I nod and make his coffee in the machine and grab his dessert and put it into a container. When he pays, he steps to the side of the cash register so that other customers can order but he is still able to speak to me.
I'm thankful for his action because it gets pretty boring over here with nobody to talk to. Even Lacey, the cute strawberry blonde who works here, has gotten lame and predictable with her small talk. Not to mention our conversations always lead to her speaking about her crushes at our school, and then she always asks me how I could be gay when a guy like Graham Hisaya exists in Utah.
'I don't know, Lacey,' I usually say through clenched teeth, 'How can you be straight when a girl like Julie Nicholson exists in Utah?' That usually shuts her up. Things have quickly become much easier between Blake and I, and I'm not sure if I'd contribute that to him snatching my sister's virginity over Christmas Break or if I'd contribute it to me getting less annoyed about how robotic and mechanical his one-word replies are.
"It sucks getting a job so young. I'm already going to have to work until the day I die just so I can keep a roof over my head and provide for my family, but I'm doing it at least two years earlier than I had to. God, I literally wake up five hours earlier than I used to on weekends." I mutter, and Blake shakes his head with a smile.
He beams for a second and glances over his shoulder at Eve working the main cash register at the book section of the store. He turns back to me and I notice a gleam in his eyes. Ugh. The dude's in love. Gross.
"Listen, being an adult is overrated. You have to pay taxes, people frown at you for wearing PJs to the grocery store, and you're not allowed to eat ice cream for breakfast." He sighs and takes a sip of his coffee, "You're going to miss how easy it was being sixteen when you're my age. You get away with so much more than I do. Don't even get me started on how you're allowed to act like a dick to everyone and people just shrug it off because 'You know how teenagers are'. If I was your age again, I'd live it up and relax."
I smile at the thought of it. My teenage years haven't exactly been the most exciting or joyful. They've been filled with confusion, judgement, and now skinny love. I should feel fuzzy about the possibilities of what I could be experiencing, but I don't. The experiences I've already had have spoiled what could be. Now... I can't wait to be Blake's age. Twenty is where the fun really begins for me.
"I can't." I shake my head and go to prepare a customer's Mocha Latte. When I return, I turn to Blake with a frown, "I have to show Brielle how mature I can be. If somebody like Max can grow up and be ready to be a father, then I can grow up and prepare myself to help take care of the baby. I need to show her that I'm not a child." I explain. His face is blank, but he nods slowly.
"I get why you're doing this, Julie. It's just... I don't think you're see the whole picture. If Brielle does choose to date you over Max, you won't just be getting Brielle. You'll be getting her baby and Max too. You're getting three for the price of one." His eyebrows etch together and his forehead creases with at least ten lines.
YOU ARE READING
Deviation (Book #2 of the Taylor Series)
Teen Fiction"It's almost as if sleep and I were married for sixteen years, and I caught them having an affair with my sister." Julie Esther Nicholson, one of the younger sisters of Eve Nicholson, has returned for her story. With the chips of her old life up in...
