Page 87 of Seasons of Love
“That would be creepy,” I continue because my mouth has a will of its own. “I’m not creepy. I just notice things, and I see everyone’s shopping. Not that I remember everyone, although I remember yours because you always smile at me…”
I trap my lips between my teeth to force myself to stop talking before Ellis places a complaint against me to Gerald.
He tilts his head a little like he’s simultaneously trying to figure me out and not laugh.
“My sister has invited me for dinner at her place. When I say invited, I mean she threatened to come over to my place and drag me out if I declined,” he says, smiling in that way that makes it impossible for me not to smile back.
So he’s not going on a date. It’s messed up that my stomach does a little happy flip.
Yeah, definitely not a normal reaction to someone I barely know.
“I hope it’s a nice dinner, and I’m sure she’ll love these chocolates,” I say, impressed that all the words come out in the correct order. Maybe it’s because I’m scanning his items, so my brain momentarily restarts.
After he pays, he gives me another one of his nice smiles and leaves.
“You so have a crush on the elementary school teacher,” Jimmy says.
“No I don’t. Shut up. I’m going on my break,” I say and close my register.
“Hey, Milo,” Jimmy calls out. “You know it’s pointless, right?”
“What is?”
“Guys like him will never even look twice at guys like us. We don’t know enough about fancy stuff. I mean, what would you even talk about on a date? Guys like us should stick together, ya know. We come from the same place. This is as good as it gets for us.”
I’m not sure if he means that in the general sense or if this is his weird way of asking me out, which wouldn’t be the first time.
As for the assumption that people from different worlds can’t be together…maybe so…but all the romance books I get from the library tell me otherwise, so Jimmy can stick to his reality. I reserve the right to my own dreams.
I shrug noncommittally. “Doesn’t matter because I don’t have a crush on him, and I’m not interested in a relationship. My priority right now is Sara.”
I so have an impossible crush on the elementary school teacher. Then again, my life is already full of dreams, so what harm can one more do?
2
ELLIS
The drive from the store to my place is filled with thoughts of the young man with the warm brown eyes that seem so out of place at the store.
I could use any other checkout lane, but if Milo is working, I can’t go to another one. It’s as if my body has a mind of its own, and before I know it, I’ve already unloaded my cart at his register.
He has these brown eyes that look at you with a mix of innocence and too much of the harsh reality of life. Like they’ve seen all the darkness there is to see. It’s such a contradiction.
And then there’s his sweet nine-month-old daughter, whom he seems solely responsible for.
I want to know more, but asking is inappropriate because we’re not friends.
The only time I’ve seen him away from the grocery store was early in the summer at the end of the music festival.
I’d been trying to get the school approved as a GED testing center, and I guess the word got around town.
He approached me about the program while I was with a few friends watching my brother’s rock band perform. But I check the school email daily, and I haven’t seen his application for the summer preparation classes.
It’s not my problem. I need to remind myself of that.
No matter how much I want to know what lies behind those young, sweet brown eyes.
Once home, I shower and get ready to go out again.
