Their Paid Girl

Their Paid Girl - Part 26

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          It was with huge relief that I took off my bartending apron and handed it over to Sasha, the girl who was replacing me. A six hour shift was bad, but I was just glad that I’d gotten the morning one. It had been nearly empty the entire time – evening was when things really begain to get busy, so I was thankful that I was done for the day.

          Groaning, I shouldered my heavy bag and shuffled out of the bar into the afternoon sun, hoping to find someplace nice and quiet where I could sit and rest my sore legs after standing for the past six hours. I spotted a little table beneath a tree in the courtyard and was just about to make my way towards it when I heard a familiar voice call my name.

          “Shawna! Wait a second!”

          I turned in surprise to see Scott jogging towards me in sweatpants and a t-shirt, despite the cool air. A group of freshmen girls giggled as he went by, openly staring at his lean physique and adorable face.

          Scott could not have been more oblivious to the feminine attention, but was instead zeroed in on me, his face a mask of utter worry. My initial smile slid off my face as he approached.

          “Scott, is everything alright?” I asked worriedly.

          He skidded to a stop in front of me, barely panting, but shaking his head back and forth so that his mop of scruffy hair fell into his eyes.

          “It’s my mother.”

          “Then your news can’t possibly be good,” I surmised. Scott’s eyes pleaded frantically with me.

          “She keeps calling me!” he complained, in a whiny voice that made me grin.

          “So what’s the problem with that?” I asked mildly, walking over to my chosen table and sitting down in a chair. Scott trailed me.

          “She won’t shut up about the wedding,” he growled, crossing his arms across his chest and sitting sulkily down beside me. I noticed a ripple in his arms – muscles that surely hadn’t been there a few weeks ago. Was Scott actually working out now? What was going on?

          I sighed as the cool air blew my hair back. “It’s understandable that she’s excited,” I said wearily. “You’re her only child and she thinks you’re getting married – making the biggest step of your life. This is natural, Scottie.”

          “Please don’t call me that,” Scott groaned, a pained look on his face. “You’re starting to sound like my mother, and I’ve heard more than enough about the steps I’ve been taking lately, when really, I want to be taking frickin’ large ones in the opposite direction.”

          I cocked an eyebrow. Scott rarely let anything get to him, and he was incredibly patient with his emotional, sometimes clingy, mother.

          “Okay,” I announced, leaning back and mimicking Scott’s pose by crossing my arms. “What aren’t you telling me?”

          Scott was suddenly fascinated by a pair of squirrels running up the nearest tree. I grimaced; I hated squirrels.

          “Scott?” I asked, as sternly as I could with his heart-squeezingly cute face now red.

          “It’s nothing,” he mumbled, looking anywhere but at me. He accidently made eye contact with the group of girls sitting a few feet away, who were now nudging each other and giggling. The blush on Scott’s face traveled to his neck and he whipped his head back around to face me so fast that I heard his neck crack.