Meat Cute (The Wicked Meet Cute)

1. Chapter One

M en suck. They can all just go live on an island of their own and leave me the hell alone. Am I being overdramatic? According to my ex, Sean, I have a flair for the dramatic. Yet he is the one to break it off over a text after going on a long tangent about how I suck. Whatever. Maybe God will stop sending me the Seans of the world if I send one back to him.

I can hear my phone going off. It has been the last half hour. I can't be bothered to answer it. It's probably that asshole crawling back. Again. Like I would be dumb enough to fall for that again. Fool me once, right?

Bzzt.

Bzzt.

Bzzt.

Three missed calls. It is eight in the morning. Who in their right mind is calling me at this ungodly hour? My work alarm hasn't even gone off yet. If this is Sean, I will kill him. Where are my glasses? Fuck it. I'm going in blind.

Knock.

Knock.

Knock.

And now they've moved on to knocking on my door. Dragging myself up out of my bed, I trudge down the hallway and to the kitchen. Where is my pepper spray? The tazer? Anything?

Knock.

Knock.

Knock.

Whelp. A knife works. I pull the butcher knife from the block on the counter and turn toward the front door. I can see the silhouette of a woman against my faux-stained glass door.

That's not Sean.

Unlocking the door, I slowly open it to find my friend Lici standing there. She's a goth queen, and I'm low-key jealous she pulls it off so well. Her black sweatshirt reads “No you hang up first” with Ghostface holding a phone in muted colors. She paired it with a black denim miniskirt and black pantyhose with a really cool knife pattern on them. Her long, blonde hair is pulled up into space buns with black ribbon braided through it.

Blinking a few times, I step to the side to allow her in. As she passes me, I swear I hear mewing from her white jack-o-lantern-shaped purse. What the fuck is that? Am I that sleep-deprived?

Lici pauses by the couch and turns to face me. “Did you just roll out of bed?”

“Yeah, like anyone would be at this time of day,” I yawn.

“Early bird gets the worm, Lila,” she laughs. “I need to introduce you to someone!”

“Okay?” I raise an eyebrow.

The knife in my hand taps against my leg. I should probably put this away. Lici's eyes follow my gaze and she snorts loudly.

“A knife? What were you going to do with that?”

“I dunno,” I shrug. “Blind someone?”

What was my plan? I have no idea. Be the final girl, I guess. At least it wasn't Sean. What I wouldn't give to knock the stupid smirk off of his stupid face. Unfortunately, prison orange isn't flattering to my skin tone.

“You would jump straight to blinding someone. Now go get dressed and put the knife away, we have a date with the farmers market you promised last week you would go with me and I'm here to make good on it.”

I sigh and defeat and turn on my heel and walk towards the kitchen. I put the knife back on the block and peek over my shoulder towards Lici and her new cat. It is a cute cat. What's its name again? Hex? Either way, it's a cute name for a cute cat.

“Just make yourself at home!” I laugh.

“When haven't I?” Lici says as she perches herself on the edge of the couch.

What does one even wear to a farmer's market? I'm not exactly the farmers market kind of girl. I'm more of the stay home and order things from Amazon kind of girl. But Lici insists on getting me out of the house so I can stop dwelling on Sean or whatever. It's the thought that counts.

Sulking off to my bedroom, I walk over to my dresser. Today is a leggings and oversized sweatshirt kind of day. I pull out my favorite pair of brown leggings and walk over to my closet. I open the door and ruffle through my extensive sweater collection. I don't understand why it's so cold in February, but I'm not upset about getting to wear my sweaters that much longer. I pull out a blue sweater with brown accents. There are little woodland critters along the hem of the sweater. Squirrels, raccoons, foxes even. This is cute enough for a farmer's market, right?

Pulling on the outfit, I walk back to the living room. I run my fingers through my hair a few times, I turn to face Lici and Hex. She gives me a grin and nods.

“Don't forget your glasses.”

“Right.”

I may need those considering I can't drive without them. Where did I put them? They're not on the nightstand. Bathroom counter maybe? That would make sense. That's where I put them to shower.

I finally find them on the bathroom sink. My purple framed glasses that I really can't see anything without. Sliding them on, I turn back towards the hallway. I trudge to the living room where Lici and Hex are standing by the front door.

“Well, are you ready to go now?”

“Not especially but I feel like I don't really have the choice,” I laugh.

Lici rolls her eyes and opens the door and practically drags me through it. The farmer's market isn't far from my apartment. Just a couple of blocks really. Rather than wasting the gas and driving, we decide to walk. A little fresh air never hurt anymore.

The farmer’s market comes into view once we reach the end of Main Street. Different vendors are in the process of setting up their stalls. So far I see candles, tumblers, blankets, wreaths, and about any other handmade trinket you can think of. The smell of fresh loaves of bread and jams fills the air as we approach. There's an artisan food stand somewhere, I just know it. Call it a gut feeling.

Ha, now even my inner voice is sarcastic.

We approach the wreath stand at the end of the vendor line. Lici’s eye goes to a black one with red blood spatter. Rolling my eyes, I look around. The colored mesh and trinkets on these things must have cost this woman a small fortune to make.

Just down from where we're standing at the wreath stand, I see a playpen set up in the road. Puppies, kittens, and bunny rabbits are just all commingling in that little playpen. Overseeing this rowdy bunch is the most beautiful man I think I've ever seen in my life. He has steel blue eyes and honey-brown hair.

Wait.

No.

Men suck. I'm not doing that again.

Lici follows my gaze and grins. “Looking for a fur baby? Or a man?”

“Neither. I don't have time with as much as I work for either,” I laugh.

“Let's go look either way. Spencer is a cool guy. He'll let you play with the puppies and make you not so gloomy,” she wags her eyebrows.

“I think you just want to check whether or not there's another black cat over there.”

“All I'm sayin’ is every Hex needs a Jinx,” she says with a shrug.

Rolling my eyes I turn to look at the little playpen. I suppose it wouldn't be so bad to go and see some cute little kittens before I have to go back to work tomorrow. Don't get me wrong, working at my family's butcher shop isn't too bad, but it does get a little bloody sometimes. It would be nice not to stain every pair of pants I own with blood.

We walk over to the playpen and Lici immediately goes for the lone black kitten. Looks like Hex found it's Jinx.

“Back for another one?” The man I was looking at earlier approaches us.

Damn. He is fine . The single dimple on his left cheek is pronounced when he smiles.

“You know I couldn't resist,” Lici laughs. “I will be over there filling out adoption paperwork. Lila, this is Spencer. Spencer, Lila.”

“Nice to meet you, Spencer,” I say with a smile.

He gives me a cute lopsided grin, “You too, Lila.”

Something about the way my name rolls off of his tongue sends shivers down my spine. I think he might have noticed from the smirk now racing his lips. What I wasn't entirely sure of was why he's looking at me like that.

“Do I have something on my face?”

“No no. I just enjoy admiring beautiful things.”

“Wow, does that pickup line normally work on all the girls or am I just special?” I snort.

“I have no idea what you mean, but I can tell you that when I see something that is like a work of art, it feels like a sin not to observe it,” he winks at me.

I'm speechless. I open my mouth to say something- anything, but I can't find the words.

“So, Little Masterpiece, why don't you allow me to treat you to a cup of coffee?” He looks me up and down and smiles.

Mouth slightly agape, I just nod. Any word I would try to say would come out as a squeak at best.

“Soooooo, what are you two talking about?” Lici pokes her head around the corner of the tent.

“Lila has agreed to join me for a cup of coffee,” Spencer shrugs.

“Did she now?” Lici raises an eyebrow.

“I, uh, yeah. I guess I did.”

Lici looks at me and gives me a knowing look. She then looks down at the two black kittens, Jinx and Hex, in her arms before looking back up at me again.

“Well, I'm going to get these two troublemakers home. They both still have to adjust to the complex. Do you want to come with me or are you going to camp out here and talk to Spencer a little bit more?” She wags her brow.

Spencer grins at me. “Well, I would hope she would want to stay here and get to know me a little bit better.”

Where does the boldness come from? I kind of like it though. Spencer steps off of the curve and walks over to me. His head comes up to just the tip of my nose. I didn't realize he was shorter than me. It doesn't bother me, though.

He leans over the playpen picks up a tuxedo cat and brings it to his chest. “Only if you want to, Lila.”

“I would love to. Are you sure you're okay to go back on your own, Lici?” I ask, glancing up in her direction.

“I have plenty of company, bestie.” Her eyes dart between me and Spencer.

“Be safe getting home,” Spencer smiles at her.

Is this happening? Did Lici drag me out here to set me up with Spencer? Maybe I shouldn't doubt her intuition with things like this. She was the one who told me what an absolute shitbag Sean is. I think I'll give this a shot. It's about time I had my meet cute moment.