8. Willow
Eight
Willow
W illow was curled up on her bed in the fetal position, hugging a pillow to her chest and wondering why life seemed to hate her. She crushed her face into the pillow and let out a frustrated scream. She was not normally the type to rip off her clothes and take a dip in the ocean, but she had been having a great night and decided to do a little bit of mindfulness in a natural setting completely devoid of people.
Only for Gage to show up.
“Stupid, moron, rich brat, idiot!” She screamed any insult that came to her mind, but was unsure if it was aimed at Gage or herself.
Willow threw the pillow back to its original spot against her headboard and sat up. She propped her hair up on top of her head in a messy bun and decided to end the night on a better note. After lighting a candle and plopping in a rose scented bath bomb, she stripped off her sandy clothes and sunk into the warm waters of her bath.
The first thing to pop into her mind, of course, was Gage’s face. And that stupid, smug smirk he had as he swung her panties around on his finger.
Instead of letting out another stream of curse words, she wondered what her mother would have done in her situation. Her mother never had a consistent relationship after her father passed, and would rarely bring around any men she did date. Love wasn’t a high priority for her, she was more concerned about raising a daughter and finding new places to live.
She thought about a time when she was young when her and her mother went shopping for groceries during a thunderstorm and the store’s power went out. Willow could still remember the comforting smell of the store she could never fully describe, the sound of the thunder as it cracked in the darkened sky, and the feel of her mother’s hand gently, but securely, wrapped around her own. She also remembered how her mother had tucked a few small items into her purse since the cameras were out of commission. It was the first time she saw her mother be bad, the first time she saw a different side of her. The theft made her seem more human, and less like the perfect adult all young children see their parents as.
It was a memory that reminded her that it was okay to mess up sometimes, that not everyone could be perfect. She tried to remind herself of that as the embarrassment from tonight crept back in.
She was not entirely sure how she felt about Gage prior to this incident. He was attractive, no doubt, but not very friendly. But then there was the music festival where he was tolerable, though she was drunk. She was starting to become slightly interested in him, but some internal instinct told her to keep her distance.
As much as she wanted love, she was influenced by her mother to not make it a priority. She had also learned the hard way by her ex-boyfriend that some men could not be trusted.
??? ?
The next night at the coffee house, Gage walked in and propped himself against the counter, his three friends trailing behind him. She could feel him watching her as she finished a cappuccino for a customer, but she purposely ignored him and only addressed the other three, asking if they wanted their usual beverages. When it was his turn, her warm smile turned into a glare.
“So are you going to make me my special drink?” He asked with a smirk.
The other three must have sensed the weird tension radiating off her, and went to their booth without question. Only Nikolas looked back with an amused glance.
“Actually, I have a different one I want to make you. Congrats, you got a second drink named after you.” She pointed behind her to a new drink of the month that she’d drawn on the chalkboard. This one was simply labeled “Asshat.”
“Mmm, I’m excited to try it.”
“The secret ingredient is rat poison. I hope you like it.”
“Ah yes, my favorite flavor. Please put an extra shot of it in there for me.”
She bit back her smile. “Go sit down with your frat brothers, I’ll bring it out when it’s ready.”
“Yes ma’am.” He followed her orders and sat with his group. For once, the nurses next to them finished their drinks before getting up and leaving.
As Willow brought over their coffees, she noticed Matteo’s face turned pale, and he froze in place. “Oh shit, don’t look now, but there’s that girl from the music festival that’s obsessed with me.”
He groaned as all three boys plus Willow turned around and stared at her friend that had just walked into the café.
“Hi Marla!” Willow dropped the tray onto the table, spilling the drinks a little, and eagerly waved her hand toward the girl with her mousy brown hair twisted into a braid down her spine and thick black plastic glasses.
Marla gave a matching wave back, but her face broke into an even larger smile when she noticed Matteo slinking down in the booth. His face turned red as she began to make her way over.
“You know what, guys? I think I have to go. I forgot that um, Clay wanted me to run an errand for him. Move, Horatio.” Matteo attempted to push his brother out of the way so he could exit the booth, but Horatio did not budge.
“I thought I was Clay’s errand boy? What does he have you doing tonight?” Gage questioned the anxious man.
“He, um, he wanted me to go check out something. Some rental property. I guess they had the police over there the other night for disturbing the peace or something. I don’t know man, just let me out!” He began aggressively pushing his brother as Marla approached and gave Willow a hug.
Matteo began to slide underneath the table to escape that way, but Nikolas, who was sitting across from him, blocked him with his legs.
Gage faked a serious tone. “I didn’t hear anything about that. Clay would have for sure asked me to deal with it if that were true. You’re not lying to me, Matteo, are you?”
Marla giggled. “Aw, Matteo doesn’t seem like the type to lie.” She turned her attention to the red-faced man whose body was halfway under the table. “It’s kind of funny seeing you here, I didn’t know you would like a place like this. It doesn’t really seem like your scene.”
“Actually, I was just leaving. I have something I’ve got to do tonight.” Matteo tried to push his brother out of the way again, still not able to make him budge. “Come on bro, let me out,” he whined.
“Oh, well I wanted to ask you something really quick.” Marla looked up to Willow nervously, who gave her a kind smile and a nudge. “Me and Willow were going to the Pink Flamingo Club next Sunday night, if you wanted to go with us?”
Horatio raised his eyebrows in interest. “Are we all invited? That sounds like something Sammy would be into.”
“Of course,” Willow answered. “I would love to meet her! I don’t have many friends down here yet, and I’m always looking forward to meeting new people. We’re meeting up at nine o’clock if that works for you guys.”
“Sweet, we’ll be there!” Horatio responded.
“Speak for yourself,” Matteo mumbled.
Willow clapped. “Oh, this is going to be so much fun. I’ve been needing to get out more and see the nightlife of Vista Maria. I only get a tiny sliver of it in here.”
“Are you two coming?” Marla nodded toward Nikolas and Gage.
Nikolas looked at the blond like he was waiting for his answer. Willow didn’t realize that she was holding her breath as she watched him raise an eyebrow and look back at Nikolas.
“I’ll go if you go,” Gage said.
“That’s up to you, boss.”
Willow released her pent-up breath as he shrugged. “Sure.”
Suddenly, Sunday couldn’t come soon enough. She said her good-byes and led Marla up to the counter to make her a drink.
“I don’t think Matteo likes me.” Marla slid her money over to Willow slowly as she began steaming some milk. “He’s everything I want in a man, but for some reason I never seem to attract the type of men I’m attracted to. I only attract the old, crusty-looking ones that are missing teeth.”
“I think he needs to get to know you before he can decide not to like you. And if it turns out you two are not a good match, we’ll find you someone else at the club. It will be full of hot, available guys who will be into you.”
“Nah, I’m too plain for a hot guy. Maybe I need to lower my standards and settle already.”
A pang of sadness went through Willow as she looked at her friend’s disheartened face. “You are not plain.”
“Yes, I am.”
“Fine, if you truly want to think of yourself that way, then guess what? That’s changeable, all it would take is a little bit of makeup, a new dress, and some curls in that hair to make yourself stand out like a supermodel. How about you come over early on Sunday and we can get ready together? I have this gorgeous dress I’ve never worn and I think it would fit you perfectly.”
“Really? That sounds like fun, I’ll bring some snacks and we can turn it into a whole girl’s night.”
“Don’t forget wine, we really should pregame so we don’t spend too much money on drinks at the club.”
“If our makeovers are as good as I think they’re going to be, we won’t spend a single dollar on alcohol. Men will be bending over backwards to buy us a drink.”
“There’s my confident girl!” Willow grinned and handed her a steaming cup of coffee.
????
The next night was slow, and her last two customers left the café with a generous tip. Willow heard the vibration of metal coming from the back room, so she decided it would be okay to take a quick break and leave the front counter. She had a chime on the door and would be able to hear if anyone walked in.
“Are you bored?” Willow cooed to the brown-and-black speckled rabbit that was gnawing at the cage he was currently trapped in.
The cage was large, but only about half the size of the one in her apartment. He would normally get to free-range when she was home, so being cooped up in this metal prison all night was probably boring. She undid the latch of the cage and scooped the large rabbit into her arms.
“I figured you were getting lonely and wanted to come to work with Mama.” She placed a gentle kiss on top of the rabbit’s head.
It wasn’t often that she would bring Snickers to work, but with how often she was here she would sometimes feel guilty leaving him home alone all the time. Plus, she missed him. She knew it was probably against health code to have a rabbit holed up in the storage room, but she was willing to take that risk to have her pet nearby.
She heard the chimes jingle and headed up front with the rabbit still pressed against her chest, his lop ears resting over her arms and her face nuzzled into its plush neck. She didn’t care if it was a health code inspector, she missed her bunny.
“Why are you holding a rabbit?” Gage asked.
She unburied her nose from the fluff and smiled at him with love glittering in her eyes. “This is Snickers, he’s my baby and the inspiration behind the name of my shop. I usually keep him at home, but he looked lonely tonight, so I decided to bring him with me.”
The rabbit sat in her arms and looked at Gage with empty, black eyes and a nose that was constantly twitching. She took her black shawl that was draped over her shoulders and wrapped it around Snickers.
“Even though I’m still mad at you for the beach incident, I’ll let you pet him if you want.” She held the bundled furball out to him.
He continued to stare at those soulless black eyes. “I think I’ll pass.”
“What? Do you not like bunnies?”
“All they do is poop and act scared all the time. What is there to like?”
“Their soft ears, their fluffy cotton tails, binkies when they’re excited, the chin wipe they do when they love you, and their little asshole personalities. In fact, you and a bunny would get along really well.” She placed a kiss on Snicker’s forehead.
“I’ll still pass, I don’t want him peeing on me.”
Willow scoffed. “He has never peed on me. He’s litter box trained.”
“Rabbits use litter boxes?”
“Yes, much like a cat would. They’re very similar to cats, only smaller and sassier.”
“I guarantee cats are better.”
“You don’t strike me as the type of person who owns a pet, so how would you know?”
“I have a cat.”
Willow’s mouth rounded into a surprised “o” shape at the information he shared. “For real? You really don’t strike me as a cat guy.”
He shrugged. “Cats are cool. They mind their own business and have bad attitudes, which like you said previously, fits me well.”
“I bet he’s named something basic like Fluffy or Mr. Kitty,” she teased.
“Actually, her name is Buffy and she hates people more than I do.”
“She sounds perfect for you.” Willow began to take Snickers back to his cage, but a new customer walked in. The man froze and raised a copper-tinted eyebrow at the scene.
“Am I interrupting something?” He asked.
She shifted her voice to her customer service tone, sweet and professional. “No, I was about to put him away. Give me one second and I’ll be right with you.”
She quickly returned Snickers to his prison with an apology and a head scratch. When she came back up, she noticed the man was at the counter but leaning away from Gage.
“What can I get for you?” She asked.
“I think he was here first.” The man slid his eyes over to Gage and watched him with a bored expression.
Gage looked back at him, not breaking eye contact. The stool made a loud scraping noise as he pulled it closer and took a seat. “It’s alright, I was planning on staying awhile.”
The copper haired man nodded and returned his gaze to Willow. “Then I will take a cappuccino, please.”
Even the relaxing music filtering through the speakers didn’t ease the tension in the café. As she started the espresso machine, she turned to Gage, eager to talk about anything to make it a little more comfortable.
“So Sunday Marla is coming over early to get ready for the club. I was wondering if you knew what Matteo was into? Like what does he find attractive?”
“I don’t know, boobs?”
“Wow thanks, that was so helpful. I’ll make sure she doesn’t wear a top then.”
Gage snorted. “We’re guys, we don’t sit around painting our nails and talking about what we think is hot. I have noticed that he has a stack of Playboy magazines in his room if that helps.”
Willow chewed her lip as she carefully topped the cappuccino with foam. The dress she was going to lend Marla was cinched in the waist and showed a lot of cleavage. With the right bra, she could end up with a Playboy vibe.
“That does give me an idea. Here you go.” She slid the paper cup to the man and noticed a new ten dollar bill was in her tip jar. He left with only a nod and Gage watched him through the window until he was out of sight.
“Well that was weird, do you know who he is?” She asked.
“No, not a clue.” He grabbed a napkin and pen from the register and scrawled with his number across it. “Call me if you need me. I have to go.”
He began to walk out the door, forgetting to order a drink, and looked over his shoulder. “I’ll see you Sunday, Willow. ”
The sound of her name rolling off his tongue caused a blush to bloom from her chest to her cheeks. “Okay, I’ll see you Sunday, Gage.”