Becca by Dean Krystek Read Free Book Online

did
not.
    “Well, look, I’d love to
stand here and chat with you, but I have to be going,” Bert said.
    “Oh, yeah, like you have
so much to do…people to see, et cetera. Okay, go. Good bye.” She got into her
car, smiled sadly, backed away from the building, pulled to the exit, and
stopped. She leaned across and opened the passenger door.
    “Get in,” she said.
    “That’s okay,” Bert said,
“I’m only fifteen minutes away from my house.”
    “I want some coffee. Do
you want some?”
    “I don’t drink coffee.”
    “Cut it out. So you’re
not going to get in my car?”
    “Can I trust you?”
    She nodded. “No. Not at
all. Get in please.”
    Bert got into the car and
closed the door. The girl’s perfume suddenly engulfed him.
    She put the car in gear,
pulled out onto the boulevard, and said nothing for a minute. “I feel like
talking to someone, Josh. I hope you don’t mind…and then I’ll take you home.”
    “I don’t mind.”
    “I hope you don’t think
I’m weird, but I…just feel like I want to talk to you and not some complete stranger.”
She watched him look out the passenger window.
    “Like we really know each
other,” Bert remarked.
    “You’re not a complete stranger,” the girl said, “and I enjoy talking to you. That was flattery,
you can smile.”
    Bert smiled and glanced
at her. “Thanks for the compliment.”
    “Wow, please don’t sound
too excited there.”
    “Sorry,” he said. “I’m
not used to that.”
    “To what?”
    “Flattery.”
    “Really? I find that hard
to believe.”
    “Was that flattery?”
    “Yes I suppose it was. You’ve
never had a girl flirt with you?”
    “No flattery, no flirtery”
    She smiled. “Now that’s
also hard to believe. I mean…I would think a lot of girls would have flirted
with you. I mean, I can see why.”
    “Isn’t that flirting,
right there with what you said?”
    “That’s not flirting,
that’s a compliment. This is flirting: so, uh, Josh, do you want to come up to
my place and see my etchings? That’s flirting.”
    He smiled. “You have
etchings?”
    She giggled. “I don’t
even know what they are. So…answer the question.”
    “What question? Oh, about
going to your place to see your etchings?”
    “No— sheesh— about a
lot of girls flirting with you.”
    “I didn’t know that was a
question.”
    “Oops, you’re right.
Forget about it.”
    They drove in silence for
a couple of minutes, each staring out of the windshield as if neither wanted to
look at the other.
    “What about Alexander?”
the girl asked suddenly.
    “The Great? A ruthless
barbarian.”
    “Huh?”
    “Alexander the Great was
a military genius but a ruthless barbarian.”
    “Holy cow, Josh. I wanted
to know what you thought of the name. Does it have character?”
    “Yes it does. I like that
name. Alexander.”
    “I like that name, too. May
I call you Alexander?”
    “Sure, why not.”
    They crossed over the
Allegheny River and turning right at the light on the other side of the bridge.
    “Where’re we going?” Bert
asked.
    “You nervous? I’m not
kidnapping you, don’t worry.”
    “It wouldn’t matter if
you did. You’d never get a ransom.”
    “Aw crap, then this was a
goddamned waste of time.” She giggled and started rubbing her thigh, then
stopped because she knew it was drawing attention to her. “I might as well drop
you off right here and be done with you.”
    They pulled into the Eat ‘n’
Park restaurant parking lot. “Okay, after the coffee you’re free to go,” the
girl said.
    “I appreciate that. So,
is the coffee better here than at the restaurant next to the gas station?”
    She did not answer him
and they walked to the entrance, where Bert reached around her to open the
door.
    “Booth or counter,
honey?” a waitress asked the girl as they walked inside.
    “Booth,” she said,
nodding at one in a corner.
    “I’ll be with you in just
a minute,” the woman said to Bert.
    “Oh, he’s with me,”