Burning Flowers by June Beyoki Read Free Book Online Page B

leave
the shop; something she’d never done before. Clarke walked into the
office to get her small black clutch and caught herself looking in
the small mirror and fixing her hair. This was the one time she
didn’t want to care how she looked. Vince was just some guy who was
pretending to date her so that her mother would leave her alone
about the shop. She didn’t even like him that much as a person; he
was annoying. All that whistling gave her the creeps. But she still
needed to look her best if she was going out in public.
    She sighed at her blonde curls and tucked
them behind her ear before picking off some eyeliner that had gone
astray. Smoothing down her grey half sleeve sweater and navy
pleated skirt, she stepped back out into the shop and kept her head
down as she headed over to the coffee shop.
    When she went to pull open the door, she
found it to be way too easy. Clarke looked behind her and jumped as
she realized Vince was already there behind her, reaching above her
to hold open the door. He gave her a crooked smile. “After you,” he
said with his eyebrow raised before she turned her head back around
and headed inside.
    Yet again, she let him pick the seat and was
surprised as he came up behind her and pulled out her chair for
her. Did this guy step out of some novel? “What would you like?”
Vince asked nodding over to the counter.
    “Oh, I can get it myself. You don’t need to
do that,” Clarke insisted, trying to scoot her chair out so she
could go up there herself, but Vince stood his ground. She slinked
back down in her chair. “I guess I’ll take a soy chai latte and a
turkey panini,” she said quietly. He nodded down at her with a
smile and headed towards the counter.
    Clarke looked down at her manicured nails
and tapped them on the table, feeling weird sitting there and
waiting for some man to bring her food and coffee. This was why she
avoided being with a guy between the hours of seven a.m. and ten
p.m. She looked up to see Joe staring at her while wiping up one of
the tables across from her.
    “You know, if you keep scrubbing the same
table like that, you’ll have to repaint it,” she commented, feeling
more annoyed with him than usual.
    “Someone is in a bad mood. Trouble in
paradise?” Joe asked with an irksome grin, walking over to her and
sitting down in the chair next to her. He nodded over to Vince who
was waiting on the order at the other end of the counter.
    “We’re not really…” She stopped herself,
realizing that she was about to let the cat out of the bag. “We’re
fine, Joe,” she said harshly.
    “Well, you know I’m always here if you
realize you made the wrong choice.” Suddenly, he didn’t seem so
cute or funny anymore. Joe was officially annoying her. It was
feeling almost like harassment.
    Luckily, Vince showed back up, standing in
front of Joe and clearing his throat. Joe jumped up and went back
behind the counter without another word. “What was that all about?”
Vince asked, setting her coffee and sandwich down in front of
her.
    Clarke ran her finger through her hair and
let out a long breath. She tried to loosen up her shoulders and
failed. “He’s hit on me every day for the last six months or so.
It’s now gotten to the point of feeling harassed.” She said the
last word loud enough so that others could hear. She saw Vince get
a nervous look for a second before digging into some peanut butter
crackers he got.
    “Shouldn’t you be flattered? I wouldn’t make
such a big deal about it.” Vince shrugged and popped another
cracker in his mouth. “So, what is it that I need to know about
this dinner or your mother or whatever it is we’re meeting
about?”
    As if she wasn’t already upset and annoyed
enough, how casual he was being about the whole thing just made her
feel like she was about to have a nervous breakdown. “Look, I gave
you an out, and you’re still welcome to take it if you can’t take
this seriously.”
    “Clarke, I can tell