Fallen Angel by K. S. Thomas Read Free Book Online

I’m going to lose a body I spent over a decade putting together.” He puts down his menu with such gusto it’s like a gestured exclamation mark.
    “And, you’re saying what exactly about my body?” I pour some maple syrup on my spoon and suck it clean. Since we’re all about using props to get our point across.
    “I’m saying your body is s freak of nature. You’re the only person I know who can eat a platter of brownies for dinner and get up the next day looking hotter than they did the day before.”
    I think the sticky syrup just fused my vocal cords together. It takes me a few false starts before I can get the words out. “Did you just say I was hot?”
    He shrugs. “Right. Because no one’s ever told you that before.”
    “You’ve definitely never said it before,” I mumble, but our server shows up just then, so I don’t think he hears me.
    Donna, our friendly IHOP tour guide for this meal, sets our beverages, one water, one coffee, so, the usual, down on the table. Then she flips through her little notepad until she finds a semi-blank sheet of paper to take our order on. She’s about a hundred years old, so she has no clue who Angel is. Plus, she keeps calling him sweetie, which for some reason I find utterly adorable. Maybe because he actually seems slightly bashful every time she does it.
    “You two love birds know what you’re having today?” That’s it. Donna is officially my most favorite person in the whole world. Angel on the other hand is choking on his water. He’s not my favorite right this second.
    “I’ll have the chocolate chip pancakes, please.”
    “Sure thing, short stack. How about you, sweetie?” She turns toward Angel, who’s still struggling to get back his cool as a cucumber demeanor.
    “I’m going to have the big steak omelette, please. And maybe some hot sauce on the side? If you have some.”
    “You got it. I’ll get these out to you two in a jiff. I’ve got tables over on the other side of the restaurant as well, so holler if you need anything. Don’t be shy.” She smiles warmly at the both of us and I kind of want to claim her as my grandma. I never really had one of those growing up outside of borrowing Memomma, but I imagine Donna would make an awesome grandmother.
    “That was particularly flattering by the way, how you nearly killed yourself with a sip of water at the mere mention of us being a couple.” I rip two packets of sugar open and dump them into my coffee, doing my best impression of a cocky smirk. It’s an impression, because I’m not nearly as confident as I’d like him to believe.
    Meanwhile, he scowls at me from across the table, doing his best impression of not amused.
    “You going to jump on every opportunity to bust my balls from now until I die, or what?”
    “If the opportunity arises, I must leap to meet it.”
    He finally cracks a smile again. “You’re a real jackass, you know that?”
    “I’ve heard mention of it a time or two.” I smile back. I can’t even remember the last time I had this much fun with another person. Sure, I had friends at school, but it was different. They were different. Everything always revolved around one of three things. School work, parties and getting laid. None of which I ever really found worth talking about, so it’s nice to just be with someone. Just bullshit. Talk. Laugh. Laugh. That’s a big one. Someone who actually thinks I’m funny. No one’s thought that in a long while.
    Even though the kitchen is only cooking for maybe five people at this point, it’s a far cry from a jiff by the time we actually see our food. Not that I’m complaining. Then, it takes a small eternity for us to actually eat it because we’ve started an epic battle of knock knock jokes which have turned dirty beyond reason and has sent us into fits of giggles so extreme we’ve both got tears running down our faces.
    When we nearly hyperventilate, we force ourselves to calm down and put a stop to the battle,