Page 180 of Candy Hearts, Vol. 2

CHAPTER 2

BEN

Cody: It’s a date.

I laughed at the choice of words, feeling light and strangely giddy. I was looking forward to meeting this self-described friendly stranger. He was a lot more adventurous than most people would be, I’d give him that much. I texted Cody the address for a diner downtown, near where I worked, and asked him to meet me there at noon. It didn’t take long for him to confirm that it would work for him and his schedule, and that was that.

I’d picked the diner with good reason. It was always busy, for one. There would be tons of people around, just in case he turned out to be a true-crime story come to life. Besides, the diner had great food, so in the worst-case scenario, at least I got a good lunch out of it.

It didn’t take me long to finish my work for the day and head home, where I found my roommate and longtime best friend Jesse lounging on the couch, playing video games.

"Home early?" I asked as I kicked my shoes off.

Jesse glanced up from the game he was playing and nodded. "You know how it is in a restaurant. Feast or famine. We were slow today so after we helped scrub the walls of the walk-in freezer, they sent half of the servers home."

I groaned as I settled into a chair next to the couch where Jesse was sprawled. "That sucks."

He shrugged. "I don’t mind it too much. I’ve almost got this stage beat." He nodded at the game he was playing, some fantasy situation where he had to work to rescue a princess or something—I didn’t know much about it, not being a gamer myself. "Almost there."

"Well, I’m glad you found something to occupy your time."

He whooped triumphantly as the screen erupted in fireworks. "Hell yeah." A beat later, he put down the controller and turned to me. "How about you? Anything interesting happen today?"

I groaned again. "God, I’ve had the weirdest day."

With a grin, Jesse raised his eyebrows. "Tell me everything."

"Well, first, I was in a minor fender-bender on the way to work this morning."

Jesse sat up abruptly. "Are you okay?"

"It was very minor. No damage to my car, and the only damage to the other car was two tiny dents in the fender where the screws in my license plate holder bumped into him."

He laughed. "That is the most minor accident I’ve ever heard of."

"Exactly. Anyway, we exchanged info—or at least, I thought we did—and I went to work. Didn’t even think anything of it. But after lunch, I texted him to apologize and offer to take him to lunch or something. I wanted to make it right, you know?"

"Sure."

"Turns out it was a wrong number he gave me. Or maybe I put it in wrong. I don’t know. Either way, it wasn’t James from the accident. It turned out to be a guy named Cody."

Jesse frowned and furrowed his brow. "Okay…"

"And we got to texting, and now I’m taking Cody to lunch at the Fifth Street Diner tomorrow."

His eyebrows shot up and he laughed. "You really did have a weird day."

I nodded. "Tell me about it."

I found myself distracted all the next morning thinking about Cody and our impromptu lunch date. Every time my desk phone rang, I realized I’d been daydreaming, wondering what Cody was like. Every message from my team that pinged on my laptop was the same. I knew I was being ridiculous. There was no reason to act that way. It was just a casual lunch with someone I’d never met. It wasn’t an actual date . It wasn’t even like that—I didn’t know his sexuality or anything else about him except that he was brave enough to accept a random lunch invite from a stranger.

About a half hour before lunchtime, my coworker Ellie popped her head in my office. "Hey there."

I shook my head a little to clear it and tried to focus. "What’s up?"

"You busy for lunch?"

"I am, actually. I’m meeting someone at the diner around the corner."

She tilted her head to the side and grinned mischievously. "Ooh. Business or pleasure?"

I snorted. "Nobody says that anymore."

"I just did," she said with a shrug.

"Pleasure, I guess."

Ellie took a seat across from my desk. "Tell me more."

I chuckled and rolled my eyes, recapping the events of the previous day. She leaned forward as she listened, rapt with attention.

"This is amazing. What if he’s your dream man?"

"El—"

"No, seriously! Wouldn’t it be amazing?"

"Delightful. What did you really stop by for, anyway?" I was desperate to redirect her. "Just to invite me to lunch?"

She shook her head. "No, actually. I wanted to know if you had time to go over some reports with me. I have to make a presentation on them a little after lunch and I just wanted to confirm some details."

I closed my eyes briefly, trying not to look annoyed. "Sure, I have time."

Almost an hour later, Ellie and I were wrapping up and I was finally free to get to lunch. I didn’t realize how late it had gotten until I went to log out of my computer and checked the time.

"Shit," I hissed under my breath. Immediately, I pulled my phone out. I had three new messages from Cody.

Cody: I’m here. Sitting in the booth near the window.

And another one, a few minutes later.

Cody: Just checking that you’re still coming. You didn’t ghost me, did you?

And a third about ten minutes after that one.

Cody: Okay, I get it. Thanks for wasting my time.

My stomach sank as I read his final message. I hated to think that he believed I’d just ghosted him or stood him up. I typed out a message.

Ben: Got caught up at work. I’m so sorry. Can you forgive me?

Then there was nothing to do but wait.