Page 15 of The Other Side of Paradise (Story of Paradise #2)

“No—” She put her hands over her face, eyes wide. “Oh, god, no, not that. I meant—like— you , as in, like, you don’t need to order me something—I can pay for my own—I wasn’t flirting.”

This girl seemed perfectly cool around other people, and then she collapsed completely around me.

Was she really just that bad with people she didn’t know?

Or was I just scary? Either way, it was kinda cute, like a shy puppy nervously poking her head out of the carrier.

I gave her a mock-disapproving tut-tut. “If we’re getting you a date, you’re going to have to start flirting. ”

“I—I don’t know how. Do I look like I know how?” she said, bristling now, clearly from embarrassment more than anything else. I shrugged.

“I dunno, you told me I could have my way with you.”

“No—I didn’t mean to—” She groaned, her hands over her face. “I’m tired today. I’m really sorry.”

I laughed. “I’m ordering you a drink. It’s my treat, seriously. I’m so glad to have someone to hang out with here outside of my stupid family. Tell me what you want.”

She looked down, tracing patterns on the tabletop with her fingertip. “An iced mocha latte, please.”

“It’s all yours, Allison,” I said with a wink, mostly to watch her reaction, and I got the one I was hoping for—she went wide-eyed, flushing hard, sitting up taller.

Maybe she just wasn’t used to flirting, play-flirting or not. But if she was going to hook up with a girl, that wasn’t going to do at all.

Thinking about it was the exact thing I needed to take my mind off Dad and everything this morning as I headed to the bar, getting a cup of water and Allison’s mocha latte.

I’d been planning on hooking up with someone just for the chance to do my own thing.

Now that I was free-floating, untethered, having officially told Grandma and Grandpa where they could shove it—and just about exploded my relationship with my father, which I’d deal with later—I was free to do whatever.

And freedom, in my mind, looked like me and Allison having our fun and finding someone to fill the void with for a few nights before we went and faced reality.

So I was practically bouncing by the time I got back to the table—half from excitement and half from unspent anxious energy, but whatever, tomato tomato and all that.

I set down Allison’s drink together with the cup with the flowers, and I dropped down across from her, pushing the drink her way before I folded my arms on the table, leaning towards her.

“Thank you,” she said, taking the glass. “Seriously, I can pay you back or get you—”

“Shush.”

She huffed. “Outwardly, fine, but I’ll be thinking it.”

I laughed. “Guess I can’t stop you, sure. We can say it’s to pay me back for the flowers.”

She looked away, a tinge of pink across her cheeks. “It’s standard practice.”

“Uh-huh. Try not to say that to the next girl you’re giving flowers to.”

“We’ll see. I put my foot in my mouth a few years back and I’ve been trying to figure out how to get it out.” She softened, giving me a careful look. “Are you, um… are you doing okay?”

I waved her off. “It’s fine. My family’s stupid. I just can’t believe the way they’re screwing over Ryan.”

“No kidding. I hear your aunt was harassing Brooklyn at the bar…”

I wrinkled my nose. “Aunt Helena has got more issues than National Geographic. Telling them to leave me out of their stupid passive-aggressive arguing and politeness politics and shitty backdoor gossip and emotional manipulation was more cathartic than anything else. Turns out I’ve been…

ugh… I’ve been waiting for a long time to…

do all of that.” I squeezed my hands into fists on the tabletop, feeling the flats of my nails press against my palms, a keen grounding sensation.

I sucked in a sharp breath. “Sorry,” I said, my voice shaky.

“I’m just mad. I do angry-crying and it’s not pretty. ”

She gave me a small, lopsided smile. “I think it’s pretty enough.”

I laughed thickly, wiping the corners of my eyes. The last thing I wanted to be doing right now was crying. “Huh,” I said. “Maybe you do know how to flirt.”

“Ha—I’m not flirting this time. I mean… I don’t think showing emotions is an ugly thing.

I’m not gonna lie, I cry all the time. I’m a whiny little baby.

But I think I’m more… uh… stable? When I do show my feelings.

More in touch with my art and stuff.” She laughed awkwardly, rubbing the back of her head.

“I mean, I’m never stable, I’m a disaster of a human being. But more stable, relatively speaking.”

I pulled the cup of flowers towards me, busying myself with poking at the flower petals, running my fingers through them.

Just for anything other than looking at her.

There was probably something wrong with my brain—I was always out here whining about how I didn’t want people hiding their emotions and being petty and passive-aggressive, but here was Allison just owning her insecurities and being all yeah, tell me how you’re feeling, I want to hear it, and I guess I was a part of the Bell family, because I wanted to retreat and find a magic way to stop existing.

After too long, I settled for saying, “So you do art, huh?”

“Oh—yeah.” She relaxed, a smile lighting up her features.

Maybe that was the key to getting the girl to settle down, clearly a lot more comfortable talking about her art than talking about her love life.

“I’m actually just here on summer break.

I’m in my fine arts degree back on the mainland.

I do all kinds of stuff, but I really like acrylic painting. ”

“Oh, that’s cool.” I plucked one of the flowers out of the bouquet, a little baby daisy with flowy white blooms, and I held it up to the light. “I cannot do physical media to save my life. I do graphic design stuff.”

“Oh, yeah?” She lit up a little brighter, sitting up taller. “What kind of stuff do you do for…” She trailed off when I reached across the table and, absently, tucked the flower into her hair. “Um.” She reached up, touching it lightly when I pulled away, and I laughed.

“Sorry. I was just thinking it complements your hair color.”

She laughed, a high-pitched nervous sound, and she adjusted the flowers, but she didn’t take them out of her hair, just setting them there more comfortably. She looked cute with it. “Color theory, huh? Guess you’re a good designer.”

“I wouldn’t go that far,” I laughed. “What were you asking before I interrupted?”

“I, uh, I have no clue.”

I grinned. “You can handle giving a girl flowers, but you can’t handle a girl giving you flowers, huh?”

She huffed, folding her arms, blushing again. It was kind of adorable how easily she blushed. I was having way too much fun with it. “It’s easier as… company policy.”

“Maybe it was company policy for me to put flowers in your hair and tell you how cute you look with it.”

“What kind of company do you work for?”

“Energy company. Experimenting with a new renewable power source based in the heat from making girls blush. I think I’ve hit gold.”

She put a hand over her face. “Oh my god. Just make sure to cut me a commission.”

I pushed her glass closer to her. “Drink your drink, Allison. If we’re going to make it to do some clothes shopping before meeting with Ryan and Brooklyn, you’re going to have to come out of your little hidey hole there and drink.”

“You can’t make me,” she said, muffled into her hands. I snorted.

“Don’t make it sound like a challenge.”

“What are you going to do, pour it into my mouth?” she laughed, and I did issue her a warning—I reached across the table, and I took her by the wrist, pulling her hand away from her face.

She let out a tiny gasp, looking at me with wide eyes, and I guess I was really getting a big cut on the energy development here, because she looked like she was generating enough heat to power about half the country.

I slid the glass closer to her, and I lifted the straw up to her lips.

“Drink,” I said, and I saw her throat move as she swallowed hard, her eyes locked on mine as she took the straw between her lips, drinking slowly. When she stopped, I smiled, letting go of the straw and letting it drop back down into the drink. “Better. Tastes good?”

“I… didn’t notice anything about how it tasted.”

I laughed, letting go of her wrist and falling back in the seat. “Really not super experienced with flirting, huh?”

She cleared her throat loudly, looking away, fussing with the glass with both hands. “Oh, you think? What clued you in?”

“It’s kinda cute. But you can’t just freeze up if you want to get a girl’s attention. You can practice.”

“P-practice.” She repeated the word like she’d never heard it before, and slowly, she tilted her head, like a curious puppy. “Practice? Flirting? With who?”

“With me. I’m right here.”

“Uh. That’s not… I’m not…” She scratched her head, turning away, trying to act cool with it and failing abjectly. “You spend a lot of time telling girls to flirt with you?”

I laughed. “Is that your first try at flirting?” I said, and she groaned.

“Don’t look at me.”

“If that was your second try, your first try was better.”

She laughed, hanging her head, and she took a long sip of her drink. I wondered if she noticed this time what it tasted like. “For someone who’s not into girls, you’re better at flirting with them than I am.”

“I mean, I flirt with guys. It’s the same idea. Just, you know, usually it’s the guy making the moves.”

“Uh-huh… usually meaning it’s like that in theory but it’s actually you in practice?”

I laughed, relaxing back into the seat. “I wish I could. It just feels weird to be, like, out there making the first move on a guy, pursuing him like that. I feel like I’d feel self-conscious and he’d be put off.

I guess I’m just sick of guys having zero initiative and I’m just putting myself in their shoes to see if it really is all that hard on their side, but it’s actually super fucking easy, so they have no excuse. ”

“I, uh.” She sipped her drink before she set it down. “I think you’re allowed to flirt with guys first.”

“It’s weird. That’s just… I dunno. Maybe straight people are broken. I don’t know why we’re like this. Anyway, I could use the practice, too, so are you going to take advantage of it or not?”

“There’s nothing to take advantage of. If I tried to flirt, I’d just embarrass us both.” She gestured to me. “I made a comment about how you can see something ten feet away so your glasses must work.”

I felt myself light up into the most radiant smile I had since the fight with Dad earlier. “Oh, so that was you flirting with me?”

“Ugh—” She threw her hands up, turning away, face hot. “Yes, yes that’s what that was. I’ve been pining unrepentantly for you since the moment I laid eyes on you, desperately trying to get your attention. That’s what it is.”

I laughed. “Oh, the romantic flirt angle. I’m into it. Well, it landed you on a coffee date, so what are you going to do with it?”

“From the looks of things, embarrass myself.”

“C’mon, hit me with your best pickup line.”

She let out a long sigh before she settled in against the table with an exaggerated swagger, giving me a little eyebrow waggle. “Hey—look me in the eye.”

“Okay. Good start.” I did, and she smiled.

“Okay, great, you found them. I guess the glasses are working.”

I snorted, and I broke out laughing, sinking back against my seat, picking up my glass from before she got here and knocking back the last little bits of drink in the bottom. “All right, I’m sold,” I said. “Your place or mine?”

“Oh, duh. Both. We alternate.”

I shook my head, still laughing, and I said, my voice softer now, “Thanks.”

“For what, the worst pickup line experience in your life?”

“Trust me, even if you’d intended that as an actual pickup, I’ve definitely experienced worse. Men come up with the worst things sometimes.”

She scratched her head. “Okay, touché…”

“No, just… all of this. This is nice. Getting to do something other than yell at my family.” I smiled sweetly at her. “Now drink your damn drink already so I show you how to dress decently.”

“Uh-huh… and that’s your attempt at flirting?” she said, a smile dancing on her lips as she picked up the glass. She didn’t directly address the first part, and I was glad for it.

“Sure is,” I said. “Is it working?”

“Oh, yeah. You have no idea.” She shook her head, rolling her eyes with that smile and that blush still spilled out over her features, highlighting her dimples that I hadn’t really noticed before, but honestly, they were too cute. I was a sucker for some cute dimples.