I force myself to stay in place. So there's room between us.
She orders the veggie meatballs.
I get the regular meatballs. And two fountain drinks. Kay fills them. I pay.
We find a table by the window.
Yeah, it looks out on a parking lot then on the 405, but it's still a nice view. The sky is a beautiful blue. And the light from the sun is casting highlights and shadows all over the room.
Kaylee slides into the seat across from mine and hands over my iced tea. She wraps her lips around her straw and takes a long sip. "Not bad."
I motion to our plates. "All for under ten dollars."
"And..."
"Food tastes better when it's cheap."
"I get half off everything at The Pizza Kitchen. I never want to eat cheap restaurant food again." She picks up her fork, stabs a veggie meatball, holds it up and examines it. "No offense."
"If you don't like it, I'll make you something when we get home."
Her lips purse. "Or I could have an almond butter and jelly sandwich." She offers me her fork. "You want one?"
"Sure." I let my fingers brush hers as I take her fork, bring it to my lips, suck the snack off the metal silverware.
It's better than what I'd expect for three dollars, but it's not exactly fine dining.
I hand back the fork. "Not bad."
She stabs a veggie ball and stares at it like it might just kill her. "Okay. I'll give it a shot." She bites half of it, chews, swallows. "Not horrible." She stabs a piece of broccoli—her plate comes with steamed vegetables—and holds it up. "No one could mess this up, right?"
"I have faith in you."
She flips me off. Chews. Swallows.
"If you're not going to tell me, I'm going to guess."
"Huh?"
"The thing that embarrasses you."
"Oh. Well, if you agree to help..."
I nod. "Shoot."
"Fan fiction. I write fan fiction sometimes."
"Yeah?"
"Don't laugh."
I want to, but not for the reasons she thinks. Not because it's lame. Because it's so fucking Kay. "How could I possibly help?"
"Well, there's this theme I want to include in my next story. And I'm pretty sure you're the person to ask."
"Only thing I know shit about is tattooing."
She shakes her head. "No. Dean... He mentioned something." Her eyes bore into mine. "That you like to tie women up."