average human’s Reviews > What Is Love > Status Update

“Yes.”
“Kendry? As in the Kendrys?” Wyatt asked.
“What other Kendrys are there?” Reid asked caustically.
“Does my last name bother you?” I was stunned at the feeling of my own backbone. I knew I had one, but when I had to suppress it so often, I sometimes forgot it was there.
Reid gave me a look that told me he found my question ridiculous.
Wyatt leaned close and whispered loudly, “I don’t care what your last name is.”
“That’s because you want in her pants,” Reid grumbled.
Roe let out a curse as he shook his head.
Wyatt didn’t even look bothered by his friend’s accusation. “I’d be lying if I said I haven’t thought about it. No offense.” He winked at me. “But I meant what I said. Couldn’t care less what her last name is.” He stared across the booth at Reid. “What makes me curious is why you do.”
“I don’t,” Reid said, glancing at Roe. They stared at each other, and it felt like they were communicating silently again.
Roe eventually looked away and Reid’s whiskey eyes met mine. He was intimidating. Not in a terrifying way. In an intense way. It didn’t help that I found him attractive. All three of them were. But it was my attraction to him that I was disappointed in myself about. He seemed like an asshole. There were too many assholes in my life as it was. I would never offer time, thought, or energy to another asshole by choice.
“She’s the one who drew the motorcycle at Stewart’s,” Reid said, stunning me.
That still didn’t explain how he knew me. If anything, it created more questions.
“What?” Wyatt’s head whipped around to stare at me. “I mean, after seeing your drawing yesterday, that adds up. But how’d you find that out, Reid? The artist was listed as anonymous when we went there and voted on it.”
“When it won, the artist was revealed,” Reid explained. “And I know who bought it.”
“Who?” Roe asked before I could. I was curious to know as well. It was a personal piece. All my drawings were, but it was the first one I had ever sold.
“Are we ordering anything?” a female voice asked, capturing all of our attention and making us forget Reid hadn’t answered.
Standing next to our booth was a girl about my age with a small black apron around her waist. She had brown hair with caramel highlights. Her eyes were almost the same shade as Reid’s.
“We’ll get the usual, Mac,” Wyatt said.
The waitress, whose name I assumed was Mac, looked to me. I was about to say that I didn’t want anything when Roe said, “Just add an extra order of what I get for her.”
“I don’t want anything,” I said quickly.
“Yes, she does,” Roe told the waitress as he watched me.
She took him at his word and walked off.
“I didn’t want anything,” I insisted.
“You didn’t eat lunch. I know you’re hungry,” Roe argued.
I frowned. “How do you know that?”
“Because you never eat lunch,” Roe answered. Something in his eyes told me he was ready for me to disagree.
I didn’t. I was too stunned to.
“She looks like she doesn’t eat at all,” Reid said.
Asshole.
“It’s rude to comment on a girl’s weight,” Wyatt chastised him.
The waitress—Mac—returned with drinks. She set sodas in front of the guys and a water in front of me. “I forgot to ask what you wanted to drink.”
“Water is perfect,” I assured her.
She eyed my uniform. I had taken the blazer off, but the black button-up blouse and burgundy skirt were still recognizable. “Are you a scholarship student like Roe?”
I shook my head.
She tilted her head slightly as she took stock of me. “That’s interesting.”
I kept my face schooled. “Why is that?”
She smirked as she glanced at Roe. “You’re the first friend Roe has brought around us from that fancy school.”
Roe leaned back and frowned up at her. “Don’t you have work to do, Mac?”
“You’re not your dad, Roe. Stop bossing me around,” she said and stared at Reid. “Are you coming over tonight?”
“No,” Reid replied.
Mac sighed as if very annoyed. “Then can I come over to your place?”
I looked from Reid to Mac. Oh. They must be together.
“I don’t care,” Reid said.
Mac nodded and walked away. I tried not to frown and failed. He wasn’t a nice boyfriend.
Wyatt leaned close. “Roe’s dad owns this place.”
That piqued my interest and it probably showed.
“Reid works here, too,” Wyatt added. “He started off waiting tables just like Mac. Now he tends the bar.”
I glanced at Reid with an overwhelming urge to jab at him in some way. “It must be nice working with your girlfriend.”
Roe, who had just taken a drink of his soda, made a choking noise and quickly covered his mouth. Reid’s expression turned horrified. Wyatt snorted before bursting with laughter.
“Makayla is my sister,” Reid said, still looking disturbed.
“I apologize for assuming,” I said quickly.
Roe cleared his throat. “I can see how she came to that conclusion.”
Wyatt was still laughing. “Me, too!”
“My mom invited me over for dinner,” Reid explained. His dry and to-the-point tone told me he wasn’t thrilled to do so. “I don’t want to go. I’m letting my little sister escape from the fallout by hanging out at my place.”
Escape? Fallout? Those words made me wonder if they were in a similar situation as me. I didn’t dare ask. It wasn’t any of my business.
Mac returned with a tray with plates of food on it. She began setting those plates in front of everyone. When she was finished, she walked off to tend to another table. It appeared everyone had gotten a burger and fries, including me. It already smelled like food in the bar. With it right in front of me, the smell was a hell of a lot stronger.
Earlier, the thought and smell of food had nauseated me. Now it made me very aware that I was hungry. The burger and fries in front of me looked delicious. The burger had two patties with greasy melted cheese on them, along with lettuce, tomato, onion, and some sort of sauce.
“Is bar food beneath you?” Reid asked before taking a bite of his burger. His was slightly different from mine. It had onion rings and a brown condiment I assumed was BBQ sauce.
“Reid,” Roe said with a tone.
“She’s the one staring at it like she’s looking for poison,” Reid grumbled.
Roe stared across the table at me, expectant. I could feel all of them staring.
Just one bite won’t hurt.
I picked up a fry. It was golden, crispy, and salted. I had never had fries before. At least, I didn’t have any memory of ever having fries before. I’d had potatoes before, but not cooked like this. All hell would break loose if anything fried came anywhere near our house. I hadn’t had a burger before, either. Although I’d had half of a patty melt once. Prue had been eating one for lunch and given me half of it. Mother had been away on a trip and Prue had made me promise to keep it a secret. It had been one of the best things I’d ever eaten.
Just one bite.
I took a small bite of the fry. As I chewed, it took everything not to embarrass myself by reacting. It was good. A haze or snap of control must have happened, because I shoved the rest of that fry in my mouth and picked up the burger. I barely got the fry down before I bit into it. When the melted cheese, meat, and sauce spread over my tongue, I moaned. A little bit of the sauce had leaked out of the burger when I’d taken a bite and was rolling down from the corner of my mouth. I quickly caught it with the tip of my finger and brought that to my lips to suck clean.
The lack of talking from the guys around me snapped me back to reality and I regained control of myself. I put my hand in front of my mouth before glancing around the table. They were watching me, unblinking.
Feeling mortified and like I’d messed up, I quickly finished chewing and wiped my mouth with a napkin Mac had delivered with our food. “Sorry.”
Roe frowned. “Why are you apologizing?”
I stared down at my delicious burger, debating what to say. “I guess I’m hungry.”
Wyatt pushed his plate toward me. “I’ll let you eat my burger, too, if you continue moaning.”
Even though I was embarrassed, I still found what he said funny.
“You’re smiling,” Roe said, making me realize.
I stared across the table at him. He was watching me while eating a fry with an I told you so glint in his stormy blue eyes.
“Is there something wrong with her smiling?” Reid asked.
Roe looked down at his plate and picked up his burger. “No.” Just before he took a bite, he nodded at my own burger. “Keep eating. When we’re done, we’ll teach you how to play pool.”
Knowing how delicious it was obliterated my ability to hold back. I took another bite. Then another. I kept lying to myself that each next bite would be my last until I nearly finished the whole thing.