“Anyway, I had ridden with Brooke and her boyfriend after cheer practice, so I didn’t have my car. Colt offered to drive me to it.” I fight a smile at the memory.
A few crew members walk toward us, and I pause the story. Genesis hops down from the counter. I glare at her until she grabs a rag and wipes down where she was sitting.
“What do you need?” I ask with a smile.
They grab a few bags of cookies and ask for some waters. Genesis gets the waters and gives me an apologetic look. She helps me make sure they get all they need and finds a bag for them to carry all the extra waters. I wait until they’re well out of earshot to continue my story.
“Somehow I got a piece of mistletoe hung in my ponytail. He noticed it when I turned on the truck light to find my cheer bag. He told me I had something in my hair and reached to get it out. Then he leaned in and kissed me on the cheek.”
No longer able to fight it, I smile at reliving our first kiss.
“He pulled back and apologized, then showed me the mistletoe and said he had to kiss me because of that.” I laugh. “I told him there was no need to be sorry, so he held up the twig and kissed me again.”
“Awwwww.” Genesis claps her hands. “That’s so Hallmarkishly adorable.”
“Stop.” I bury my face in my hands.
She pretends to zip her mouth again and, this time, throws away the imaginary key.
“After that night, we hung out more, and he kissed me again on New Year’s and then asked me on an actual date. We dated the rest of the year and throughout summer, then went our separate ways.”
“That’s it?” Her jaw drops.
“Pretty much. I had a scholarship for the culinary-arts program and to cheer at the JuCo here. He had aspirations of moving to Nashville. It wouldn’t have been fair to either of us to try and hold the other back. It was still new, so we parted as friends.”
“Tiff! You’re killing me.” Genesis twirls the end of her braid between her fingers, then swirls around to face me. “Did you not ever talk after that?”
“We texted occasionally and maybe ran into one another a time or two back home. But years passed. We didn’t cross paths or see one another and lost touch. He isn’t on social media, and I never heard of Colt Stallion until today.”
“Why isn’t a musician on social media? I thought that was marketing 101.”
“Only if you post the correct open hours.”
“Haha.” She rolls her eyes, and I laugh. “But seriously, why not?”
I shrug. “He was hesitant to sing in front of crowds, which makes having his own song all the more shocking.”
“He sounded amazing.”
“I know. You wouldn’t know it from his personality, but he gets nervous on stage.”
“Huh.” Genesis turns and stares out the window.
A few people with walkie-talkies stroll by, and a guy talks on his phone while smoking. Then the makeup woman steps in front of our window to get some chips and queso for her crew.
She smiles at us with a perfectly polished face. I can’t help but wonder what all she did to Colt. Maybe we’ll get to see him when they come eat.
After she’s across the parking lot and out of earshot, Genesis hops back on the counter and turns to me. “So what now?”
“We get to work. Starting with sanitizing the counter you’re sitting on again.” I stand and grab a container of Clorox wipes.
She sighs dramatically. “What about you and Colt?”
“There is no me and Colt. We dated maybe half a year, then moved on to adulthood.”
“Tiff, I’ve known you for years. I’ve seen you go on dates and have a few boyfriends for a bit. You never smiled the way you did when telling me that story.”
“That’s because we were young and it was spontaneous.”