Page 22 of Down Memory Lane
Chapter Eleven
Felix
Walking around downtown Applewood with a newly shorn head of hair felt strange to Felix for a multitude of reasons. The first was that he hadn’t felt the air breezing past his ears and neck without also feeling the tug of a man bun at the crown of his head in at least five years. It was nice, and he was grateful that it was early April and the temperature was in the mid-seventies and not in the thirties like in the dead of winter. Beyond the new hair, it also felt odd to be walking around Main Street in the middle of the day when normally he would be working.
It had been strange to not be at the bar for an entire week, but after the third phone call to Lottie where he checked in and she assured him she had everything in hand, Felix decided to just leave her to it and try to focus on his friend instead. He still looked at the financial records at the end of the day, it washisbusiness after all, but it seemed that Lottie was able to take care of just about everything. He would owe her quite the bonus or at the very least, an entire month of vacation time when he eventually went back. The haircut was just the most recent event that had Felix feeling off kilter, but all it took was one look at the woman next to him to feel right again.
Running his fingers through his now cropped hair, Felix smiled over at Autumn, her own faded pink locks bright and shiny once more. While they sat in the salon, she had toyed with the idea of going for something new as well, but ultimately decided on keeping her signature color. It looked great on her, as it always had, and Felix didn’t miss the number of heads that turned their way as they walked down the sidewalk. Feeling the need to stake his claim, no matter how undeserved it may be, he reached out to Autumn, his smile turning into a full out grin when she took his hand automatically and laced their fingers together.
“Where to next? I feel like we should go to at least three more places to show off the new Felix.” Autumn asked. Her eyes were filled to the brim with mirth, and while he hadn’t planned much beyond the hair appointment, Felix wanted to keep the lightness that existed between them going for as long as possible.
Looking around for inspiration, he quickly noted and dismissed the day spa. A massage would be Heaven on his muscles that seemed tenser than ever lately, but the only hands he wanted on his body were Autumn’s. Since that was out of the question, at least for the time being, Felix moved his eyes around and spotted the cookie shop, a clothing boutique, and a store that sold nothing but crystals when his eyes finally landed on the bright neon lights coming from Applewood Diner.
The place had been owned by the same couple for longer than Felix had been alive, and while his own family hadn’t dined there nearly as often as he would have liked, they had sometimes gone there for lunch on weekends and he had nothing but fond memories of it. There were also plenty of memories attached to the diner that included his best friend, and he figured another short walk down memory lane was just the ticket.
“Are you hungry?”
Felix was always a little hungry, especially if it meant he would get his hands on a greasy cheeseburger, but he didn’t want to drag Autumn along unless she was game. They hadn’t eaten since breakfast and while the salon had offered drinks and a few squares of chocolate, neither Felix nor Autumn had anything considered real sustenance during the hours they sat and waited for the pink hair color to take.
Letting out a well-timed growl, his friend’s stomach announced its own loud protest at this fact. “I guess that’s a yes,” Autumn chortled. “Where to, Fe?”
Hearing the nickname from her lips again was music to his ears, showing him another hint that this Autumn was still the one he knew and loved. He hoped she would grow to love him again in return. Tugging her hand, Felix led her across the street and over to the large red doors of the diner. “This place has the best French fries in town and the burgers are out of this world. Want to give it a try?”
Autumn nodded, stepping inside and into what felt like another time. Chrome tables and vinyl booths lined the wall of the diner while a long chrome bar separated the dining area from the kitchen where cooks were busy flipping pancakes on the griddle and plating up baskets full of golden fries, both of which had Felix’s mouth watering. The place was packed, something that was completely common as it was one of the most popular daytime eateries in town, so they had to settle for a seat at the bar. Felix had been hoping to be able to squeeze into one side of a booth with her, but as Autumn sat and nearly swiveled herself into his lap, he realized their current seating arrangement had its benefits as well.
Grabbing onto her arms, Felix helped her adjust on the slippery vinyl seat, smirking when she nearly slipped off again. “If you want to be closer to me, you could just say something,” he sassed, winking at her for good measure.
Autumn’s cheeks were nearly as red as the fabric of her chair as she mumbled something about grease on her seat. The stools looked perfectly clean to him, but Felix didn’t press his luck by teasing her any more than he had. Flirting with each other hadn’t been taboo in the past, but they hadn’t done it a whole lot either. It was fun to test the waters of that again, and if the way Autumn kept blinking at him with interest was any indication, she was here for it as well.
Clearing her throat, she picked up a menu and tried to hide her face. “What are you having?”
Felix let her diversion stand as he gazed at the menu he knew by heart. “I’m going to get the double decker bacon cheeseburger with steak fries and a chocolate shake.” It was his go-to order and even though they were all about trying new things at the moment, Felix drew the line at missing out on one of his favorite meals. Besides, he’d already cut off all of his hair. There was only so much change a man could take in one day.
“Really?” Autumn peeked around her menu, giving him a once-over that had his mind diving right into the gutter. Her eyes were intent and focused as they gazed on nearly every part of his body.
What would it feel like to have her eyes on him when he was naked? Whenshewas? A shiver traveled up his spine at the thought of it. Felix had seen her in bathing suits and nothing but a towel as she emerged from their apartment bathroom, but suddenly he was very interested in seeing much more than that. He wanted to know if the freckles that were sprinkled across the bridge of Autumn’s nose and the tops of her shoulders still matched the ones he’d seen just that summer on her stomach, wanted to see if her sides were as ticklish out of clothes as they were in them, and more than anything, wanted to see if she tasted as good as he thought she would.
Swallowing the pool of saliva in his mouth, Felix shifted on his stool and tried to hide the evidence of just how badly her looking at him that way affected him. “Where do you put it all? he asked. “Do you have a hollow leg or something?”
There was one appendage that was anything but hollow at the moment, but while he might make the immature comment mentally, Felix wasn’t going to say it aloud. At least, not in public anyway. Coughing into his fist, Felix tried to focus on anything other than the way Autumn looked at him with need in her eyes.
“I have a fast metabolism,” he admitted. It had always been that way and unlike his brothers whose large quantities of food turned into thick muscle, Felix’s had always just burned away. “That and I do Zumba.”
Autumn’s brows came together, a tiny vee forming between her eyes that Felix wanted to smooth out with his thumb. “What’s that?”
Felix tried to figure out the best way to describe the mixture of dance and aerobics before deciding it was probably best to just show her in person. “It’s an exercise class we take on Saturday mornings. We’ve missed the last few because of, you know.” He waved his hand in the air as if that small gesture would encompass all that she’d been through in the last few weeks. “We can go again this Saturday, and you can see for yourself.”
