Page 12 of A Minute More

He’s a mystery, that one.

“Want to exchange numbers?” she asks, and I nod, searching around for a napkin and a pen. Simon usually has a Sharpie that he uses to write names on sandwiches, but he tucks it into his pocket when I reach for it.

My eyes narrow as I stare at him. What the fuck was that for?

“Um, I don’t have a pen,” I say, turning my head toward Dena.

“We can just use our phones, silly,” she says and then tucks her long auburn hair behind her ear.

I flush crimson and nod. “Duh.”

We quickly exchange numbers and when she leaves, Jude nudges me in the side.

“It’s good, yeah?”

“Yeah, man. Where were you hiding her?” I ask quietly.

“We were high school sweethearts. Broke up a while ago. Didn’t work out but she’s smokin’, yeah?”

“Yeah,” I say, notquitefeeling it, but maybe I will. Maybe I just need to get to know her first and then the excitement will come.

But at the moment, I’m distracted by Simon who seems to be in a mood. I mean, usually he’s just quiet, but today he seems gloomy. As he works, he drops the utensils a few times and curses under his breath, and when Jude asks him a question, he actually snaps an answer back at him.

It has me worried about him. Shit, it must be serious. Must be life-altering or something.

When I head out after my shift, leaving Jude behind, I almost,almoststay back to make sure Simon’s okay. But then I remember that he told me it was none of my business, so I decide against it. We aren’t even friends.

But I do wait up for Jude to arrive home later that night, eager to have him tell me how his shift went.

He shakes his head. “Man, never seen Simon in such a shit mood before. He was a grump tonight.”

I nod in concentration as I pull up my messages with Dena. They’re all friendly and superficial, not really touching on anything deep. She has to know why Jude gave me her number, but neither of us has brought it up yet.

Fuck me for being a coward. I just need to tell her what I need.

I flick my phone off and meet Jude’s stare again, unable to help the questions tumbling out of my mouth. “I mean, did he say why he was in such a mood? Is he okay?”

“No way. Like he’d ever tell me. He was just grumpy and quiet. I turned some music on while cleaning up and he snapped it off. I didn’t bother with him after that. He could really go off one day and stab me or something.”

“He won’t do that. He’s just…he just keeps it all inside.”

Jude eyeballs me like I’m crazy. “How do you know?”

I shrug. “I don’t know, just a feeling I have about him.”

Pushing myself up on my feet, I move to my bedroom and close the door, flopping down on my bed and staring at the ceiling once more. My mind replays the last few interactions I had with him today, and I mull them over, dissecting them like a scientist. I have no hypothesis and no conclusive answers. I just go round and around until I almost feel dizzy.

Suddenly my phone chimes, breaking me out of my spiral, and I see a number I don’t recognize.

Unknown:

This is Simon.

My heart stutters in my chest. What the fuckity-fuck? Why the hell is Simon messaging me? My first thought is this is an elaborate prank, but then discard it. No one knows about my little obsession with him. I’ve kept that pretty close to my chest.

Me:

Hey!

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