Friendship on Fire (17 page)

I was sorting out their EFTPOS payment when I saw familiar brown hair out of the corner of my eye. I ignored it, not wanting to be rude to the customers, and also not wanting to pander to my hallucinations.

‘Have a great night,' I said in my professional voice, and served the order off the screen. Looking up ready to serve the next customer, I saw Nate standing in front of me with one long stemmed rose and a small box of chocolates.

‘Surprise,' he whispered, as he passed the goodies over the counter to me.

I was speechless with delight. It hadn't occurred to me while sulking today that he might arrive on the doorstep of my work and surprise me. I wanted to jump over the counter and launch myself at him. Pash him on Ronald's bench. Take him away and never go back to work. Reality was different.

‘How sweet,' I smiled at him, genuinely happy that he made all this effort. ‘Thanks.'

The other girls on front counter were staring at Nate; possibly wondering why he had come to see me. My manager was grinning from the production bin area and other boys out the back stopped working and watched. It wasn't every day I had a guy bring me flowers and choccies to work. And so it was, in front of everyone, that Nate embarrassed me. Horribly.

His voice was a tad loud to be personal. ‘So, this is really where you work? Wow Dais, I thought you were better than this.'

My cheeks burned hot, my peripheral vision checked for any negative reactions from the workers around me. A couple of the girls smirked. His opinion made me feel small.

‘Excuse me?' I whispered back.

‘I'm joking,' he said, thinking that smiling at me with boyish charm would make it better.

‘But you weren't, were you? You do think McDonald's is beneath me,' I accused, trying not to lose control of my temper.

‘Well … maybe.'

‘You know what Nate? It's good, honest work. And I learn so many skills from the variety of things I do here. One of those is people skills. Where do you learn your people skills?'

‘Dais, come on. People can hear you now,' Nate said, eyes shifting around him.

‘Let them hear. My brother works here, too,' I continued. ‘Are you going to tell him he has a crap job? Not everyone has rich parents they can sponge off, you know.'

My temper had won again. I'd offended him. He put his hands in his jeans pockets. Surely he would leave now and it would all be over.

Instead, he appeared like he was trying to hide a smile. ‘Settle down, kitten,' he whispered. ‘Maccas isn't the most glamorous job, but I wanted to get a rise out of you. Relax. And enough of the personal digs, yeah?'

Scowling at him, I read his face for what seemed like five minutes. Finally, I backed down. ‘Sorry. In my book, everyone has an important job, whether it's scrubbing public toilets or being an astronaut. It's all relative.'

‘Yes, ma'am,' he said, reaching over to kiss my nose.

‘Nate …' I shifted my weight from one leg to the other.

‘OK, OK. I get it. No more patronising. I'll be good. So, are you glad to see me?' He tried to lighten me up.

‘I was, ‘til you opened your mouth. I'll only get a fifteen-minute break. If I get one at all, after your show.'

I stalked out the back to ask my manager's permission. He was more good-natured than he should have been considering Nate's form earlier. He left me with a comment that sounded something like, ‘lucky to be getting some action, not like the rest of us.'

I clocked off, put on my jacket and went out to meet Nate. He was sitting on Ronald's knee. Arms folded, I witnessed Nate whispering romantically to Ronald, ‘I've gotta go. She's here now. But I won't forget you. I'll be back for you.' Ronald's fixed face smiled back at him.

I couldn't help but smile. We went for a short walk and sat on a bench. The neon lights of Video Ezy and Red Rooster shone on his white t-shirt, and he had blue streaks across his face contrasting the darkness.

‘I've made a decision,' he announced, pulling me under his arm.

‘Oh yeah?' I said, trying not to sound uneasy.

‘Yep. I've decided we need to get to know each other better. Really well. So we don't have any more misunderstandings,' he said.

‘How are we going to do that?'

‘Leave it up to me. It'll be fun. I realise things have moved quite fast so I want to back up and find out more about you. Starting from what your middle name is?'

His smile disarmed me. I found it hard to remember his question.

‘My what? Oh, middle name. Um. Don't laugh. Renae,' I said shyly.

‘That's a nice name. What's there to be shy about with a name like Renae? At least yours isn't Frederick.'

He gauged my reaction. I held my breath. It was too funny. I didn't want to offend him after he'd affirmed my middle name. I felt like a puffer fish.

It came out like a giant smirk. I howled with laughter while he tried to feign anger. It didn't work either. I laughed louder.

‘Now that I'm thoroughly embarrassed, tell me something else about yourself. What's your favourite colour?' he asked, playing with a strand of my hair that had escaped out of my work bun.

‘Pink,' I said immediately. ‘You wouldn't see me dead wearing pink with hair this colour, mind you, but I do honestly love pink. I don't get much time to wear anything other than school uniform, and this,' I pouted, tugging on my work uniform. ‘What about you?'

‘Definitely black. Black suits everything. When will you dye your hair back? Or will you let it grow out?' he asked, studying my head.

‘Dunno yet. Maybe I'll do it for your birthday or something, if you're lucky,' I teased.

Nate's eyes rose toward the sky and he began murmuring to himself. Rather than accusing him of going nuts, I waited for him to give me his attention again.

His eyes lit up and he smiled at me. ‘That means I've got roughly three months until I see you as a hot blonde. I can do that,' he nodded to himself.

I laughed. ‘Maybe I'll surprise you earlier. Walk up to you and kiss you in the middle of a street. You probably wouldn't recognise me.'

‘You're right, I probably wouldn't. I don't think I'd be complaining if a hot blonde came up to kiss me, no matter who it was,' he gave a dangerous, crooked smile. I scowled at him.

‘I'm joking Daisy. Chill. I'd recognise your lips anywhere,' he said smoothly.

I let it slide, rolling my eyes.

‘I'll show you a picture of me as a blonde.' I got my phone out of my pocket and found a photo of Rach and me from the summer holidays. ‘See what you think,' I said, handing him the phone.

He whistled low and long. I smiled shyly. He kissed me quickly. ‘Nice, babe. I'll still have you as a ranga for the time being. You'll do.'

‘Gee thanks. So full of compliments tonight. Look, I've gotta go back to work. Before I do, Dad asked if you'd like to come to dinner with the family on Friday night. It's sort of a ritual,' I said, almost apologetically.

Nate appeared awkward for a few seconds before plastering a smile on his face. ‘No problem. I can do that.'

‘See you tomorrow night at soccer, yeah?'

‘Sure will. Farewell, Daisy Renae. And be prepared for proper dating from now on.' He kissed my hand like a seventeenth century gentleman caller.

I laughed, but fell for it.

‘Farewell, Nathaniel Frederick. Haha
.
Thanks for the visit.'

He gave me a quick kiss goodbye and I went back inside to finish my shift. My co-workers gave me a few funny looks. I knew it wouldn't be the last time my relationship with Nate would spark interest with the people around me.