Web of Lies

Ashton placed the mug down and leaned on the counter. He was circling the rim of the mug and looked at Brandi’s hand. He just stared until he looked up at her, he blinked. “Your hands are very delicate looking for someone who looks like they do an awful lot with them, bet they could go to good use.” His grin grew and he stopped slumping on the counter and straightened up his leaned position to a more neater looking one. He stopped messing with the mug and placed his hand flat on the counter.

“I know my ways around just about anything, I like being prepared.” He slid the mug with a finger to the side. “No matter the, circumstances.” His eyes trailed off to Brandi’s eyes, as she batted her eyes, his own followed the movement of the girls lashes. “Darlin’ it depends. We talking ‘free’ or ‘discounted’?” He leaned close to her. “I happen to offer whichever one you like~”

Brandi stopped tapping her nails on the counter when his eyes settled on her hand. He didn’t notice her nice paint job, but he’d noticed something, which was more than she could say for a lot of other guys. Some of them could be so oblivious sometimes!

She was surprised that he chose to comment on the delicacy of her hands, though. Not many people mentioned anything about that, and she had never really noticed it herself. Now she looked at her hand, stretching her fingers to better examine them. There were small scars on her pointer and middle fingers and across her knuckles and on the palm of her hand--from some shenanigans involving broken glass. But the cuts hadn’t been deep and healed fairly nicely, so the scars were only visible when you were looking for them. Also, her hands were small, and her fingers were slender, so she supposed she understood where he got the word “delicate.”

Sure, she could accept this compliment. Why not? Something was better than nothing at all, and things were going so well that she would hate to ruin that. “Thanks. I do my best to take care of ‘em when I get some free time,” she said, emphasizing “free time” so that it would give the impression that she was a very busy girl with lots of important stuff to do.

She also leaned in a bit, but there was no need to go too far since he’d already covered most of the distance for her. At the wrong angle--or perhaps the right one?--it might look like something was up. She gazed into his red eyes--contacts, she now realized. They were so close that she could see the outer edge of his contact lenses. She glanced down quickly to find one of his hands so that she might walk two of her “delicate” fingers over the back of it, and then she made eye contact again, lightly touching his hand, which was warm from holding and making coffee all day. “I was thinkin’ as free as I can possibly get it,” she told him. “If there’s a way for me to get it for free free, then I’ll do whatever I need to.”

June frowned. “…I’m going to ignore that.”

July, however, was very ecstatic. “Well, what are we waiting for?! Let’s go!” she said and ran towards the train station. June rolled her eyes and walked slowly. “Forgive her, she tends to run off at times.” Most of the time…

July’s enthusiasm was infectious, and Brandi laughed when June tried to apologize for it. “We’d better not keep her waitin’!” She grabbed June by the wrist and dragged her along as she raced toward the train station. She pulled June up the steps, and both of them nearly tripped, but Brandi found her footing and steadied her friend as well.

She was still laughing, albeit a bit breathlessly, when the two of them joined July on the train platform. “This is gonna be awesome! It’s been forever since I went on a shoppin’ spree, ‘specially with other people.” Well, it was either going to be awesome or terrible because she didn’t exactly like shopping for things in the honest sense, even if the petty theft charges on her record were proof that she wasn’t all that great at the dishonest kind.

He leaned on the counter behind him. “Curious? Let me tell you, I’ve been curious about p-l-e-n-t-y of things in my life.. But not enough to get me in trouble with my boss.” He looked at the entrance to the back then he focused back over to Brandi. “Not even for a pretty face.” He stood straight then waltzed over to grab a glass mug, opening the cupboard he added “Unless you honestly want to hear about anything…” He shut the cupboard and turned his head. “You gotta convince me after-hours~”

“Oh?” She settled her chin in the palm of one hand, tipping her head up slightly, while she continued to drum out a steady rhythm with the nails on her other hand. This rhythm was more deliberate than the one before, as if the coat of midnight blue pain she’d put on this morning was screaming to get noticed, despite the imperfect chip that had been so quick to appear on her ring finger.

Bradlynn gasped under her breath, her mouth forming into a slightly interested ‘o’ shape. “You’re a space alien~!? That’s so… spectacular, amazing, awesome, just to good for words~!” She hopped back and forth on her feet, thoughts of what Brandi would look like without her eyepatch in place roaming her mind. “Can you…. can you, um, show me your tentacle, please?”

“Huh? What?” Brandi hadn’t expected her to actually want to see it. Most people would have thought a tentacle for an eye was gross. But its grossness was also part of its charm, and if somebody told her they were hiding a tentacle, she would demand to see it, too.