[chapter four]
Disclaimer: If you've heard of them, I don't own them. Everything else is mine, so no stealing, pretty please. ;-)
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~Jimmie's POV~
Cool. Looks like she gets to take a break after all.
She walks over to the table, lugging several books and a notebook and balancing a coffee cup in her other hand. She smiles shyly at me as she sits down.
She's just too cute.
"What are you reading?" I ask, pointing to her books.
"Faulkner. I have to write a ten page paper on one of his stories by tomorrow." She says quietly, closing the cover of her notebook, where hundreds of words appear to be written.
"You're in college?" I ask, sipping my mocha.
She nods. "Yeah. Correspondence course." She says softly. "English classes."
"You want to … " I cut myself off, looking at her. With a small laugh, I start again. "I'm sorry. I don't know your name."
She smiles a little. "Shea. Shea Waterson."
"Nice to meet you, Shea." I say with a grin. "You want to be an English teacher?"
"Professor, actually." She corrects me. "I'd like to teach college level English."
"Cool." I say. "I always kinda liked my English classes, read some really good stuff. Why are you doing correspondence? Why don't you go away to school?" I ask and she blushes slightly beneath my gaze. Oops. Maybe it's a touchy subject. Real smooth, Johnson.
"I did. But I had to … I had to come back." Shea answers. "It's complicated."
"Sorry." I apologize, ducking my head.
"S'okay." She murmurs. "So, um, what are you doing here? You're normally only in on Mondays."
I laugh at her words. "Keeping tabs on me?" I tease and she blushes further, her eyes tilting downwards.
And again, oops.
"No. I just … I just notice things. People."
"I didn't mean to make you sound like a stalker. That's not what I meant." I backtrack and she looks up again with a small smile.
"I'm wouldn't be much of a stalker. I'm here all the time, or broken down on the side of the road. I don't even have a GPS system so I can track your movements." She teases and I lean back in my chair, grinning.
I like this girl. Shyness and all.
"Good point." I throw back. "Apparently my virtue is safe for another day."
She laughs, a deep, throaty laugh.
I love that.
"So why are you here all the time?" I ask instead and she sighs slightly.
Oops again?
She shrugs slightly. "Have to make a living somehow, and I can get 40 hours here. If you can't work on cars, it's hard to work in this town."
I nod, filled with understanding. I can't imagine how people live in Mooresville without being connected to a race team. It's gotta be tough, the economy what it is in this area. "Gotcha." I say instead and she smiles a little before blushing deliciously when her stomach growls loudly. "Hungry?" I tease and she reddens further.
"I … I didn't have lunch today." She says softly, looking down.
I'd give anything to take her the fanciest restaurant right now. Just her and I.
A moment later she is looking over her shoulder where a woman is frantically gesturing to get her attention.
"Uh … I better go. Looks like my break is over." Shea says, standing up.
"That wasn't the fifteen minutes you promised me."
"I'll give you extra foam on Monday to make up for it." She smiles and I laugh in return.
"Promise?!" I call out as she waves to me over her shoulder.
Best coffee break I ever took.