"Of course this is what I want. I don't want to be tied down to someone who wants to know where I'm at or what I'm doing every second of every day."
Shaw opened his mouth to interrupt, but I held a finger up and continued. "I want to go where I want, do what I want, and spend what I want. I have no desire to be tied down to a woman."
"I don't think you know anything at all about women," Shaw said after I finished my rant.
Jeremy snorted with laughter. "Not that we have a lot of room to talk," he said with a wide grin. "We are both as single as the day is long. But we are also not complete idiots. If you decide to pursue Cherry, you're going to have a miserable life. A partner is someone youwantto come home and talk to. Not watch pick at their unseasoned fish every single dinner for the rest of your days."
"She only eats fish two days a week."
Shaw's eyebrows rose. "She seems... interesting."
"Yeah," Jeremy chimed in. "Have fun with Elsa."
Shaw chuckled. "Elsa has a personality, at least."
"Anna would be way more fun," Jeremy said. "She's got a fire in her. Even spurned, she kept going. Plus," he waggled his eyebrows, "she's a redhead."
I cringed. "So is Maron. It looks horrible." But the words didn't ring true to me anymore.
Jeremy shook his head. "We both think this is a mistake. Listen, you don't have to end up with Maron. From everything you're saying, you don't even seem to like her. But look at it this way. At least you're passionate about her and your intense dislike. When you talk about Cherry, you seem strangely cold about the entire thing."
"Yeah, dude, invest in some heaters because you're bed is going to be really chilly if you have Miss Ice Queen sleeping in it."
"I hate you both," I said. My gaze wandered over to the barista booth and I noticed the grumpy one was there again today. When she caught me looking, she flipped me a double bird. I laughed out loud and gave a nonchalant wave.
"I can't believe she hasn't gotten fired yet."
Jeremy shrugged. "She's entertaining and her line is busy all day. It's like people line up to hear her insult them."
"My kind of woman," Shaw said under his breath.
The mug Jeremy was holding slowed until it was right in front of his lips. "Seriously? You have the hots for the crabby coffee lady?"
"She's hot in a cult kind of way,” I said. “Like a rock star and a wicked witch copulated and had a freakishly smart goth baby."
Shaw blinked at me. "That was specific."
"But also true," I said. "Do you think she'd go out with you?"
My friend shook his head violently. "No. And don't you dare tell her. She's the kind of woman you admire from a distance. Get any closer and you'll get shanked."
I stared at him for a moment. "Shanked? Did you serve time in prison we don't know about?"
"She just looks like the kind of woman who'd carry something that was not originally intended for stabbing."
"Dude," Jeremy said, shaking his head. "You got it bad."
"But I don't have my parents breathing down my neck so I can afford to be slow about this."
"Yeah, well, you better not take too long. Something tells me she has trouble holding down a job." With that, I watched as the barista slowly poured someone's coffee out on the floor for annoying her.
"Anyone would be lucky to have her," Shaw said.
A bark of laughter escaped me. "Okay crazy. Let's talk about the storm. Anything new on that?"
And with that, talk of the weird ass barista faded away and we got down to the business of conspiracy theories. Not much else had happened since Jeremy had his ass handed to him by the clairvoyant, but there had been a couple of reports of property damage over the weekend. Nothing too major, but some people were reporting that it looked like a massive amount of people had been tramping around their yards, tearing out bushes, and damaging their landscapes. You would think something like that wouldn't go unnoticed, but no one had heard anything out of the ordinary. They'd just woken up to it.
Not a single person had seen anything else falling out of the sky, though it still swirled ominously over head. None of us had a good feeling about it, but most people had chosen to ignore it. Shaw, Jeremy, and I knew that would be a huge mistake.
