An annoyed sigh came from behind me. “Archer,” Sterling Luna said. “Your devil hair is hard to miss.”
“Hey, dickhead,” the barista said.
A bark of laughter escaped me as I turned to face my sometimes nemesis. “Seems you make friends everywhere you go.”
“It’s a gift.” He flipped the barista off good-naturedly and rattled off his coffee order. “What are you two plotting?”
“World domination,” the barista said. “None ya. My business with Archer is my business alone.”
“It’s Maron, actually,” I interjected.
“I like Archer better,” said the barista.
I almost argued that I was going to be her boss but something stopped me. She seemed tough on the outside, but I wondered if there was a sensitive gooey middle. “And you?” I asked as she made Sterling a drink with enough sugar to last him through a winter’s hibernation.
“Me what?” she asked.
“Your name?”
“Nat,” she said.
“Short for Natalie?”
“Short for Nat,” she said, and that was the end of that.
“Alright, Nat. Remember me.”
The pretty, scary barista gave me a wink and I wondered if I’d just made a terrible mistake. I stepped away from the kiosk to allow Sterling to pay, but I waited for him a few feet away. When he finished, he headed right to me. “What is it? Why are you here? Have you come to torture me just for fun now?” he asked.
I counted to ten and tried to remember why I'd come. Sterling was a genuine pain in the ass.
Alas, counting to ten didn't help.
"Torture you?" I asked softly.
"Yes. Me." Sterling sipped his coffee. He seemed like he was truly aggravated.
I scoffed at him in outrage and poked him in the chest. "You dated me under false pretenses. You hate redheads and you have no desire to fall in love with someone."
"I'm in love with Cherry." He said it so deadpan and toneless that I had to laugh.
"Oh yeah?"
"Yes. Very much so."
My shoulders shook with laughter. "You haven't denied going out with me under false pretenses."
"I'm not going to," he said quietly. "My parents wanted me to get married. I didn't want to."
"So you're getting married anyway?"
Sterling took me by the arm and led me away from the crowd. I noticed two men grinning at us as I let him lead me. "Do you know them?" I asked.
"Never saw them before in my life," Sterling snapped. One of them, the one with nut brown skin, gave me a little wave and a wink. I awkwardly waved back just before Sterling pushed my hand down.
"Yes, I'm getting married anyway. I have to."
I rolled my eyes and was about to step away when he grabbed my hand. "Wait," he pleaded.
