The Beautiful People by E. J. Fechenda

disappointment. I cleared my throat, put on my jacket
and with my head held high, marched out of the lounge. My guard was back up.
    Dominic was waiting
right outside the doorway and I hesitated.
    “What’s
wrong?” he asked.
    “Nothing,”
I lied. I couldn’t meet his eyes, his beautiful eyes.
    “Okay…
are you ready to go?”
    “I,
uh, I just remembered I have to work on a project for school. It’s due
tomorrow,” I lied again and he saw right through me.
    “Come
on Nat. Something’s bothering you. What’s going on?”
    Brittany and the
shooter girl walked out of the employee lounge then and she smirked at me. She
picked up on the tension between us and seemed pleased. Dominic saw the smirk
and scowled at Brittany. She laughed and walked away.
    “What
did she say?”
    I didn’t want to talk
about this, but didn’t want to leave it unresolved either. So I put as much
armor up around my heart as possible and answered him.
    “I
overheard her talking about us and she said you’re a player. This whole thing
between us is just a conquest for you isn’t it?”
    “No,
not at all! Brittany is a psycho. We dated…briefly, but it didn’t work out. She
is a little obsessive.” He seemed like he was being honest and I wanted to
believe him. But, then I thought about Grant’s warning and still wasn’t
convinced.
    “Natalie,”
he continued, reaching for my hand, “I really like you and I swear this isn’t
just a thing. I enjoy hanging out with you.” I looked at him skeptically, but his
eyes were sincere. Knowing I might regret my decision later, I smiled and
squeezed his hand.
    “I’m
sorry. I shouldn’t judge based on hearsay. It’s just, well, I’m not exactly like
a Crimson girl.”
    “No
you’re not. You’re very different – you’re real.” He bent down and kissed me.
His lips were soft and tasted of mint from his gum. “Now, are you ready to go?”
    “Where
are we going?
    “Are
you hungry?”
    At the mention of food
my stomach growled. It dawned on me that the only thing I had to eat was the
bowl of cereal. “I’m starving!”
    He laughed at my
enthusiasm as we walked to his car. “You told me you like Chinese food. Are you
up for that?” At the mention of Chinese my stomach growled even louder, this
time he heard it. “I’ll take that as a yes.” He chuckled as he held the door
open for me.
    We went to a small
restaurant in Chinatown and the hostess recognized Dominic.
    “You
must like Chinese food too,” I commented as she led us to a table.
    “My
parents took the family here all the time growing up. “
    We were the only
customers, but being that it was three in the morning, I wasn’t surprised. As
we waited for our order I sipped on some tea. I didn’t need alcohol to talk to Dominic
anymore, conversation came naturally between us.
                “So, when
will your uncle make you manager of Crimson?”
                “I’m not
sure. It’s really up to Miranda, I guess.”
                “Why’s
that?”
                “She’s
Uncle Marco’s oldest so she gets preference.”
                “Wait, I
knew you were cousins, but Marco is Miranda’s dad?” I asked, shocked. There was
no way Marco could have fathered someone so beautiful. I examined Dominic more
closely and saw the family resemblance I never noticed before. He and Miranda
had the same eyes and black hair. Miranda was fair skinned though, where Dominic
had more of an olive complexion.
                “You seem
surprised.”
                “Yeah, I
am. I just thought Grant would have mentioned it.”
                “Those two
are good at keeping things private. I’m sure there’s a lot about Grant you
don’t know about.”
                “You’re
probably right. He’s always busy getting into my business so I’m usually too
annoyed to get into his!”
    Once our entrees arrived,
we were too preoccupied