Not Desperate

Chapter Eight

In the Daylight- multi POV

After dropping Michael off at school, Yvonne raced home. She hadn’t even decided what she was gonna wear on her lunch date. She tried not to get excited, but she just couldn’t help it. Her head was really trying to win the race between it and her heart. She finally chose a simple pair of boot cut jeans and her Ramones t-shirt. After downing a bowl of cereal, cup of coffee and having a smoke, she headed for the shower.
Daryl woke up nervous that morning. He hardly slept thinking about his lunch date with Yvonne. He was excited to see her, but his mind kept telling him everything that could go wrong. He’d never gotten this far with a woman before, never wanted too, and he was shit at this. He’d have to talk to her, which was okay, but he didn’t know how to do it with her. Women love to talk about stupid shit. Maybe he could just nod his head at the right time and just keep staring at her. No way, she would expect participation. He would want to participate, but God this is nerve-racking. When he got out of the shower, he checked his phone. She had sent him a text with her address and said to be at her house at eleven. He put the address in his phone’s GPS and anxiously smoked a cigarette. He was about to jump out of his skin, so he decided to go ahead and leave. It was only ten, but there could be traffic, right?
Yvonne was trying to keep her mind busy until Daryl showed up. She had already unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher and swept the porch steps. Her watch said ten twenty and she wondered if Daryl was the type to be late or early. She sat on the couch and flipped through the TV stations until she heard a door slam. She stood up to peer out the front window and saw Daryl’s truck in her driveway. He was standing outside leaning on the driver’s side door smoking. He looked incredible. He was wearing a plain black t-shirt and black jeans and they made him look sexy. She just stood there watching for a while until he squished the smoke under his boot. She quickly moved from the window to the door to greet him. He stepped up to the door and knocked twice. She passed a mirror on her way to him, took a quick look and got her own approval. She took a deep breath and opened the door.
Daryl stuttered a bit when the door opened. Her hair flowed over her shoulders and shined in the small amount of sunlight shining. She ushered him inside and offered him a seat. “I wasn’t sure if you’d be early or late. Uh, you want something to drink?” He shook his head no. The silence seemed to last forever. Then she looked at her watch. “It’s almost eleven. We can leave now, if you want?”
“Sure. Where are we going?”
“A little coffee house/café in town. The food is good and the coffee is great and I know everybody that works there.”
“Alright. Let’s go,” he said and we walked out the door to his truck. As we rode to the café, it began to rain. “Hope you didn’t make outdoor plans.”
“Well, actually, I had. But I also thought of something we could do if it rained. Maybe we could go to the movies or go back to my house and watch one. Whatever you want. Or, we could do something else.”
“Movie’s good. Your place or wherever, don’t matter to me. We’ll have a good time regardless. What were your outdoor plans?”
“There’s a park down the road from the café. I thought we could go for a walk. There’s a pond with ducks. Maybe we could have fed the ducks?”
“Sounds like a good idea. Maybe we still could, if it’s not raining when we leave. Or we could just do it another time. This ain’t gonna be the last time we see each other. There’s lots of stuff I’d like to do with you,” he said shyly. “There’s gonna be a carnival in Senoia in a few weeks, maybe I could take you?”
“I love carnivals. I haven’t been to one in years. That sounds like a lot of fun.”
“Maybe I’ll even win ya a prize. Something big and fluffy that you can carry around all night,” he said smiling. He was amazed at himself. For feeling so self-conscious earlier, he was feeling very confident now. He’d never felt like this around a woman before. She was definitely some kind of special.
When we pulled into the café parking lot, it dawned on me that I hadn’t told Amy or Beth that I was coming in on my day off, much less that I would be bringing someone with me. Hopefully, they would be big girls and wait till I came back to work to give me a hard time. Daryl held the door as we walked in. Knowing the place as well as I did, I had chosen the perfect time to be there and it not be busy. I saw Amy at the counter when we walked in. She looked up at us as the door chimed. I smiled at her and led Daryl to the front to place our order.
“Hey Yvonne!” Amy said, baring all her shiny teeth at me. “What are you doing in here today? I thought you’d be at home catching up on your sleep. Perfect day for that.”
“Yeah, well, I had a better offer. This is Daryl, Daryl this is my friend Amy.”
“Nice to meet you Amy,” he said shyly, barely looking up at her. I tried to give her a look to say ‘We can talk about this shit later. Just let us be for now’. Gratefully, she understood and asked for our order. We both got plain black coffee and the five cheese grilled cheese with chips. “I’ll have Bethy bring it out when it’s ready. I’ll get your coffee.” She poured the cups and we took them to a table in the back.
“So you come here a lot? It’s a nice little place.”
“I’m here at least five days a week. Sometimes six if someone calls in.”
“You work here?”
“Yup. For about four years now. It’s a good job. The girls aren’t too bad if you can tune them out occasionally.”
“So we get to eat for free or something? That why we came here?”
“Not free, but we’ll get a good bit cut off the bill. That’s the least they can do. I’ve covered their asses enough. Besides, they’ll probably only ask for information in return for the food.”
“What kind of information?” he asked.
“About you. Who are you? How did I meet you? Is it serious? Shit like that. They’re gossipy hens and get excited when something new happens around here. Truth be told, I’m quite a topic of discussion with my friends right now.”
“Why? You got something going on that nobody knows about?” he said with a smirk.
“I’ve got absolutely nothing going on. That’s the point. Everyone I know is always trying to set me up with someone. Haven’t dated in a while and I guess they’re just concerned that I’m gonna end up the lonely cat lady.” It was then that I looked up and saw Beth coming out of the kitchen with our food. She was grinning the entire way to our table. She paused looking at both of us before setting our plates down.
“Good to see ya Yvonne. Who’s this ya got with ya?”
“Beth, this is Daryl. Daryl, this is Beth.” If she even thinks about starting shit, she’ll be calling in sick next week.
“Nice to meet ya Daryl,” she said so sweetly.
“Hey Beth. Nice to meet ya,” he said. He looked up at her as he spoke.
“Enjoy your lunch guys. Let me know if ya need anything,” she said as she walked away.
“She seems pretty damn perky, doesn’t she?” Daryl said as he took a bite of his sandwich.
“The consequences of being nineteen. She’ll grow out of it, I hope.” We smiled at each other as we ate our lunch and got refills on our coffee. Daryl finished his lunch before I did and just sat there silently watching me eat.
I just couldn’t keep my eyes off of her. The way that t-shirt and jeans hug her hips and breasts just knocked the breath right outta me. I hope she didn’t notice that I was staring at her tits the whole time, but I just couldn’t stop myself. I just wanted to touch them so bad and I’m such a pervert creep for this. I sound like that douche bag Len. I had to get my mind and eyes on something else. “So, it’s nice that you have friends that care about you, that want to see you happy.”
“I can’t fault them for that. I just wish they would let me handle it on my own. I can do it. I met you on my own, didn’t I?”
“That you did, and I’m glad I met you. Never known a woman like you before. Those girls at the bar got no self-respect. They’ll do anything with anyone for any reason. Can’t be with women like that anymore. I’m real glad I met ya.” Did I just fucking say that shit? Good God, she’s gonna run all the way back to her house now.
“I’m glad I met you too Daryl. Been a long time since I had a man open doors for me or buy me dinner. It means a lot to me.”
That Amy chick came over to the table and set the check down and left. I quickly picked it up before Yvonne could move. When I looked at it, I burst out laughing. Yvonne just looked at me confused and I handed the piece of paper to her. As she read, she began laughing too.
He’s hot Yvonne. No charge for ya’ll’s meal, just walk in front of him when ya leave so we can watch his ass go.
“I’ll shake my ass for a free meal,” I said as I started to calm down.
“Well, let’s get out of here then so they can catch the show.”
When she stood up, I got behind her, put my hand on her waist and pushed her toward the door. I looked over my shoulder and saw both Amy and Beth watching us. As I walked through the door, I stopped long enough to stick out my ass and shake it before the door closed.