Chasing Leah (Journey Series) (4 page)

From the moment I stepped in on
my first day I instantly liked Remy. She was so open and warm that it was hard
for anyone not to. It was her second year on campus and we were both majoring
in nursing so I kind of felt a connection to her right away and she had a lot
of inside scoop for me on the nursing program. She pops her fire engine red
head up from beneath the counter and begins setting the bottles out on the
counter. "Okay, good to hear cause it’s just the two of us this shift, I
know you'll do great. I have all of section one and you'll do section two, we
normally start picking up around 6:15,” she grins over at me and starts pulling
out silverware to wrap as I move bottles to the mostly empty tables.

Sure enough we did pick up and
had a steady flow of customers in and out until around 10:00. I mixed up a few
orders here and there and spilled one cup of coffee but other than that I think
I had the hang of things for this being my first time waitressing job. Remy
stopped to check on a few of my tables and all of my customers so far had given
raving reviews of my awesome waitressing skills.

I stop for a break at the
counter and take a sip of my lukewarm coffee.
Blech
,
maybe a nuke in the microwave would solve the problem or maybe I just needed to
make sure I had extra time to grab coffee from somewhere else. “Leah,” I hear
Remy call over from her section as she’s wiping down booths, “you have another
table.” She cocks her head over to a corner table and wiggles her brows at me.
I glance over to see what could be so exciting, maybe someone younger than 70
as were most of our customers so far this morning and I see Gage, the
'bartender' from last night. I try to contain my smile as I walk towards his
table.

 "Hey stranger, did
you already miss me?" I pull my order pad out of my apron as I lean my hip
against his table. Gage grins up at me flashing his perfect white teeth, he
reaches over and runs his fingers up my arm and makes tingles shoot down to my
toes. “Yeah, well I told you I run every morning by here and I happen to know
they have some fine scenery around here.” Uh huh laying it on a little thick
here aren’t we mister? I notice his clothing as he says this and realize he has
a black workout shirt on with the sleeves cut off and a pair of athletic
shorts. Yum, he fills out that outfit nicely as I look at his sculpted arms
that have a nice tan. “So anyways……,” he shoots me a mischievous looking grin
with a quirk of his eyebrow. “Huh? Oh sorry," I bite my lip nervously as I
realize he had been talking to me the whole time I had been lost in thought
checking him out. "What can I get for you?"

"I'll just take a coffee
and one of your fruit yogurt parfaits,” he says as he hands me the menu back.
“Okay, great.
Coming right up.”
I head back towards
the kitchen and start to tap my order in. “
Ohmigawd
who is that fine piece of specimen sitting in your section, who by the way
specifically requested you," Remy says fanning her face with her hands. I
roll my eyes at
Remys
reaction to Gage. Well,
glancing back over where I see Gage grinning back at me, he isn't bad to look
at so I can see why she’s all hot and bothered.

“His names Gage, I met him at a
party me and Ally went to last night. We didn't really talk much but I happened
to mention where I was working. Apparently I made an impression.” Remy bends
over and grabs her stomach as she bursts out laughing. I scrunch up my nose at
her wondering what I said that could be found so hilarious. “Leah,” she chokes
out in between laughs, “you're freaking hot. If you so much as breathe in any
guys
direction they'd be jumping at the chance.”

I laugh and grab the pot of
coffee to fill Gages cup and take mine along with me. "Thanks Rem. I guess
I’ll take that into consideration from now before deciding to converse with
anyone from the male species. Care if I take a break?" Remy nods her head
at me, her red ponytail bobbing up and down, “No problem, I'll cover any other
tables that pop up.
Wouldn't want to get in the way of cupids
arrow over there.”
I roll my eyes at her and head towards Gage. That’s
the last thing I need but a few friends wouldn’t hurt.

“Mind if I join you while I take
my break?” I ask as I slide into the seat across from Gage. “Not at all, I was
hoping I would get more of a chance to talk to you if I stopped by. Both of us
were a bit busy last night.”  We sat there for most of my break and got to
know each other. I told him how I had been attending classes at the community
college back home through dual enrollment for my junior and senior years and
even the summer before I moved here. I actually had enough credits to
technically be considered a sophomore and a half and had all of my
prerequisites out of the way for the nursing program that I had been accepted
to.

I learned Gage was starting his
third year in the law program and had earned a full scholarship to the
university through grades and that he was currently living in the frat house
that was right next to Ally’s sorority house where the party was held the night
before. He shrugs as he tells me this. “Not my first choice to live with a
bunch of guys but my dad really pushed me into joining as soon as I got to
campus.”

I tuck a loose strand of hair
back into my ponytail, "Well it could be worse you could be stuck at one of
the dorms.
Me
and Ally have our own apartment, it’s
pretty refreshing to have a space I can do with what I want, well for the most
part.” If Ally had it her way every wall would be a different color and she
would probably let Caleb help her with some of his finger-paints. He finishes
up his yogurt that I had brought over while we chatted and sets his spoon down.
“Is Ally the girl from the party, she seemed to be pretty wild."

"Yeah she makes life
interesting; we've been best friends since high school. It’s nice to know at
least one person
here,
this is such a big campus.” I
drain the last of my coffee and start to stand, stretching my legs. “Well I
need to get back to work, my shift ends at 11:30 and then I have to head over
to the bookstore to grab a couple of things before classes start tomorrow.”

"Sure,” as he reaches into
his back pocket for his wallet and lays out money for his check. “Look I know
we haven't really known each other for that long but I was wondering if I would
be able to take you out sometime. I could show you around the town a bit."
I glance over and smile down at his turquoise eyes. He looks so nervous just by
asking me out on a simple date, surely with his looks he’s had plenty of dates.

“I’m not really looking to date
right now Gage but we can hang out as friends."

“Friends?” he asks in a
questioning tone before plastering a small smile onto his face. “Um sure that
would be cool. We’ll hang out soon then.”

After handing Gage his change
and him adding his number to my phone, we make plans to meet up for coffee in
between classes on Thursday. Remy walks over to the counter where I'm counting
out my tips before punching out for the day.
“So.
Spill,” she anxiously says. “Simmer down girl, he’s just a guy. Besides we’re
just going to be friends, he was cool with it." I say as I shove my tips
into my pouch. Not bad for the first day on my own. She rolls her eyes at me,
"Oh please Leah. Friends with a guy like that?”

“Well, whatever." I toss my
apron into the dirty pile and grab my purse. “A few friends in my life to have
a little bit of fun with won’t hurt. And if he can’t deal with that, oh well
his loss.” Remy twirls a loose strand around her finger while she leans across
the counter, “Yeah I would really like to have some fun with Gage. He looks a
little Richie Rich for my taste but god those eyes!" Laughing, I turn and
yell back over my shoulder. “See
ya
Remy!"

I head home and pick up Caleb
from Ally who heads back to bed as soon as she’s relieved of babysitting
duties. “I need to pick up a few things buddy and then we can go grab some
lunch, sound good?” I cram his feet into his light up shoes that he’s so proud
to show off to anyone who will watch and grab his bag. “’Kay, can we have
skettie
?” “Sure thing
dude,
sounds
yummy.”

After clicking him into his car
seat, we head back towards campus and pick up the last of my books that I
needed. Luckily I had a bit in savings but that was going to quickly dwindle
with the high cost of books and everything else I needed to take care of Caleb.
The end of my schooling could not come soon enough.

Leah

The next few weeks fly by as I’m
kept busy with my hectic schedule of work, school, and juggling Caleb into the
mix. Caleb adjusted really quickly with going to preschool and daycare and of
course the teachers love him, he’s everyone’s little sweetheart. He picked up
pretty quickly from the other kids the word Mommy that he hadn’t really heard
before and I really wasn’t sure how I felt about the new title I had been
labeled with, but I guess if it made
Calebs
life
easier I could deal with it. He doesn’t need to know that his real mom ditched
him.

“Mommy can you
turn
Diego
on for me?”
He asks as he wraps his little arms around
the back of my legs. I’m getting ready to go out with Gage after he promised me
it would strictly be a friend’s thing. We had met up for coffee a few times and
lunch once on campus and after a ton of persuasion and Ally agreeing to watch
Caleb for a little bit I agreed to go.

I finish pulling my hair
partially up with a slight pouf on the top and scoop him up into my arms. “Jeez
what have you been eating squirt you’re so heavy! Let’s go down to Auntie
Allys
room for a minute and then I’ll flip it on for you,
sound
good
?”
“Yup!”

I wander down to
Allys
room,
peeking
my head in. I
notice she’s on the phone and grin over at her. “Okay sweets....I’ll see you in
a bit. Okay, yup got it. Got to run, Ms. Leah is in need of my
assistance.”  From the expression on her face I can already tell who that
was without even asking. Ally had met a guy named
Skylar
at some of kind of animal rights petition that she had helped to organize on
campus. He was the quintessential hippy in my eyes with his long blonde dreads,
multiple facial piercings, and frayed jeans, but he seemed to make Ally really happy
and they had spent almost every minute together since meeting. I think I saw
less of Ally now when we were actually living together, then in our whole last
summer back in our hometown together.

Ally throws herself back onto
her bed, “
Ahh
I think I’m in love,” as she clutches
her hands to her chest dramatically. “ He is totally my soul mate. Now all we
need to do is find your soul mate and we can do double dates, a double wedding,
have kiddos who will be instant
bff’s
for life. I
think I even found the perfect match for you.”

 I raise an eyebrow and
flop down next to her and Caleb climbs up next to us resting his head on my
outstretched stomach. “Simmer down Ms.
Matchmaker,
I
think I can only handle this little guy right now.” I run my hand through
Calebs
still baby soft hair. I can’t believe he’s already
three years old.

“Besides I don’t plan on getting
married for about 20 more years, I don’t want to keep you and
Skylar
from running off into the sunset and making your
love babies.” I reach over and grab her hand to pull her up.”Do you think you
can stop daydreaming for two seconds and help me figure out what the heck I
should wear tonight?” She pops up and starts flipping through her closet which
is an array of bright neon’s and flowing skirts. “Um….
Als
? All that looks great on you but I don’t think
anything you have going on in here will help me fit in. Can you come down to my
room? I have a few outfits picked out.”

Ally makes her way into my room
and stands with her arms crossed over her chest, a finger under her chin. “Hmm
well I think this might be a little bit too dressy,” she tosses a navy blue
shift dress off to the side. “Here this will look great together.” I grab the
outfit she hands to me and head towards my bathroom to change quickly. I
hook
my bra on the back of the door, definitely can’t wear
one with this outfit.  I dab on some lip gloss and
spritz
my body with some wildflower body spray.

“Does it look alright?” I ask
Ally as I pad back into my room.”You look pretty Mommy!” Caleb exclaims as he
races his cars around every surface in our room.

 Ally had selected a black
pencil skirt paired with a silky ivory ruffled halter top that tied around the
base of my neck and had a low cut on my back. “Perfect!
Classy
with a little bit of sexiness mixed in.
Gage won’t be able to keep his
hands off your hot body in this.” She shoves a pair of black peep toe heels at
me and I slide my feet in.

“Well he better keep his hands
off. I’ve clearly explained to him friends only. It took a lot of convincing
for him to get me to agree to going to alumni dinner his frats putting on.”

“Bye sweetie
be
good for Auntie Al,” I lean down and plant a kiss on
Calebs
sweet baby cheek.

“’Kay Mommy I be good.” He waves
at me with his small hand before Ally starts to tickle his belly and they start
rolling around on the floor, both of them giggling.

I roll my eyes and pull out my
keys to lock the door behind myself so I can meet Gage out front. I figured
that would be best instead of him coming up since I hadn’t explained the whole
Caleb situation to him yet. Even though I told him this was strictly a
friends
thing, I wasn’t sure how a college aged guy would
react to me having a kid.