Chapter Six

Alaina, the barista and their mutual friend approached them after a few minutes and shook herhead at Steve's antics, “Hey, asshole,” she remarked, looking at Steve. It was their usual banter. Steve hitting on her and Alaina turning him down every time they visited. Brooke was always amused at how persistent Steve was. He always flirted with her despite her humiliating him all the time. Brooke couldn’t fault her friend though. Alaina was beautiful and smart and any guy would be lucky to have her. “Going with the usual, boys?” 

“Yes, sugar. Except, Brooke here would like some cherry pie for herself to cheer her up,” Steve replied, turning into a lovesick fool, gazing lovingly at Alaina. 

“Is that right? Everything okay, Brooke?” Alaina asked gently, turning towards her. She was one of the few people who had become Brooke’s friend after hitting on her the first time they met. Brooke felt bad telling her that he didn’t swing her way when she looked so sad. But over time, they had overcome the awkwardness and had become very good friends. 

“Yeah, just...the usual stuff.” Brooke gave a small smile, trying to assure her. From the look on her face, she knew she wasn’t convinced and she knew Alaina was going to barge into her house soon, demanding answers. 

“Alright, one black coffee, two lattes, two tacos, one burrito coming right up. And of course, one cherry pie, which is on the house,” Alaina repeated their order, then left. 

“What did you say to them, the gossiping women I mean?” Beth asked, back to the subject once Alaina was gone.

“I told her the truth.” Brooke shrugged.

Beth’s booming laugh echoed around the cafe while Steve doubled over laughing so hard he sprayed the table with his mouthful of water. 

“You’re a bitch, Brooke. God, it must have been so awesome to watch their faces,” Beth said, trying to control her laughter. 

“Well, they started it.” Brooke was just going to update her friends about her plans to restart her business

when a sleek, black sedan parked right in front of the cafe. 

Brooke didn’t pay much mind to it as right at that moment Alaina came to serve them, and the three of them promptly dug in. It wasn’t until they heard a commotion at the gate that Brooke looked up to see what was happening. 

“What’s that about?” Steve asked, sitting straight up, stretching a bit to see what was going on. 

From the corner of her eye, Brooke looked at Alaina, who was still standing beside their table, cursing under her breath as another barista whispered something in her ear and rushed towards the gate where quite a few people had gathered. 

“Is everything alright, Al?” Brooke asked his friend, worried at the shocked look on her face. 

Alaina didn’t say anything until suddenly the people that had gathered around the gate started rushing to get inside. It seemed like they were making way for someone by standing on one side of the entrance to the cafe, gushing and murmuring. Brooke was very curious to see who this mystery person was. Unless she missed the memo, going by people’s behavior, she was almost sure the President was on a surprise visit or something. 

“What’s happening?” Beth whispered.

“I got zero clues…” Brooke was about to reply when she heard Alaina.

“Well, I’ll be damned,” Alaina whispered. 

Brooke caught her looking transfixed at the door to the cafe, and followed her line of vision only to suck a sudden breath in sharply. 

A guy walked in their direction, dressed in black jeans and a white shirt, which was folded up to his elbows to display the strong veins and muscles in his forearms. He was wearing a cowboy hat over, beautiful, auburn hair that curled down his neck. He was slender and tall...as tall as...Brooke didn’t know what but simply put, the guy was handsome. Brooke observed the guy almost as if, in her head, the man was walking in slow motion. 

Brooke heard Beth whistle slowly, “Is that the business tycoon, the man of everyone’s dreams, Nathan Bradford?” 

“Man…I never thought I’d see him in person. He’s the one that runs the Short Stack Brewing Company, right? Their beers are awesome, dude.” Steve spoke. 

“I know. He’s like the wet dream of men and women alike. Sadly, he refuses to do relationships,” Alaina mentioned, and Brooke’s ears perked up. She’d only heard about Nathan Bradford when people gathered at a bar and talked about celebrity gossip. She was not one to read the Page 3 stuff in the newspaper so she never knew what was going on in "Celeb Town." But she knew the man by name, and she also knew that Short Stack Brewing Company, or SSB as everyone called it, was into brewing craft beers. They were a bit expensive but definitely worth it. Brooke herself was a fan of one of their Amber Ales. But she’d never heard that Nathan Bradford was single. 

Once the guy was closer, Brooke could see he was even more handsome than she had first thought. The man had cat-like, slanted eyes which she wanted to get lost in, a pointy nose which she wanted to boop, rose pink lips which he wanted to kiss, and moles that made him look even prettier. Brooke was starstruck. She was so busy staring shamelessly at Nathan Bradford  that she forgot staring at someone was not good manners. Brooke blushed a bit when the man’s eyes caught hers, and she cleared her throat. The man approached their table and greeted them.

“Hi,” Nathan smiled, his dimples coming out in full force. The man had dimples that made Brooke go weak in the knees, and his voice was sweet like sugar to her ears. One quick moment of their eyes meeting had Brooke taking a sudden interest in the man and that’s when Brooke knew she was in big trouble.