Chapter 9: Go Away Pierce

A shadow falls over my food as a tall guy in khakis and a dark blue polo stops at the end of our table. "Katy." His eyes barely flit over to her before he's focused on me. "Tabitha." He smirks.

"Pierce," she says between clenched teeth.

His dirty blond hair's swept off to the side in a flawless hairdo. It probably takes him half a bottle of gel every morning. "Move over, Katy."

"Go away, Pierce." She tries to shoo him away with her hand, but he doesn't leave.

"I haven't met our new friend yet." He sits down on my side of the bench until I'm forced to slide over, taking my food and drink with me. I shake his outstretched hand while Katy glares at us. "I'm Pierce."

"Yes, I heard. It's nice to meet you." I take my hand back as soon as possible.

"No it's not," Katy sneers. Pierce looks nice, but Katy acts like he carries the bubonic plague. Although since we've already established she's crazy, I'm not sure how much stock to put into her assessments.

Pierce only laughs. "You too, Tabitha. If you need help to get around the area, please let me know. I'd be glad to—"

"What Pierce here means to say," Katy cuts him off, "is that he's rich. His family owns like half the town. He expects because he has money you'll fall all over him."

Pierce rolls his eyes and turns his attention to her. "Really, Katy?"

"What?" She casually takes a bite of her sandwich like the tension at the table isn't ready to break it down the middle as Pierce stares daggers at her.

"Pelican Bay is a tiny town, Tabitha. Be careful who you stick in your friend column. You don't want to associate with the riff raff." Pierce's narrowed eyes never stray from Katy's direction.

She takes another bite of sandwich, unperturbed by his warning. "Whatever, Pierce. Go back to your yacht club. They'll listen to your bullshit since you write all their checks."

"At least I can afford to write checks. Do you think you'll make your rent on time this month?" Pierce scoffs across the table leaning closer and lowering his voice.

"It was one time, three years ago, Pierce Kensington," Katy screeches back at him.

The bell attached to the diner door rings, but I refuse to look away from these two, worried Katy may jump across the table to strangle him at any moment. Plus, from her volume at his insult I'm sure we've drawn more attention. At least it's not my fault this time.

"Great, here comes another one," Katy's eyes focus behind Pierce but I don't let myself turn.

"Why are you in my seat, Pierce?" Ridge's deep voice draws my eyes.

He's wearing one of those red and black button down flannel shirts with a tight black t-shirt underneath. I'm sure the pattern has a name, but I've never taken an interest in flannel until this exact moment.

"Jefferson." Pierce tenses. "I didn't realize you'd peed on her already." Pierce stands up from our booth but leans back before giving Ridge room. "See you around, Tabitha," he whispers in my ear.

My mouth hangs open as Ridge slides into the seat next to me and Pierce walks out of the diner like nothing weird happened.

"You rent from him?" I ask Katy when I've composed myself.

"I told you his family owns half the town." She's gone back to her sandwich and answers between bites.

My stomach rumbles again and I start in on my food since our current drama seems finished.

"You plan to come in and wave money around too, hot stuff?" she asks Ridge.

Okay so the drama is not over then.

"I've never figured out why she hates me so much." Ridge looks to me, waiting for my input.

Katy's huff is laced with disbelief. "It was third grade for me, fifth for you. You announced to the entire hallway I loved you, but you found me repulsive. I had to go home and look the word up in the dictionary to figure out why the kids were laughing."

"What? I only said that because you made your stupid 'I love Ridge card' and gave it to me for Valentine's day."

"You did?" I ask Katy. "That's cute." I playfully smack Ridge on the arm.

He slides even farther into the booth and steals the pickle off my plate. "Not when you're ten. The guys heckled me for weeks. I'd walk down the hallway and they'd make kissing sounds at me while chanting her name."

The table falls silent for a beat until I can't hold it in any longer and laugh at the entire exchange. I'm forced to take a drink of my coke to help calm down.

"Oh." Katy's face looks like a mash up of laughter, sorrow, and a little regret. "Well then I'm sorry for the bad comments I've made about you over the years." She pinches her top lip and mumbles, "and more recently."

"She's talked about me?" Ridge turns his attention to me and I slow my chewing so I'm not forced to answer him. "Don't believe a word of it."

A cell phone beeps and I instinctively reach into my back pocket to check mine. It hasn't beeped all day, but I'm still carrying it. Habit, I guess.

"How do you get signal here?" I ask Ridge when he pulls his own phone out and quickly responds to a text message.

Not that I want to see how many times Mario has called me today, but I considered a quick swing into the hardware store to guarantee nothing important has happened. You know, murder, mayhem, or more realistically him throwing my stuff in my mother's front yard.

"It all depends on who you know when it comes to phone signal in Pelican Bay." He winks at me like there's a big secret cell phone tower sitting on the end of Main Street and I haven't noticed it yet. "I have to go, but don't do anything Katy suggests. She's a bad influence."

"Hey, I apologized. We're good now," Katy rebuts. "Plus, I warned her to stay away from Pierce."

"You're still trouble." He tosses the last bite of my pickle in his mouth and moves to the edge of the bench. "Remember when you tried to poison Mr. Strong, the math teacher, in high school?"

"I did not poison him! I made those cookies to suck up before finals. It's not my fault he had a peanut allergy."

"Uh-huh. Are you sure you want me to leave you with her, Tabitha?"

"Don't worry, Ridge. I'll take good care of Tabs."

"Tabs?" I ask her, not in love with this shortened name.

She picks a piece of loose bacon off her plate, plopping it in her mouth. "Would you prefer Tabby?"

"Absolutely not." My response is fast and concrete. Mario called me Tabby, and I wanted to strangle him every time. I am not a cat.

"Okay..." she drawls out her response. I might have been a little strong with the no, but I want no association with Mario to seep into this life.

Ridge stands next to our booth. "Focus, ladies. Katy, don't get her in any trouble. Tabitha, don't talk to Pierce." He pulls on a few strands of my hair. "Like the new color. It's a good look on you."

With those final words he smiles, turns, and walks out the door without a glance back. I, on the other hand, stare at his ass. It's a fine ass. Round and pert. Manly... for an ass.

"I swear to god I did not poison my math teacher. He's exaggerating."