God, you’re a dick. It’s over.

Laurie stared at the text for a moment before dismissing it. He’d expected this to happen anyway. It always did after a while. Instead of answering his now ex-girlfriend, he opened the string of texts between him and Gilbert, his best friend. Natalie just broke up with me.

He leaned against the counter and quickly looked around the coffee shop. No one was waiting for coffee, and the few customers were busy. That meant he didn’t have much to do right now, but his boss would still have his ass if he found him texting on the job. What was he supposed to do, though? Stand around waiting for someone to want coffee?

That didn’t take long, Gilbert answered. How long were you with her? A week?

Laurie frowned. Two, I think.

A record. What happened?

Laurie hesitated. I’m not sure.

He could almost hear his best friend sigh. Of course you aren’t. I don’t know why I asked. Where are you? Do you need me to come over?

Laurie wanted to say yes, but Roger really would kill him if he did. I’m at work, but I’m off in a few hours. Will you pick me up?

Always. Didn’t your boss say something about you not texting while you were working?

He’s not here.

That doesn’t mean he doesn’t know you’re texting. Gosh, Laurie. You need to start acting like an adult.

Laurie scowled. Why? I’m nineteen.

Exactly. That means you are an adult, even though you don’t seem to believe that.

I don’t see why I should act like an adult when people don’t view me as one. I can’t even get a beer at the bar.

I see you don’t want to talk, so I’ll see you later.

Laurie stared at the screen for a few moments longer, hoping Gilbert would text something else. He was bored, and he wanted his best friend to distract him. Gilbert was gone, though, so Laurie sighed and put his phone away. When he looked up, he found his boss standing in the door that led to the break room, his arms crossed over his chest, glaring.

Laurie beamed at him, then grabbed the nearest towel and started scrubbing the counter. He saw Roger’s shoulders slump, and the man moved closer. 

“I don’t know what I should do with you,” Roger said.

Laurie was still grinning. “Give me a raise?”

“What for? You do half to work the other employees do. I should fire you.”

“But you won’t.” Laurie batted his lashes. He usually dated girls, but he wasn’t against using his charms to get himself out of being fired. Besides, his boss was kind of hot. Not Laurie’s type, but he was good eye candy.

“Your mother would kill me,” Roger said.

Usually, Laurie disliked living in a small town where everyone knew everyone, but he couldn’t deny that sometimes it came in handy. Roger and Laurie’s mother had gone to school together, and they were best friends. He would never do anything to hurt her, which included firing her youngest son. Roger didn’t know that if Laurie’s mother found out how he behaved, she would kick his ass herself, and Laurie wasn’t about to tell him. He wasn’t a complete idiot, whatever people usually thought.

“Can you at least act as if you’re working?” Roger asked. He rubbed the back of his neck, and his arm muscles bulged. Laurie eyed them, wondering how it would feel to be held down in bed.

He shook his head, not wanting to go down that road. “I am.” He raised his towel. “See?”

“Go clean the tables.”

Laurie beamed and walked around the counter. He’d won, just like always. It was starting to get boring, but he didn’t know what else to do.

He supposed he could look into college, but he wasn’t one for books and studying. That was one of the reasons people thought he was an idiot. The other was that he was the youngest of seven brothers, so everyone tended to look at him like a child anyway, even though he wasn’t anymore. Tell that to his brothers and his parents, though.

Laurie had stopped trying to convince them he was worthy. He’d decided just to do what he wanted in life, which, right now, was working at the shop. It would change eventually, although he didn’t know what he would do when it did. He liked his job, even though he didn’t do much—or maybe because of that.

That didn’t mean he could see himself doing this for the rest of his life. He was nineteen, and this was a nice first job, but unless Laurie was planning on buying the shop, he had bigger plans for himself. What those plans were, he had no idea, but he would figure it out sooner or later. In the meantime, he promised himself he would have fun, and he had every intention of keeping that promise.

He softly snorted, making a girl sitting two tables down look at him. He grinned, and she smiled back. He didn’t want to think about how he never kept promises, even the ones he made to himself. His mother already bothered him enough about it, and while he couldn’t avoid her lectures, he could avoid lecturing himself, especially at work.

He moved toward the girl. “Hi there. Can I get you anything else?” he said, tilting his chin toward her coffee.

“I don’t know. Do you think you can sit with me if I get another coffee?”

“Of course.”

“Won’t your boss get angry?”

“He’s a big teddy bear, so don’t worry about that. What did you get again? I’ll grab you a second one and something for me.”

If Laurie was lucky, he would end the day with a girlfriend, and it wouldn’t be Natalie.