My Boyfriend is a Monster (15 page)

“En serio,” Martin sighed.

“Get another one Papi,” he said ending the altercation.

Returning to the kitchen all they could hear was mumbled angry Spanish as Lily and Nathan smiled at one another. Then they smiled again.

Thinking longer on the subject his plan began to take shape. “It would be the perfect cover.” Suddenly he looked like he had an epiphany. “Can you adopt teenage girls, holy shit, then I wouldn’t have to wait for them to grow up. We could just sit around, me and the girls watching all the new teen movies and shows and go shopping and stay up late talking about boys.”

“It’s an interesting theory,” Nathan said wondering if he was even with them anymore.

“I need a child Mr. Nathan Caesar,” he declared turning to him.

Silently they sat across from one another locked into each other’s gaze. Nathan honestly did not know what to do or say but never wanted water to boil so badly in his life. Then by what could only be by the grace of a higher power he heard the water bubbling.

“Waters boiling,” she called out just as the chime of the door went off. Hoping that the sound of a new customer would get Todd away from her table did not seem to be working. So trying to be casual she announced, “Customer.”

“Oh yeah, she’s boiling,” Todd said
turning to her still dazed.

Lily nodded towards the counter while looking
at Todd with a menacing stare she started off sort of inconspicuous, then became a bit more forthwith. “CUSTOMER WAI-TING.”

“Okay bitch,” he whispered then looked at Nathan. “First the customer, then I got to talk to Martin about our plan.”

“Nothing to talk about,” Martin said as he passed by. “We already got one girl, that’s enough.”

“Awe, thank you,” Lily said feeling loved.

“Don’t think that was a compliment honey,” Todd said heading to the counter.

Looking at Nathan she reaffirmed it whether it was meant to be or not. “It was a compliment.”

“Sounded like it was,” Nathan said being polite, and lying.

Grabbing the sack that was now moist she dumped it into the kettle that was boiling. “Let it boil for a couple more minutes and trust me, the flavor will explode.”

Thinking about it he decided he actually might be able to relate to Todd’s infatuation with reality television. Having such heightened senses that with the different hints of poignant flavors in a cup of well-made tea can be more overwhelming and delightful than humans could ever imagine. Even now he could smell each and every leaf and twig swirling within the spices. Giving off their individual flavor and then combining together making a different one made it absolutely euphoric to Nathan’s senses. 

Grabbing a large cup from the shelf and a lid she put them beside the kettle. “Now you know it tastes better in porcelain.”

“Of course,” he said.

“Milk or sugar?” she asked reaching for them in slow motion.

“No thank you.”

“A
purist,” she distinguished then began to pour. “Good . . . I thought I was going to have to hit you,” she said putting on the lid. Grabbing two tea cups and two saucers from the lower shelf she poured the remainder through the strainer.

Gently grabbing the saucer and placing it in front of him he put his index finger through the handle up to his knuckle. Placing his thumb on the top of the handle to direct the cup he then put his third finger underneath to secure it. Letting the weight rest on his third finger he let his fourth and fifth finger curve back towards his wrist, correctly holding his tea cup. Stirring the tea gently and dispersing the flavor throughout, she noticed he never touched any part of the cup with the spoon. Removing it he gently placed the spoon on the saucer behind the tea cup and to the right of the handle.

Lily would have been impressed if he just didn’t take a sip from the cup with the spoon still in it. But watching this gorgeous man use proper tea etiquette was a huge turn on and she could already hear Todd laughing at her. Thinking he was going to lift the saucer with the cup still on it she held her breath. Lifting the cup off the saucer his eyes did not leave the task at hand. Lowering the cup he glanced directly into her eyes and smiled making her want to rip everything off of her counter and take him right then and there. “Hmm,” she pleasantly sighed letting the warmth flush over her.

Looking at her expression he realized he must have done something wrong. Leaning forward he whispered, “Do I have something in my nose?”

“No.”

“My teeth?” he asked ready to cover them with his hand.

“No.”

He looked down at his shirt. “Did I spill some tea?”

Realizing she was starting to fantasize Lily quickly attempted to gain her composure. “No – no . . . I just thought when you went to grab your tea you were going to try too hard and come across . . . Um,” She paused. Leaning in she whispered as loud as she could. “To manly.”

Feeling a little insulted he chuckled. “Well I’m glad I didn’t come across to manly.”

“You know what I mean,” she said demonstrating by grabbing her tea cup. “Holding it like a beer mug or licking the spoon after you stirred.”

Smiling he took another sip. “Then I’m glad I did not disappoint.”

“I mean it could have been worse.”

Almost spitting his tea back into his cup he covered up. “How can it be worse than not being to manly?”

Raising her eyebrows she leaned in close again. “You know . . . like a certain somebody,” she said quickly nodding to direct his attention behind him.

Turning around he saw Todd over embellishing a Miley Cyrus song and trying to twerk in reference to some joke he was telling. Martin was already walking away in embarrassment but everyone else was laughing. Turning back to Lily he saw she already had her hand over her mouth hiding silent laughter. He grinned. “I guess you
’re right,” he said and chuckled.

“You actually looked pretty suave.”

“Well, thank you.”

“Well, as suave as one can look drinking tea,” she humorously clarified.

“Right,” he agreed feeling a little flush. “Believe me, years of practice.”

Drinking the last of his tea Nathan was glad he still had a whole large to-go cup left. Even if it was
not in porcelain he was still going to enjoy it.

Keeping her mouth shut and not revealing how much of a tea snob she actually was, she was also impressed he didn’t even swirl the tea for that one last gulp.

Standing up he noticed that she went from being cute when he sat down to absolutely beautiful as he was leaving. Watching her clean he did not want to appear creepy by just standing there watching and thought he should make his exit. “Thank you Miss Lily, it was an experience.”

“That’s me, an experience,” she said wishing she could take it back.
Not knowing how many of those “Epic Fails” she had today, she was sure it was a record.

Smiling he put a bill on the table. “That is for the tea.”

“Whoa, tell me you want change?”

“For the perfect tea,” he said correcting his intention.

“We nailed it?”

“You nailed it,” he said graciously heading towards the counter.

Attempting to ring up Nathan’s tea since he was already standing there and Todd continued to gossip with the ladies at the table, Martin eventually figured it out. “Four dollars my friend.”

“And the two ladies that were ahead of me earlier,” he reminded him.

“Right,” Martin remembered. Deciding to do the math in his head instead at attempting the register he eventually decided it too was taking too long. “Let’s say an even ten.”

“More than fair,” he said throwing some change in the tip jar.

Noticing that Nathan was leaving Todd paused the table he was entertaining and leaned back in his chair. “I’ll be over this week Mr. Caesar and remember, you said I can touch it,” he said beginning to laugh and returning to the table to explain his joke.

Then from behind him he heard, “Hey Mr. Caesar.”
Nathan turned around as Lily continued. “You never answered me about your name.”

“Am I related to the original Caesar?”

Smiling she waited for him to reply.

“As a matter of fact, I am,” he said taking his sunglasses from his pocket and putting them on.

“Really?” she asked thinking that maybe they should have been talking about this instead of tea or confessions from Todd.

Walking out the doo
r and before it shut he replied. “Really.” And then he was passed the window and gone.

Heading down the street he felt pretty proud of himself.
Now that was suave
, he thought.
Or was that just totally nerdy
? Deciding not to overthink it he decided for now, he made a cool exit.

CHAPTER 6

ONE: The Bump In

L
ily could never bring herself to jog. She wanted to, she really did but she just couldn’t do it. She tried a treadmill but the thought of just running in one spot going nowhere made her mad. Once she even tried to give herself a goal like making it to a store. If she could accomplish this feat she would allow herself to buy something from that store. But soon into her jog she found herself arriving at that store, on a bus and buying something anyways. She usually threw in a cinnamon bun for trying. Did it make sense? No, but to her, neither did jogging.

So she walked.

She walked everywhere and she loved it. She could actually keep a pace and carry a conversation if she was walking with someone. She could enjoy the cities beauty and ignore the not so beautiful. Especially in her neighborhood and bumping into everyone she knew, she could trade gossip or talk about the latest episodes of whatever she watched (which being single was a lot).

Walking briskly down the street on a beautiful early morning she noticed the sky was already sprouting big fluffy white clouds and the sun was shining. There was enough of a breeze to make it brisk while overhead the sun shined its warmth to make it comfortable. Feeling like she forgot something she started to slow down since she wasn’t too far from home and could go back if need be. Slowing down and finally stopping she couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that she forgot something.

She had earphones running from her phone to her ears so it wasn’t that. Believe it or not she checked her feet since one time she actually went for a long walk and forgot to put her sneakers on. Checking her pockets she felt her chap stick and juicy fruit as well as some change in case she walked to far – which happened 5 weeks ago when she walked all the way to W. Blackhawk St (this ticked her off since she realized she practically walked right past the Chicago Fire Department and didn’t even take in any of the scenery).

She was wearing her hat and sun glasses and she obviously dressed herself correctly since there were no awkward stares or pointers. Giving her leg a quick shake she could feel her e-book was in her pant leg along with her keys. She couldn’t put her finger on it but she was positive she was forgetting something and began searching vigorously like she just got busted - by herself. 

Patting down her arms and legs not knowing what she was looking for Lily did not realize she was turning back and forth in little half circles and getting closer to the busy street. Left then right then left again looking like she was about to break out in dance if you were watching her from a distance but up close you could see the confusion on her face and she looked more like she was going to yell out
“The dingo’s took my baby”.

Money for a new top
!

It popped in her head like a light bulb as she looked up in triumph. Barreling down on her with the screeching strain of brakes being pushed to their limits was the deafening sound of a horn. It even over powered her late 90’s pop in her ear
s, she froze. She wondered what that smell was as smoke billowed from the ripping of tires on pavement, then thought of only one thing, the attractive new customer named Nathan Caesar. Suddenly realizing that she was about to be hit she waited for her life to pass before her eyes. Then Lily thought it had better hurry up and braced herself.

Feeling a strong yanking sensation Lily was lifted from her feet and pulled to the sidewalk by some magical force. The impending explosion of her body did not happen as the screaming bus flew by. Following closely behind was blue tinted clouds of smoke and a smell of burning rubber
that made her want to gag.