Gypsy Kiss: Micah Part 8

"From you, I take that as a major compliment." She said, blus.h.i.+ng.

Huh? It suddenly occurred to me he had never said what he did at the restaurant. Was he a chef or something? I really didn't know very much about him at all. I guess this breakfast was a chance to ask him about himself, get to know him, but I was so socially inept I didn't even know where to begin with a conversation like that. It annoyed me, because once upon a time I had been a confident, articulate young woman with the potential to head off to university and be whatever I wanted to be. Now? Now I was just a b.u.mbling mess of a woman.

As she left I looked down at my plate, a little overwhelmed by the sheer ma.s.s of food on it. I had been gutted last night when I got home and realised I had eaten my last packet of super noodles. I needed some shopping, but I was hanging on to the last of what money I had left, and needed to sit and make a proper list before I ventured out to shop.

Me and Andrew had never had much money he had never worked and wouldn't let me work and I had, at least, become an expert at shopping on an extreme budget, adding stuff up as I went round to make sure I had enough money. I was looking forward to my first wage packet to find out what it's like to shop without worrying you're going to be humiliated at the checkout when it goes to a quid or so over what you have in your purse.

But in the meantime I was going to be fine, I would manage. It was probably a blessing in disguise anyway, I certainly needed to get some weight off, although I had a feeling I had lost a little weight since I started work, being on my feet and moving around I certainly felt a little fitter.

I snapped out of my daydream to find Micah watching me, smiling. "Eat up." He said, gesturing to my plate.

I rolled my eyes and set about cutting up my sausage. I was never going to be able to eat it all. "A bacon sandwich would have done." I said, and there I went again. "But thank you." I added and he nodded approvingly.

"You're welcome."

Micah She ate like she hadn't had a decent meal in...G.o.d I didn't even want to think how long. She tried to hide it, but she finished before me and although I had to leave some she ate all hers. I was glad, satisfied at having managed to do this simple thing for her.

"So you asked why you?" I said, suddenly remembering our conversation at the flat. "I would have thought it was obvious, but if it's not, I'll tell you. You won't believe me, but I'll tell you anyway." I took her hands again. It was getting more and more that I craved some kind of physical contact. Holding her in my arms the previous evening had been like a first hit for a heroin addict I knew I would have to have more. I wanted to do a lot more than hug her, or hold her hands, but this would do for now. This was going to be a long, slow game, I had deduced that much, and it was fine. I would wait forever if needs be.

"Okay..." she said quietly, and I could sense her nerves. What did she think I was going to say?

"I'm attracted to you, Jewls. To your body, your mind...everything about you. I think about you all the time, day and night. I think you feel the same about me, but you're scared for some reason. It's probably my fault. You don't believe me because of that stupid bet. But I want to be your boyfriend and I will wait as long as it takes for you to agree to be just that. I want to hold you again like I did last night, only I want to do more than that. I want to kiss you, and....and more than that...Jewls, I want to be the one who makes you happy, who gives you everything you need and more. I can't understand why you don't believe me. I'm a good person, I don't lie. I never, ever lie. Why do you think I can't possibly be genuine?"

Jewls I hesitated at that. G.o.d he had taken my breath away, sucked it all clean out of my lungs.

"I've...been burned." I managed to say.

He considered that and nodded. "Someone hurt you?"

"You could say that..." I muttered.

Again, a nod. "As I thought. You had your confidence knocked." He thought for a minute and sucked his bottom lip into his mouth between his teeth. G.o.d that was s.e.xy as sin. "Okay...so that's fixable. Just...spend some time with me. And I will show you how a real man treats a lady. We'll do this the old fas.h.i.+oned way." He grinned. "Let's start...what do they call it? Courting."

I giggled at that, couldn't help it. "Courting? What, are you gonna woo me with your gentlemanly charms and old school manners."

He nodded, still smiling but clearly serious as well. "Jewls, that's exactly what I'm gonna do."

And I realised then that he already had me. I just wasn't ready to admit it yet.

Micah I worked my s.h.i.+ft at the restaurant with my usual professionalism and skill, and how I managed it I do not know. I couldn't stop thinking about Jewls. About the idea that someone had hurt her, and hurt her badly and it was because of that d.i.c.khead whoever he was that she was completely unable to let me in, to trust me. I couldn't really blame her, I mean my behaviour had been less than perfect thanks to Alex, but it bothered me.

I wondered if it had something to do with her moving here, I wondered if she had run from something. G.o.d I so badly wanted to make it right, I wanted to...I don't know, heal her. Make her truly happy because I could tell she wasn't. I thought about that empty fridge and it made me feel sad and somehow inadequate. How could I care about her and not want to do something about that?

By midnight there was just one table left in the restaurant, and wouldn't you know it, it was mine. Business types, discussing the pros and cons of moving their head office to Dubai, oblivious to my standing a respectable distance from them, staring into s.p.a.ce waiting to be summonsed like some sort of house slave to bring more wine, or such like.

I found myself wis.h.i.+ng it were a cafe, then we could at least have tidied up the rest of the place ready for shutting. That wasn't possible in Carousel. When you're paying what people paid to eat in Carousel, the staff putting chairs up on tables and folding up the table linen while the clients were still there was very bad etiquette. It all had to be done when the last paying customers had left.

So I just stood there, in the way that Nic had religiously taught us to stand presentation was everything to him my right arm across my stomach, the other behind my back, standing up straight and tall, legs together, no slouching or shuffling about and I waited. It suddenly dawned on me that this was why we were called waiters.

My mind started to wander to Jewls again, this time to nicer things. To her smile, to her laugh...the dimples in her cheeks and the freckles across the bridge of her nose. And then my mind wandered further still...and I pictured her in her onesie, hair all messed up from sleep.

And then I made what could easily have turned out to be the biggest faux pas of my professional career, if you can call waiter service a profession.

G.o.d help me, I got hard.

Jesus, what the h.e.l.l could I do? Desperately I tried to think of the least s.e.xy things my mind could conjure up Theresa May...Boris Johnson in a mankini...Theresa May, kissing Boris Johnson in a mankini...

I swear, I could practically feel the beads of sweat on my forehead multiplying...my heart rate increasing and decreasing as I willed the blood flow away from my d.a.m.ned disobedient c.o.c.k back to the rest of my body. I squeezed my eyes tight shut, and thank f.u.c.k felt my erection fading. Good G.o.d, what had happened to me?

I opened my eyes again and let out a sigh of relief that I had gotten away with it. Until, that is, I saw the woman at my table the only woman with three men looking my way with a knowing smirk.

s.h.i.+t.

She raised a hand in the air, never taking her eyes off mine and clicked her fingers. "Waiter?"

I managed somehow to get my feet to move and walked over to them, feeling a serious case of the blue b.a.l.l.s coming on.

"Yes, ma'am?" I heard myself say.

"Could we have the bill, please?" she said, with a salacious grin.

I nodded respectfully. "Of course."

After they had paid, I stood by the register waiting for them to leave so I could kick off my shoes and get myself a large whiskey from the bar. They hovered in the doorway for a moment, and then the men left. The woman stopped and turned on her heels, heading straight for me.

I placed her age at around forty-five, but then I might have been being kind there. She was immaculate in her appearance, pretty but not stunning. She had an air of desperation about her that was a complete turn off, although in her defence since I had met Jewls I couldn't seem to find any other woman appealing, s.e.xually or otherwise.

She smiled as she reached me and I smiled back politely. "Was everything to your satisfaction?" I asked and she scoffed just a little.

"I'll say. I was recommended this restaurant by my sister. She said the food was outstanding and the service delicious." She put a hand to her mouth in mock surprise. "Oops...did I get that the wrong way around?" she looked me up and down like a fat kid looks at chocolate ice cream and licked her lips dramatically. "No...no, I don't think I did. So...are you finished for the night now?"

c.r.a.p. "Um...soon. Have some tidying up to do first."

"I'm staying in a hotel just down the road. Wondered if you might fancy maybe...joining me?"

"Ah...tempting as that is, ma'am...I have a girlfriend waiting for me."

Okay, that was technically a lie, but not really...in my head and my heart I already saw Jewls as my girlfriend, even if she had yet to see me as her boyfriend.

The woman frowned. "Oh...that is a terrible shame uh...uh...what was your name again?"

"Micah..." I said, wis.h.i.+ng she would just b.u.g.g.e.r off.

"Mmm...Mmmmicahhh...." She purred, stretching my name out in a way I think was meant to sound s.e.xy. If it had been Jewls saying it like that, it probably would have been.

And there went my c.o.c.k, trying to stir again.

She grinned again and leaned in close. I felt her hand actually brush my c.o.c.k, and exhaled a little at the contact I was already in love with Jewls, but I'm still just a man and I felt her slip something in my pocket.

"That's for you, Micah. A tip for your service...and the uh...the show. Urgh...and you smell so good..."

She gave me an exaggerated wink and a sigh of regret and walked off, leaving me speechless. After she had left, the door swinging shut, I looked in my pocket and pulled out a roll of notes. A quick count and I realised she had given me five hundred pound.

Not bad for one night's tips.

I stood there, staring at the wad of notes in my hand and laughed to myself. The door to the kitchen swung open and shut, and my sister Mari came out, drying her hands on a tea towel.

"Thank G.o.d for that, Micah. Ooh, where'd you get that?"

"The woman off my last table there gave it me as a tip."

She raised her eyebrows. "How much?"

"Five hundred."

"Wow!" she frowned suspiciously. "What did you do for that? Or...what are you gonna do for that?"

I narrowed my eyes. "I'm not a gigolo Mari."

She smirked. "There's something s.e.xual involved. So...you gonna tell me, or not? The truth?"

I groaned. d.a.m.n her. My inability to lie was legendary in our family. Nic said it was like I was permanently hooked up to a lie detector test and I would be zapped if I wasn't a thousand percent honest all the time.

"Okay...look...between you and me, here's what happened. I was just waiting for them to finish and my mind started to...wander. I got thinking about Jewls."

She nodded. "Nic told me you had your eye on some new girl."

"It's more than that." I said quickly. "She's more than some new girl..."

Mari smiled. "Awe....is my bro in love?"

"Yes." I said, without hesitation, surprising even myself and instantly sorry for saying that.

"Oh my G.o.d!" she exclaimed happily. "Awe, my favourite brother is in love! Wait what's that got to do with you getting an epic tip?"

I rolled my eyes. "As I said...my mind started to wander. I got to thinking about Jewls. My thoughts got...personal, and I had...uh...a reaction."

She thought about that, and then I saw the realisation sweep over her face and she burst out laughing. "Oh my G.o.d...did she see?"

I felt the blush spread across my cheeks as I nodded. "I reckon so. She invited me back to her hotel. I told her I had a girlfriend and politely declined."

"So Jewls is your girlfriend?"

"I'm working on it. But I certainly don't want some quickie in a hotel room with some middle aged business woman. I don't want anything with anyone else."

"Awe...you really are smitten. So this woman, she out and out told you she saw it?"

"No! But she said the tip was for the service and...and..." I cringed, "and for the show."

At that, she burst out laughing again. Nic chose that precise moment to come in and looked at us both. "What's so funny?"

Luca and Kris were behind him, two of my other brothers.

"Micah was waiting for his table to finish, he was thinking about Jewls and he got a stiffy! And the woman saw it and thanked him for the service and the show! Tipped him five hundred quid!" she practically squealed.

I turned to her incredulously. "f.u.c.k you, missus!"

Nic clipped the back of my head, hard. "Don't swear at your sister, Micah!"

Luca and Kris were giggling in the corner and I flipped them both the finger. They both burst out laughing. Nic noticed and smirked.

"Well, Micah...you know what we do with tips. In the pot."

I nodded. That was the deal, no matter what the amount, it went in the pot and was shared equally between us. Only this time, I hesitated. It had occurred to me, that maybe I could do something about Jewls. It would be a risk, but then the phone had been a risk but it had paid off. It all just depended on how proud she was. I decided it was worth the risk.

"Actually...I wonder if I could keep this?"

Nic looked up at me, surprised. "What?"

I held my hands up in defence at the four pairs of eyes staring at me. "Not for me. I took Jewls for breakfast this morning, and while I was waiting for her to get ready, I had a little look around. She's moved up here from...somewhere, lived here a month and she's still waiting for her first wage packet. She had...a drop of milk and an egg in her fridge. She has nothing to her name. She hasn't asked me for a thing, and never would but...I want to give her this money."

Mari put a hand to her heart and sighed. "Oh you're so smitten."

I rolled my eyes at her, smiling until I saw Nic's frown. "I'll put it in the pot if you want." I said and he shook his head.

"It's not that. Are you sure it's a good idea, giving her money? She might take it the wrong way, be offended."

"Yeah, Nic might be on to something there..." Mari said.

I nodded. "I know...I get it, but she can refuse it if she wants, I can't force her to take it. I just want to try."

Nic shrugged. "Well, it's up to you. You uh...earned it." A ghost of a smirk spread across Nic's face and it gave them all permission to burst out laughing again.

Jewls I tried to tell myself it was perfectly normal to decide, on the spur of the moment, that I fancied a walk at half eleven on a Sunday night. I tried to tell myself that is was purely a coincidence that my random, impromptu walk had me going past Carousel four times, back and forth. I tried to tell myself that I only sat on the bench across the road to rest my weary legs, tired after the twenty minutes I had been idly strolling past the place where Micah just happened to be working that night. I tried to tell myself that I only had the hood up on my jacket to s.h.i.+eld myself from the cold on a warm May evening and not because I was hiding.

But the truth was, I just wanted to see him. I remembered his words that morning, when he had said I probably missed him seconds after he'd let me go the night before. He had, of course, been spot on. I always felt kind of empty when I wasn't near him these days. When he wasn't close by it was like a great void appeared in my life.

Carousel really was a beautiful place. Not somewhere the likes of me could ever eat without sticking out like a sore thumb, but beautiful nonetheless.

The whole front was gla.s.s, floor to ceiling windows, slightly tinted but giving a perfect view of the restaurant inside. The name Carousel shone above the windows in silver lights, all fancy writing. Inside, the tables were all gla.s.s, with dark wood chairs, each table with a clear vase and single red rose in its centre.