The next day I woke up with a pounding headache. I had stayed up most of the night thinking about what Ezra said about me not being his type.

What did that even mean?

Ezra called me beautiful one second, tells me how sexy I am the next, and then proceeds to insult me by saying I'm a charity case. If I was not the kind of girl he wanted, then why did he keep coming back for more?

More importantly, why did I keep letting him?

I had only known Ezra for a short time, but he had invaded my world. He lived with my brother. If I went over there, there's no way I could avoid him. I couldn't even visit JD at work without the possibility of running into him. To top off the whole situation, my parents seemed to like him and he was coming to dinner on Wednesday. I couldn't seem to get myself away from him even if I tried. Deep down, I knew I didn't want him to stay away.

I pulled myself out of bed and went to my bathroom to get a bottle of aspirin. I had to shake this headache to get through work today. I looked at the clock and it was 9:00 AM. I had to be at work for the morning shift prep in an hour.

I turned on the shower and felt the temperature. Once it was hot enough, I took off my pajamas and climbed in under the water. It was hot and refreshing, the massaging head working out the tension in my neck and shoulders. I poured some of my favorite shampoo out in my hand and began to work it through the wet curls. The pressure felt good and it started to take some of the sting of my headache away.

Once I washed and rinsed the soap suds completely off, I got out and wrapped a towel around my head and one over my body. I grabbed my bottle of lotion and applied it to my skin. The waxing I got last Friday was holding up well. I was glad I didn't have to worry about shaving anytime soon. I might have to go back again in a couple of weeks.

I pulled on my work khakis and uniform polo. My hair was still wet, but I decided just to pull it up and slip it through the hole in the back of the hat. Pizzas, here I come.

I drove to work and changed the songs multiple times. Every song was about finding love and losing it. It was all too heavy for me. It wasn't like I thought Ezra and I were in love. I just knew I wanted him in the worst way. Every inch of me craved him and I found myself fantasizing about seeing him again, letting him touch me while calling me a 'good girl'.

I fiddled for a few more minutes and finally found something on the radio that was upbeat and surprisingly not about love. I was thankful for the song, even if it was just a cliché girl power song.

I pulled up as my manager was unlocking the door. He turned and waved at me. When I got close to him, he said he liked my hair. I thanked him and followed him inside.

He assigned me to prep the vegetables. I had to cut them and then put them in the slicer. Onions are vegetables. I always ended up with the onions. I had gotten so used to it that I didn't even tear up when I cut them anymore.

I was in the middle of prepping when I heard the bell on the front door chime. Someone had come into the store. We weren't open for another half an hour, so I peeked my head from the back to see Brynn standing at the counter.

"Hey girlie, you hiding from me?" She smiled at me.

"I was at JD's most of the weekend. We saw Camo in concert on Saturday. How's it been with your mom?" I asked her trying to change the subject. She took the bait and started rattling off how her mom said she would never leave her again for the boyfriend and then the following day she said she was going to go on a cruise with him for a week. He must be rich, her mom wasn't working anymore and neither was Brynn. Someone had to be paying their bills and paying for these trips.

"Riley!" My manager barked from the cash office. "We open soon. You better go back and finish the prep."

"Sorry," Brynn said. "I didn't mean to get you in trouble."

"It's fine. I'm like the only person who still works here. He can get over it." I made a face back at him, real mature Riley. Brynn blew me a kiss and turned to walk out. I could just let her walk, but against my better judgment, I called to her. "Hey, Brynn."

"Yeah." She said, spinning around dramatically.

"My Mom's making Lasagna on Wednesday and my brother is supposed to bring the guys over. You want to come over and keep me company?" I asked.

"You know I love your Mom's Lasagna. What time?"

"She said 5:00 PM. I don't get off until 5:30 PM, but you can get there whenever. The door will be open." I regretted my honesty with the time, but I didn't want her to get there late and be mad if I told her the wrong information.

"Be there at 5:00. See you then!" She walked out the door and my heart dropped. I just put the last nail in the coffin of my chances with Ezra. I practically signed, sealed, and hand-delivered him to my best friend.

I went back and finished my prep work and when the clock hit 11:00 AM, orders started flooding in. We were short-staffed, and I had to run between making pizzas, tending the ovens, and dealing with customers. Sweat was pouring from my face by the time my shift ended.

I went to my locker and saw I had a few missed texts.

Mom: Everything's set for Wednesday. Did you ask Brynn?

JD: Hey, Lil Bit, what are you up to?

Brynn: What happened with that one guy? I forgot to ask.

I quickly typed the messages back and hit send.

To Mom: She'll be there at 5:00 PM.

To JD: Been working all day. It sucked. My feet hurt.

To Brynn: Nothing happened, you know me.

Sent, sent, and sent.

I hated texting, but it wasn't polite to ignore them since people can tell when you've read something. I shoved my phone in my bag and ran out as fast as I could. I had all of Tuesday and half of Wednesday to get over my Ezra obsession. I just had to keep myself occupied.

Tuesday and Wednesday morning at work turned out to be a lot like Monday. Prepping onions, understaffed, and underappreciated. We had a new trainee Wednesday morning, which broke up the monotony a little bit.

"Can you help me?" She asked sheepishly as she tried to lift the bucket of pizza sauce into the holder.

"Here, I'll get it." I said, walking over to her.

I went to grab the handle and she let go before I had it securely in my hands. I watched in slow motion as the bucket fell to the floor, splattering everywhere. Five gallons of pizza sauce splashed back at me like a tidal wave. I was horrified. My uniform was covered head to toe in the sauce. I even had some in my hair and eyelashes.

"Perfect. You just had to hold the bucket a little bit longer." I snapped, trying to squeegee the red paste off my skin and clothes.

My trainee began crying hysterically. She was sixteen and this was her first job. I felt bad immediately for my reaction. This was her first day and I was treating her like she did it on purpose.

"Please don't cry. It's fine. I'm not mad. It happens." I said, trying to calm the poor girl.

"Really?" She asked with a little life back on her face.

This had never happened before, but I was going to lie to spare her feelings.

"Oh yeah, all the time. Here, let's get this cleaned up." I said with a fake smile.

It took both of us over an hour to clean the mess up. I gave up on trying to salvage my uniform. I would have to throw it in the wash as soon as I got home so it wouldn't stain. I vowed to be a little nicer to her for the rest of the day with that behind us.

The girl was a fast learner and was able to hold her own quickly. I was genuinely impressed by her work ethic. I wouldn't hesitate to work with her again, even if she dumped another bucket of sauce over my head. I liked working with people who just wanted to work. It wasn't like working with Brynn, who twirled her hair, leaned against the counter, and made kissy faces at the customers all day. I was sort of glad she had quit so I didn't have to keep picking up her slack.

It was 5:35 PM when I was rushing to clock out and grab my things from my locker. I looked at my uniform and groaned. It was bad enough I had to go to this dinner tonight, but I knew I wouldn't be able to sneak in and clean up first.

Could I have felt any worse today?

I answered my question the minute I walked into the house.

Laughter rose up from the living room as Mark's raised voice was telling some ridiculous story. It sounded like everyone was able to make it. I heard Brynn's chirpy pay attention to me laugh cut through the room louder than the rest of the voices. I wanted so badly to go see what was going on, but I knew if I had any chance to sneak in, this was it. I pushed the door closed slowly, trying not to make a sound and began tiptoeing up the stairs.

"Hey Lil Bit, is that you?" JD called from the living room.

"I'm here. I'm just going to run upstairs, change, and shower. I'll be back down soon." I yelled back.

"Get in here." He barked back.

"Nope, going to change. It will only take a few minutes."

"Just one second, then you can go."

I sighed. I wasn't in the mood to fight with JD. I took a deep breath and stepped back down the stairs and into the living room. I was standing right in the center of the entryway on display for all to see.

Eight sets of eyes were on me at once. Laughter exploded through the room when they took in my appearance. I was completely mortified.

I scanned the room with my eyes and my heart stopped.

Life was playing vicious tricks on me today.

Ezra was sitting in the corner of the living room in a chair. He laughed hysterically at me while Brynn was sitting on his lap, holding his hand on her thigh.