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Whoa there, Cassie, I told myself sternly Let’s keep it PG

As a general rule, I didn’t curseup on other people’s quirks Put lish people, and I’d walk out with a British accent It wasn’t intentional—I’d just spent a lot of ti inside other people’s heads

Occupational hazard Not mine My mother’s

“Could I get a few uy on the left asked

I nodded—and waited

“More water,” the guy on the right grunted He puffed out his chest and ogled my boobs

I forced a sed to keep fro pervert to the end of that sentence, but only just

I was still holding out hope that a guy in his late twenties who pretended to like spicy food and e waitress’s chest like he was training for the Ogling Oly tips

Then again, I thought as I went for refills, he uy who stiffs the little bitty waitress just to prove he can

Absentmindedly, I turned the details of the situation over in my mind: the way that Mr Breakfast Burrito was dressed; his likely occupation; the fact that his friend, who’d ordered the pancakes, earing a much more expensive watch

He’ll fight to grab the check, then tip like crap

I hoped I rong—but was fairly certain that I wasn’t

Other kids spent their preschool years singing their way through the ABCs I grew up learning a different alphabet Behavior, personality, environment—my mother called the that asn’t the kind of thing you could just turn off—not even once you were old enough to understand that when your , and when she took their money, it was fraud

Even now that she was gone, I couldn’t keep fro, blinking, or counting down the days until I turned eighteen

“Table for one?” A low, amused voice jostled me back into reality The voice’s owner looked like the type of boy ould have been more at home in a country club than a diner His skin was perfect, his hair artfully h he phrased his words like they were a question, they weren’t—not really

“Sure,” I said, grabbing a ht this way”

A closer observation told e A smirk played across his perfect features, and he walked with the swagger of high school nobility Just looking at him made me feel like a serf

“This okay?” I asked, leading him to a table near the

“This is fine,” he said, slipping into the chair Casually, he surveyed the rooet a lot of traffic in here on weekends?”

“Sure,” I replied I was starting to wonder if I’d lost the ability to speak in complex sentences Froive you a minute to look over the menu”

He didn’t respond, and I spentPancakes and Breakfast Burrito their checks, plural I figured that if I split it in half, I ht end up with half a decent tip

“I’ll be your cashier whenever you’re ready,” I said, fake smile firmly in place

I turned back toward the kitchen and caught the boy by the atching me It wasn’t an I’m ready to order stare I wasn’t sure what it was, actually—but every bone insensation that there was a key detail that I was o away Boys like that didn’t usually eat in places like this