Twisted Valentine

✽ Mandy ✽ New Year’s Eve in Blackthorne City usually sounded like a street festival. Tonight, the diner sounded like a late-night library. The neon sign buzzed, the coffee machine hissed, and that was about it. I wiped the counter even though it was already clean. Outside, cars drifted past in slow lines toward bars and house parties. Inside, we had four staff members and one customer. Rosa leaned against the server station, chewing gum and scrolling on her phone. “This shift is cursed,” she said. “Who celebrates New Year’s Eve with pancakes?” “Someone who hates people,” I said. She snorted and angled her screen toward me. VibeLoop was open, the feed full of glitter filters and loud captions. People screamed into cameras, waving drinks, acting like the world was ending and beginning at the same time. “Fake fun,” Rosa said. “I can smell the regret through the screen,” I opened my own feed on PulsePic and scrolled. I liked a few posts out of habit. My profile stayed quiet. No big speeches. No videos. Just enough to exist. Ben’s voice carried from the kitchen. “You two better not be planning to vanish at midnight,” “Never,” Rosa called back, sweet as syrup. Ben came out with a towel on his shoulder, face shiny from the grill. Evan followed him with a tub of clean mugs. Evan was newer than me, still careful, still trying to do everything right. Evan glanced toward the far booth. “He has been here a while,” he said. I didn’t need him to say who. Jason sat in the booth closest to the back wall, where he could see the whole diner. He always chose that spot. He always came alone. He always looked like he belonged somewhere else. He was attractive in a quiet way that made people stare without realizing it. Dark coat. Neat hair. Sharp jaw. Nothing messy, nothing careless. Even his stillness looked practiced. I had seen him often enough to know he never tried to talk. He ordered black coffee and sometimes fries. He paid in exact cash. He left without a backward glance. But tonight, he had stayed. I poured a refill and walked over. My shoes squeaked on the tile. “Refill?” I asked. Jason lifted his eyes. Gray. Steady. Not warm, not cruel. Just focused. He nodded, and I topped off his mug. “Anything else?” “No,” he said, voice low. On the table beside his cup sat a folded page, clean and crisp. Not a menu. Not a receipt. A newspaper insert, the kind people bought for business listings and gossip dressed up as facts. The header read BLACKTHORNE BUSINESS. Under it, one name stood out: HAROLD. The name tugged at something in my head. I had heard it before, like everyone had. A family name tied to tall buildings and charity galas, the kind of world that didn’t come near diners like ours. Jason’s hand slid over the paper, covering it. Slow. Easy. Like he had noticed my glance and didn’t mind that I had looked, but that he wanted me to know that he knew. I smiled out of habit. “All right,” I said, and stepped away. Rosa watched me return. “He is back again,” she whispered. “He is like a ghost with good hair,” “He is quiet,” I said. “Too quiet,” “That is the point,” she replied. “Mysterious. Probably rich,” “Or just tired,” I said, but my eyes drifted to him anyway. Jason sat with his gaze angled toward the window. He was not watching the street. He was watching the reflections in the glass, which meant he was watching the room. Which meant he was watching me. I shivered despite how creepy it was. “I heard he applied for a job here,” Ben whispered. I glanced at him in surprise before I looked over to see that Jason was still watching us. Me. I didn’t say anything, and neither did Rosa. After a moment, Ben slapped his hand on the counter. “Ten minutes,” he announced. “We close at midnight. I don’t want to spend another year smelling like fry oil,” Evan laughed. “I say that every year,” he said. Ben looked appalled while Rosa hopped onto a stool. “We should do a countdown,” she declared. “We have a television. We have coffee. We have vibes,” Ben pointed a warning finger at her. “No confetti,” he stated firmly, and Rosa placed a hand over her heart. “I am insulted,” she teased. I tried to laugh with them, but my gaze once again went over to Jason, who was now openly watching me. I could feel his attention like a quiet pressure in the air, and I honestly didn’t know if I liked the idea of him working here. With us. With me. I hurriedly looked away as Rosa slid off the stool to put on the large TV that was mounted in the corner. She switched to the local station, and a host stood outside in a packed street, microphone raised, shouting over music. A banner scrolled across the bottom: BLACKTHORNE COUNTDOWN LIVE. Ben grabbed the remote from Rosa and turned up the volume. Evan slid into the booth nearest the counter and took out his phone. For the next few minutes, we all entertained ourselves with our phones. But I could feel his eyes on me the whole time. Jason was sexy and very good-looking, but his silence creeped me out. I tried to block it out as I scrolled through social media. “Thirty seconds!” the host on the TV suddenly announced. We all got to our feet, and I was surprised when Jason stood up and came over to join us. Maybe he was lonely. I shot him a shy smile, but he just stared at me. I shook it off as I faced the TV. “Ten!” Evan yelled. “Nine!” Rosa shouted. “Eight!” Ben joined. “Seven!” I called out. “Six!” “Five!” “Four!” “Three!” “Two!” “One!” we all shouted, including Jason. We laughed, and for a moment, I felt hope fill my entire body. Maybe this new year would be better than the last. “Happy New Year!” Rosa shouted. “Happy New Year,” the rest of us echoed. I couldn’t help but peek over at Jason, who was still watching me with that blank look on his face. And then he smiled, and my eyes went wide in surprise. “Happy New Year,” he said softly to me. “Happy New Year,” I replied before Rosa pulled me into a hug. When we pulled apart, I watched him walk out of the diner. A part of me wanted to go after him, but I stopped myself. Just because he had become a regular and could possibly start working here didn’t mean s**t. I didn’t know him, and he did creep me out. In a weird way. In a way, I wasn’t ready to explore. ✽✽✽