Far from Ordinary

"So what brings you to these parts?" She leaned her elbows on the counter.

Luke stuck the straw in his Coke and took a sip. Stacy's new position wasn't helping his situation; he could see right into the valley between her boobs. Moisture settled there, either perspiration or melted ice, he didn't know which, but it didn't matter. Luke wouldn't mind licking it off, whatever it was. Once again, he forced himself to make conversation. "I'm on my way to Jacksonville, Florida."

"Florida, really?" Her eyes lit up. "What's in Florida?"

"My dad. He has a fishing boat there. I'm going to live with him for a while."

"Where did you live?" She fingered his straw wrapper, tearing it into little bits.

"Ordinary, Kentucky, with my mom."

"Oh, Florida sounds much more exciting than Ordinary, Kentucky."

"I'm hoping for a little more excitement. Ordinary definitely lives up to its name. And at least there won't be a Ted." Luke stirred his drink uncomfortably.

"Who's Ted?"

He shrugged. "Oh, never mind. You don't want to hear this."

"Sure I do. Let me get your food, first." Stacy went into the kitchen and returned with a heaping plate of fries and a huge hamburger. She placed it on the counter, shoved the ketchup bottle closer, and moved around so she could slide onto the stool next to him. "There you go. Enjoy."

"Wow, this looks great… and massive. I'll never be able to eat all this."

Stacy shrugged and evidently took it as an invitation to reach for a fry. She popped it in her mouth and smiled at him. "So… Ted?"

"My stepfather." Luke poured some ketchup on his plate and dipped a fry in it. "He married my mother a few years back. He's a dick. Pardon my French."

She chuckled and dragged another fry through the ketchup. "Believe me, I know about dicks. Ralph is the president of the Dickheads of the World Club."

Luke laughed and watched the way she swirled her fries—his fries, he corrected himself—in the ketchup. Christ, is everything she does going to turn me on? "Ted must be the vice president then. I could never do anything to please him. My grades at college weren't good enough, and when I decided I wanted to take a semester off to work and make some money, that wasn't good enough, either. He drove me crazy."

"How's your mom?"

"She's okay, just boring. Really, really boring. The life they lead is so tedious. I just couldn't take it anymore. I actually haven't spoken to my real dad in ten years. Mom always said he was a bum who left us, and I believed her. But when I discovered where he lived, I decided to give him a shot and see exactly what kind of a guy he might be."