Snippet Saturday: When Coral met Marshall

That smell. It consumed me. Even over the never-ending scent of frying oil, French fries, onion rings, and hamburgers.

My stomach knotted, squeezing in on itself like I hadn’t eaten in days, but I’d had to force the double cheeseburger I’d ordered down my throat moments before. Hungry, but a damn cheeseburger isn’t what I’d wanted.

No. What I wanted I heard coursing through the veins of every person that sat in the restaurant with me. I wanted it so bad, I thought I could smell it. No, I actually could smell it, which had never happened before, at least not until it was flowing free from the confines of the flesh that held it.

I glanced around at the tables. Not including the workers, I had my pick of six people—two couples, a lone male, and a lone female. One of the couples would’ve been a bit harder to persuade than the other, as they were both male. My lack of dangly bits meant I would’ve needed to work harder to get their attention, and I wasn’t in the mood to work that hard. I also knew, I wasn’t going to have the patience for two, not that night; as it turned out, I didn’t even have enough for one. So, that ruled out both the couples.

The man probably would’ve been my best bet. He was closer to me than the others. He would have been the easiest. Well, until the end of the night when I’d have to do some heavy-lifting to get him in and out of my car. Even with that, I considered him.

I pushed my seat back, and he looked up when the chair scraped against the floor. Mustard rested on his chin, and somehow, he had ketchup in the hair of his right sideburn. I looked over at the lone woman, a blonde, as she held her eyes on the door. She was waiting for someone. I put my eyes back to the man, and his connected with mine. He smiled.

Crap, I thought as I looked away quickly, noticing the bathroom. I headed toward it. The gag-inducing scent of sour sweat wafted to my nostrils as I passed by, making my decision for me. It would’ve taken weeks for that to air out of the fabric of my car seats after he’d sat in them nearly four hours.

I shoved the door open harder than I meant to, causing its handle to slam into the tile of the wall. It cracked. I didn’t have to look to know that it did; I’d heard it. I went to the sink and splashed water on my face, blowing out a breath as I used a paper towel to dry the water.

“What is wrong with you, Coral?” I said to myself, irritably.

The sound of footsteps had me tense, hoping it wasn’t an employee coming to inquire about the door or wall. Relief flooded me when I saw the blonde step into the bathroom. I hadn’t noticed before but her eyes were red and puffy, like she’d been crying. I went to say something, but she rushed into a stall.

Screw it. I just took blood two days ago. I can go a few more without it, I lied to myself. I mean, I’d always craved it. Even when I was too young to know that’s what I wanted every time I got disappointed by a bright red tomato. But I never wanted it so bad. Especially not so soon after taking a couple days prior. I almost felt as if I was losing control.

The sound of quiet sobs brought me back to the reality that I was standing in the bathroom. I dragged my hands down my face, and I released a loud huff, causing the woman to hold her breath in the stall. I entertained the thought of asking her to come home with me before dismissing it, and then I walked back out of the bathroom. I went to the table where my stuff was, gathered it, and placed it in the trash.

I reached for the door only to have it move away from my incoming hand. Realizing that someone on the other side was pulling it open, I looked up and into the teal eyes of a man with light brown hair. He smiled, and I smiled back.

“Thank you,” I said as the scent of him infiltrated my thoughts, making my mouth water and my mind scramble to control my actions. He smelled so much better than anyone inside.

We stood there for a moment, and I watched as his eyes transfixed and almost glazed over.

“You’re welcome,” he said slowly, as if he were in a daze.

Before I knew what I was saying, the words flew from my mouth. “Hey, you want to get out of here? Go back to my place? Have a little fun?” I quirked my eyebrow at him.

I failed to mention, it was almost a two-hour drive, but he was more than willing to follow me to my car and get in. More than willing to go with me, a complete and utter stranger.

And as the door swung shut, I heard a woman, desperation in her voice. “Where are you going? I’ve been waiting here for hours.” I didn’t have to turn to see it was the blonde. I could still hear the tears she’d shed in her words.

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