There’s dirt under his fingernails.

I watch in abject horror as he places my cup of water onto the table right in front of me, his hand gripped around the rim of my cup, where my lips are supposed to go.

I swallow the bile that rises in my throat.

“Thank you” I grit out with a fake smile. It’s a shame because he’s cute. Brown Bieber hair frames his smooth, pale features. His eyes are a muted brown, light enough to make a groupie swoon but not dark enough to make me drown in them.

He’s skinny, but he makes it work. If it wasn’t for the grime under his nails that is now floating in my cup, I would have given him a real smile, the kind that makes you want to get their number.

I turn to Jessie, who is watching me carefully, a smirk carefully plastered on her face.

“That’s Derek. He’s new,” she purrs.

“That’s a failed health inspection waiting to happen,” I retort.

Jessie snorts and gives his tall, lanky frame a long once-over. “He’s more of a handsy man,” she wiggles her eyebrows. “You know, the type that fixes cars and things around the house”.

This time I snort.

“You mean a handy man?”

She stares at me through her lashes, a soft, seductive stare breaking through them.

“He’s both.”

I gag and push my plastic cup full of Derek’s nail infested water away from me. I try to erase the image of his dirty, roaming hands on Jessie.

Jessie cackles in evil amusement.

“Well that’s my cue!” I get up and make my way to the register, leaving Jessie to laugh by herself.

Unfortunately for me, Derek is standing at the register, his smile growing wider as I approach him. “Ready for the check? I can bring it to—”

“No thanks, I’ll pay here” I cut in. I pull out my wallet and hand him my card.

Derek’s smile falls for a second before he pulls it back up. Before he retuens my card he stares at me with an unreadable expression on his face.

My stomach is in knots at what I have to do.

“Listen, Jessie was talking to me about you earlier, and well—I was wondering…” he trails off, handing me my card as a distraction.

Dread fills my lungs while his dirty fingernails on the rim of my drink fill my mind.

“Sorry, Derek. I’m not sure where you were going with this but—“

Derek cuts me off suddenly. “Just give me a shot.”

I lift my eyebrow at his sudden outburst.

“I hardly know you…” I say, still trying to make sense of this entire interaction.

“Just give me one shot,” he repeats. I grip my card so hard in my hand that I almost don’t notice Jessie walk up behind me.

“Take your shot, stranger. You’ll only get one,” Jessie tells Derek, yet winks at me.

She saunters past both of us, wearing a mischievous expression. I throw daggers at her with my eyes, hoping that I burn a hole in that new Brazilian wig she’s wearing.

Derek looks back at me with a sheepish grin, his eyes hopeful.

“Never gonna happen kid,” I say flatly. “Come back when you learn how to clean your nails.”

His smile vanishes, and his cheeks turn red from embarrassment.

I turn and walk out of Jessie’s diner. Next time, my meal better be on the house.