Free Dead Stop by D. Nathan Hilliard

calculating eye across the restaurant where
Stacey Collins poured coffee for a white haired trucker at the bar. She laughed
at something the customer said and flashed a smile that seemed to illuminate
the entire bar area. His nerves were on high, but oddly enough the pressure now
had an almost calming effect as he realized he was committed to taking action.
    “Sure.” Harley
stirred sugar into his coffee and looked at him with interest. “Whatcha got in
mind?”
    “An
alternative to watching Jeopardy with my mom. Let’s find out if the sucker
still floats. How does Sunday work for you?”
    “Not bad!”
Harley mused, “If you go down in flames tonight, at least we still got something
to do.”
    “Thanks for
that enthusiastic vote of confidence.”
    “You’re
welcome, but make it Wednesday.”
    “Why
Wednesday?”
    “Because,”
Harley gave a mild look over his coffee at Deke, “Stacey works on Sunday, and
her next day off isn’t till Wednesday.”
    “Oh, well I
guess that makes se…” He stopped and narrowed his eyes at his bigger friend.
“Now how the hell do you know that? How long have you been planning this,
anyway?”
    “Son, if
you’re going to get out of the webbed-foot bracket and start playing in the
bigger leagues, you have to do the simple homework like this. Women expect you
to have your shit together.”
    “Molly Harper
doesn’t have webbed feet! Sheesh, did she kick your dog or something?”
    “Stay on
target, young jedi.” Harley winked and nodded back towards the bar area.
    Deke took a
deep breath and glared.
    “Okay, oh wise
one, just how do I pull this off without appearing to come out of nowhere with
only one thing on my mind.”
    “What are you
talking about? She knows you. You went to school with her, and you’ve been
coming here just about every week since before she started working here. You
know, if this was some other girl, you wouldn’t be coming up with half these
problems.”
    “It ain’t that
simple.”
    “It is exactly
that simple,” Harley took a drink of his coffee than set it back down, “and you
need to quit stalling and get your butt over there. The way that skinny trucker
at the end of the bar is eyeballing her, he’s going to make a pass at her soon.
And if he does, she won’t be in the mood to hear anything on that topic from
anybody else for a while.”
    Deke looked
over to where his partner indicated. A thin, man with greasy hair and the words
“Leaping Larry” printed on the back of his wide, western style belt, stared at
Stacey with almost open lust.
    “Aw crap.”
    “On the other
hand,” the larger young man continued, “he’s got to be making her
uncomfortable, leering at her like that, so you would be a pleasant change if
you act now.”
    “I’m on it.”
    Deke was up
and moving before he had time to consider any further contingencies.
    As much as
Harley could irritate him on topics like this, he never doubted for one second
his friend knew exactly what he was talking about. He secretly thanked heaven
he had the other man’s advice to rely on. Of course, it would be a lot easier
if he also had Harley’s looks…and his muscles…and his easy manner…and his
almost scary ability to be so much where he was at any given moment that the
right move always seemed obvious. Hell, if he had all those things going for
him he would be in a good mood all the time too.
    Focus,
stupid! You only get one shot at this!
    “Hi, Deke!
What’s up?”
    Stacey’s smile
lit up her elfish face as he reached the bar, and Deke’s stomach threatened to
turn into water. Her blue eyes sparkled with a cheerful life that infected the
world around her, reminding the young man it wasn’t only her looks putting her
in a league of her own. She possessed a bright disposition coupled with an
exuberant blend of mischievousness and honest warmth most men could only dream
of finding in one girl.
    Men with a lot
more going on for them than he did.
    Stop it,
Deke! Stop it!