Free Baby Come Back by Andrea Smith

of Amber to look up as we approached.
                  I watched as Amber turned her attention to follow Trey’s gaze.  Her eyes skipped over me and went straight to Tristan where they stopped and didn’t move.
                  “Don’t get up,” Tristan said.  “We just wanted to say hello.  Jo Anna mentioned you were here.”
                  Trey introduced Tristan and I to the other two partners, saving Amber for last. 
                  “Of course Gina has already met Amber at our place; but I’m not sure if you’ve met my brother, Tristan.”
                  “He looks vaguely familiar,” she cooed, eyeing him boldly. “Perhaps it’s from being in here.”
                  Tristan shook her hand; his expression offered no indication that he had met her before.  She continued gazing at him as he told them to enjoy their evening and said something to Trey about coming over Sunday to watch the Braves on television.  He then pulled me along with him as we made our way to the dining room.
                  As my luck would have it, Sunny was our waitress.  She maintained her professional stance in front of me.  There had been no further incidents of her being insubordinate to me; Jo Anna assured me that if she witnessed any flirtatious behavior towards Tristan I would be the first to know.
                  After she left with our orders I asked Tristan if he wanted to switch entrees.
                  “Why?  If you’ve changed your mind I’ll call Sunny back and change your order.”
                  “That wouldn’t do any good.  I’m sure the bitch is going to spit in whatever it is that I order.”
                  Tristan chuckled, taking my hand in his.  “You really do have a beautiful glow about you, Gina.”
                  “Tristan, puleeze,” I said.
                  “What?  Why is it you are so uncomfortable with me telling you things like that, Gina?”
                  “I don’t know,” I said, shrugging, “I guess I’ve never believed that I’m pretty, much less beautiful.”
                  “That’s probably because Ian never told you that.  He never appreciated what he had.”
                  “No,” I replied, “In all honesty, Ian did tell me that.  I just never believed him, either.”
                  Tristan regarded me quizzically.  He probably thought I was fishing for more compliments.  The truth was, compliments made me uneasy.  I didn’t feel compliment worthy.
                  “I guess I don’t understand.  Did you have some sort of a weight problem, buck teeth, or Stage 4 acne growing up?”
                  I had to giggle at Tristan.  He could be so damn funny at times.
                  “No,” I said, “I don’t know. I guess I just never ran with the popular chicks, or the sorority sisters, or the cheerleaders.  I was just kind of a loner growing up.  I actually wasn’t in to make-up or clothes back then.”
                  “That is difficult to fathom,” he said with a chuckle.  “So, what was it like growing up in New Jersey?  You haven’t told me a whole lot about it, or your family for that matter.  I want to know everything about young Gina, teenage Gina.”
                  I wasn’t comfortable going there.  Not with Tristan.  Not with anyone.  My past wasn’t all that pretty.  I preferred for it to stay just where it was.  I didn’t allow visitation.
                  “Actually Tristan, it was pretty routine and boring.  I was raised Catholic; attended parochial schools.  I have an older brother, Peter.  He was two years ahead of me in school.  He was very athletic and popular.  I was more of a wallflower.  That’s about