𝐅𝐀𝐓𝐄 , drew starkey

thirty

.❀。• *₊°。 ❀°。
—𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐋𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐍, 𝐒𝐎𝐔𝐓𝐇 𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐎𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐀

—𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲

Arabella parked her car in the lot of her favorite Chinese restaurant. She hopped out, the evening air brushing against her skin as she walked towards the entrance.

Despite a lingering nervousness about seeing Drew after the incident at JD's birthday, her current anger towards Noah seemed to overshadow any other emotions.

Arabella checked the time on her phone, 6:38. She was supposed to meet Drew at 7, so she decided to wait outside the restaurant for him. But to her surprise, she saw Drew already there, standing outside the restaurant mindlessly scrolling on his phone, seemingly unaware of her presence.

Arabella took a deep breath, trying to calm her nerves, and then instinctively began adjusting her appearance, smoothing down her hair and straightening her clothes.

"Hi," Arabella breathed out as she approached Drew.

At the sound of her voice, Drew immediately looked up and pocketed his phone. "Hey," he smiled.

It was silent for a few moments, the awkwardness finally catching up to them. Arabella felt the tension and she knew someone had to break the silence before it became unbearable.

"So—"

"I—"

Much to Arabella's dismay, the conversation got even more awkward, if that was even possible, when both Arabella and Drew started to speak up at the same time. Their voices overlapped briefly before they both stopped, awkward smiles on their faces, waiting for the other to continue.

"I'm sorry, you can go," Arabella blurted out, her cheeks flushing with embarrassment as she gave Drew an awkward smile.

"You sure?" Drew asked.

"Yeah, wasn't that important anyway," Arabella softly laughed, her gaze shifting to her feet. With the awkwardness lingering, she started to bite her nails nervously.

"Stop doing that."

Arabella was taken aback by Drew's words and brought her head up to look at Drew. "Stop doing what?" She asked, her expression confused.

"Biting your nails," Drew explained, his eyes crinkling with amusement, but Arabella cocked her head to the side in confusion, her brows knitting together. "You don't remember? 11th grade."

Arabella furrowed her eyebrows, her mind flickering through memories until suddenly her eyes widened in realization. "11th grade English, oh my God."

"You for real got so nervous when Mr. Francis called on you that you started to bite your pinky nail so much that you ripped off most of it." Drew scoffed a laugh at the memory.

"Yeah cause he was scary." Arabella cringed as Drew reminded her of the incident. She quickly dropped her hand from her mouth. "Anyways, what were you saying before?"

"Oh, um..." Drew's gaze shifted towards the entrance of the Chinese restaurant. "They don't do takeout anymore, so I didn't know if this would still be a good choice."

Arabella frowned as he said this, "Why wouldn't this be a good choice?"

"Rule number 2?" Drew said, even though it sounded more like a question.

Arabella burst into a loud, genuine laugh at this, her laughter filling the air. It was a stark contrast to the earlier feelings she was having during the argument with Noah.