When I'm In His Arms

Chapter 27 :)

By the time we had arrived at the restaurant, my mood had risen back to pleasent, and I was feeling rather optimistic about this date. It had stopped snowing and I could see the restaurant well through the car window. It had a nice exterior and I was hoping the interior would compare to be better.

"We're here!" Yives said. He looked at me and Melissa, back and forth. "Ready?"

I simply nodded while Melissa came up with a flirtatious comeback. I rolled my eyes. We all got out at the same time and walked in a small group to the main entrance. The name of the restaurant was called "Charlie's" and although it wasn't technically fast food, it wasn't much fancier inside or healthier for that matter. Your options were basically a salad, a hamburger, a hot dog, chicken wings, or macaroni and cheese. It was like any other burger joint in New York.

I obviously chose a salad, even though the lettuce would probably taste like chemicals and the only dressing option would be blue cheese. Surprisingly, aftr ordering, I found out that they also had ranch. Yay.

I slid in beside Marcus, and I could finally get a good look at his attire. He wore grey skinny jeans and a black leather jacket, which went good with his creamy complexion and dark chocolate eyes. Yives, on the other hand, was wearing baggy black jeans with a rip in the knee, which must have driven Melissa mad.

"So how do you know Yives?" He asked me.

I nearly choked on the slushy I was drinking way too fast, which resulted in a brain freeze. Yives raised an eyebrow at me and sneared and I narrowed my eyes at him. He treated me better than before, but he was still a jerk.

"I go to school with him," I said, trying to leave it at that. I didn't want to get into the whole story on how we ended up getting along with each other after hating one another since the first day I met him. That would be too much stress on an already failing date.

"Ah," he said. "Yives used to go to my school, in Buffalo, New York. That's how we know each other."

"Really?" I asked. "Buffalo? That's some ways away, isn't it?"

He nodded. "Yea. I'm staying with him for the week though, so don't go thinking I just came here to see you," he grinned, showing off his flawless teeth.

"Oh really?" I said and grinned back. "Well that's a let down."

"Sorry to hear that."

He sat straight up in the booth, and he had a smug, better-than-everyone-else expression. But I'd be pretty full of myself if I looked like that too...

The waitress came over with some cheese fries and chips for an appetizer and set a remote on the table. Her graying hair was pulled into a bun on the top of her head and she was so short and stout she could put a teapot to shame. Then she opened a cupboard on the wall which revealed a medium sized Tv. "Channels 1-3 are for movies, so they don't work unless we buy a Dvd player. The rest are all regular channels. Enjoy."

"Thanks," Yives said. "So Saby, Melissa said it would be alright for Marcus and I to show up to your party. Is that cool with you?"

Like he wasn't putting me on the spot or anything.

"Oh," I kicked Melissa's leg beneath the table and she reacted with a tiny yelp. "Yea, that would be great."

Marcus grabbed the remote and started browsing through the channels. He passed over one station that showed five boys on a stage singing, and Melissa jumped up and screamed.

"GO BACK!" She squeeled, eyes bulging.

He went back to the previous station and my stomach clenched. There they were, on television with the subtitle "Where We Are American Tour."

I guess I completely forgot about that and Melissa's plan for me to see them. One of their songs was playing on the screen and it was something about a girl named Diana and depression. It was such a sweet song and I felt a sheepish smile take over my face. Louis had his hair all gelled up in a quiff, like usual, and he was wearing a nice suit with a carnation on his lapel. His twinkling eyes turned to looked into the camera and he displayed an eye-wrinkling, 1,000 watt smile.

I forced myself to look away.

I heard Marcus laugh and I looked at him quizzically. "They're so gay," he said.

And that, of course, ruined the moment tor me. Melissa finally peeled her eyes away from the screen and glared at Marcus. I exchanged a nervous glance with Yives who nonchalantly started sipping his cola.

"I would take that back," she said in a deep monotone.

"Okay, okay," he said. "I'm sorry."

As angry as I was, I had to tell myself that he didn't know the boys like I did, and he might think otherwise. He didn't realize that it hurt to hear those words slip from his unknowing mind. He wasn't at fault for his own ignorance.

So I tried to forget about it and for the most part, I would say I did a pretty good job. My salad really wasn't as dreadful as I imagined it to be, and the date was actually going well. Melissa would glare at Marcus every time he wasn't looking, but she seemed happy to be talking to Yives and I was happy to be talking with Marcus.

Melissa's phone vibrated, and she quickly took it from her pocket to see what it was. Her face started burning and her mouth started dropping. Her eyes moved back and forth as they read a long text and when she finished she looked around the table and said, "um... I'll be right back. Excuse me."

She got up, eyes glued to her phone and started to dial a number. The last I saw of her before she disappeared around the corner was her raising the phone to her ear with a shocked expression on her face.

Yives looked after her in concern. "Should I..?"

I shook my head. "She's fine. It's probably something about the decorations we ordered for the party or something like that."

Even as I said the words, I didn't believe them. It all seemed too out of ordinary.

She came back to the table after about ten minutes, which I spent telling Marcus about this one summer I spent with my parents in a cabin in the woods. It was really the only thing I COULD tell him without going into detail about the rest of my sketchy life. I didn't feel comfortable enough around him for some reason.

"What was that about?" I asked her as she sat down.

She smiled innocently. "Nothing really. Just party stuff. There was a slight problem but everything is okay. That was my mom."

I looked at her suspiciously for a moment and then shrugged and went back to eating my salad.

We only stayed a little while longer for dessert and then we left the restaurant, all stuffed full of what I'd call "heart attack food." There was about eight inches of snow on the ground and the winds started picking up violently again. I secretly hoped that if the boys of One Direction were on a plane that moment, that everything would be okay and they'd land safely to start their country wide tour. I only wished the best for them...