Elemental Roommates

Chapter 8 Apologies

"The game just started and you're already losing, Hot Tamale~" she teased.

"Hey!" Kai spat in frustration, making his girlfriend giggle.

"If you guys are done doing the uh... tango... can I get by?" a voice spoke. The couple turned to see a random student trying to get down the steps. Kai and Skylor finally realized that they were still in the stairwell.

"Oh, sure," Skylor replied, lifting Kai back to his feet. The student strolled past without even a second glance.

Meanwhile, Cole headed into work with a loud yawn. Dareth spotted him from the back.

"Morning, Cole!" Dareth spoke with a wide grin.

"Hey, Dareth," the earth master answered casaully, flipping open the little wooden door to get behind the counter. He noticed, though, a smirk forming on his manager's face.

"What's with the look?" Cole asked.

"Oh, just that a certain customer of our's gave you their phone number and a note to call," Dareth snickered.

"You read the note?" Cole furthered with a disapproving tone.

"I couldn't help it! Business is always so slow on Wednesday's," Dareth defended before tossing over the piece of paper. Cole open it up only to be genuinely shocked by who it was.

Hey Cole,

Can we talk? I wanted to make it up to you for last night.

-Seliel

XXX-XXX-XXXXX

Cole stared at the note for a good minute until he sensed Dareth inching closer and closer towards him.

"Sooooo?" Dareth asked.

"So what?"

"Are you going to call her?" Cole let out a sigh. He stuffed the paper in his pocket.

"I don't know," he admitted while grabbing plastic gloves.

"Why not? Come on, buddy. You can't leave a lady hanging like that," Dareth replied with a frown. He crossed his arms in disbelief at his employee.

"Yeah, but this lady also caused me to get in a food fight with two grown dudes last night. I'm still finding chicken grease in my hair." Cole strolled over the oven to pull out the rolls of bread that just finished baking.

"But, she said that she wants to make it up to you. Are you sure you're not just nervous because you haven't been on a date before?"

Clank!

Cole dropped the pan of rolls. His pupils had shrunk and his cheeks were bright pink.

"How do you even know that!?" he snapped defensively.

"It was just a guess..." Dareth held up his hands with a weak smile. Cole sighed again before bending down to pick up the now filthy rolls.

"Well, whether I have or not, it's not a date. I don't even know if I'm going to call," Cole replied plainly as he walked over to the trash to dump the bread.

"Cole, take it from someone who missed several chances all his life, and was rejected by many others, call her," Dareth answered, sounding serious now. After his manager walked away, Cole pulled the piece of paper back out. He dwelled on the idea while reading over the note.

"Sir?" Cole snapped out of his thoughts to see a customer standing on the other side of the counter.

"Oh, sorry..." he trailed off, stuffing the paper back into his pocket.

At the same time, Jay sat lazily outside a restaurant. He had barely touched his food and decided to play with the straw in his drink instead. His mind kept going back to what he saw last night. Millions of questions whirled around his head.

Who is Borg?

Why does he have a secret lab?

What happened to him?

Why was Nya so upset?

... is she okay?

"Hey..."

Jay nearly fell out of his chair by the sudden person beside him. That familiar raven-hair and blue bell eyes caused the young man's heart to race.

"Hi..." Jay mumbled with a half smile.

"Is it okay if I sit?" Nya asked, gesturing to the empty seat across from him. The ginger took a second to process her words before nodding.

"Yeah, yeah, sure," he spoke awkwardly as the water master took a seat under the shade of the umbrella on their table. Silence fell on the two as Jay glanced from her to his food.

"I wanted say sorry again for how I acted last night. I was dealing with alot, and I've never told anyone about the... you know what... but still, I shouldn't have been so cold," Nya stated firmly. She never broke eye-contact. She was so stiff in her posture, but Jay could hear the hint of disappointment in her tone.

"No, no, it's fine. You already apologized, Nya. It's all good," Jay reassured with hands up, trying to wave off any concern. Nya exhaled with relief. Her shoulders slumped, and her face now carried a small smile.

"Okay, good... and... thanks for keeping my secret," she spoke gently. Jay's nerves suddenly melted away from staring at her. His face grew a warm grin, thankful to see her happy again.

"Not a problem at all," he replied while placing his elbows on the table. The two quieted down for a good long minute, admiring eachother's gazes. Jay leaned closer towards the beautiful girl until Nya broke the moment.

"Uh... I think your sleeve's in your food," she pointed out. Jay glanced down at his hands to see part of his sleeve was practically in the ketchup on his plate.

"Gah! Come on!" he complained dramatically, taking a few napkins. He rubbed his now stained sleeve while mumbling to himself. Nya giggled at the scene, watching him glare at the plate of food as if it did it on purpose.

A/n: I really enjoyed writing this one. It was just so cute and adorable. As you could probably tell with my writing, I like to plan out my story as I write it. I enjoy figuring out the story as if I'm a reader myself. I do plan out a few things, just to make sure I know where the story is gonna go, so I have a few ideas for this book. However, I still have a lot to figure out story-wise. I'd like this to still be comedy/relationship focused, but I also want to put in more of an overarching story. I'm currently a bit stuck with ideas, so if you guys have any ideas for where this book should go, please let me know. I'd love to hear your thoughts. Hope you guys enjoyed. See you next time! 😉