Coffee, Cats, and Space Buns

Chapter 2

As she listened to Steven's reply, her phone was plucked out of her hand by Macie as she hit the end button. "Macie! That wasn't cool! I was talking to-"

"Dude, you're hanging out with us, did you forget that? I was only helping you get a break from him. Don't you text him like, everyday? That must feel awfully pushy of him, right?" Connie's eyebrows furrowed as she crossed her arms. "Steven is a friend, so no, it doesn't feel pushy."

Devon shook his head at Macie, "Hey, Macie, chill, won't you? It's fine. How about we hang out for a bit longer?" Macie dropped the subject immediately as she gave Devon an innocent smile. "Sure! A little while longer and we'll resume studying, right, Connie?"

Connie stared quizzically at Macie before nodding, "Uh, sure... Just a while longer." It was clear that Macie was crushing hard on Devon. He seemed pretty friendly to everyone. It wasn't hard to see a lot of the girls in the group seemed to have a thing for him. Even Connie felt butterflies at his smile. He was pretty cute. Regardless, the nagging feeling that Connie had done something wrong cancelling on Steven ate at her. She would rather have hung out with Steven instead. Now, she might not get to see him or the movie.

It wasn't until four that people started heading out in smaller groups to grab a bite to eat. Realizing they had only studied for maybe half an hour, she protested, "Hey, weren't we all going to keep studying?" Devon shrugged at her as Macie smiled, "Seems like no one wants to study, girl, how about you go study by yourself? We'll try to keep out of the room from now on, but no promises!"

Connie let out a frustrated growl before getting up and storming off. She felt used somehow, but couldn't put her finger on why. Devon tried to chase after her, "Hey! Wait! Do you maybe want to get dinner or a movie together? I heard RoboCop 4 is playing today." Connie hesitated, "Well... I promised Steven I'd go with him... Let me call him first, okay?"

Devon nodded and waited patiently as she tapped on his contact and called. She listened to the ringing until she heard his voicemail. Her stomach hit the ground. That's not a good sign, she thought, He's probably really upset. "Did he not answer? You know, we could go together, if you want. No use sitting around all night feeling down."

It didn't feel right to go without Steven. They had watched almost every single movie together up to this point. Plus, he had the tickets and she was sure it would be sold out by now. After all, it was premiering tonight. "I don't know, we might not even be able to get in..."

Devon grinned before pulling out two tickets. "Even with these tickets? Come on, it'll be fun. Macie told me you loved Robocop, so I thought we could go together! I was going to go with a friend, but they decided not to come." Connie's eyes shone at the sight of the tickets. Maybe going wouldn't hurt anything. Pushing away her feelings of guilt, she nodded. "I'd love to go. I absolutely adore Robocop, he's the best."

Devon laughed, "Dude, same. Let's go then."

The air was chilly as they walked up to the large cinema. It was one of the greatest parts of living in a city. Whenever she wanted, she could go see architectural masterpieces like this place. In front of the cinema was a large circular fountain with a statue of a fish in the middle. The fountain was in front of the entrance that had revolving doors. It was such a little thing that she couldn't help but be excited over. Where would she ever find revolving doors where she used to live? The greatest masterpiece there was Steven's house.

Devon and Connie made their way to the fountain to wait a while outside of the cramped theater. As they rounded a corner, she saw a couple sitting on the side of the bench and talking. "Oh crap..." She looked over to Devon to see him burning red with shame as he moved to walk away. She grabbed him by the arm, "Wait, where are you goi-"

"Connie? Is that you?" She looked back to see Steven sitting with a girl with pink spacebuns. That was Olivia! She had seen her often in Macie's group, sitting close to Devon. She was always making googly eyes at Devon and laughing at silly things he'd say. Why would she be with Steven? Looking back over to Steven, she flinched to see his eyes full of hurt.

"U-Uh... Yeah, hi, Steven. You didn't answer, so I was going to go with-" Steven stood up with a steely look in his eyes. "You don't have to answer, Connie. I get it. This is who you were with earlier, right?" Devon smiled at him and avoided Liv's gaze. "Hi, I'm Devon..."

"You ditched on your date with me to go with Connie?" Liv was furious, "How could you? You said you liked me!" Devon opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by Steven, "You both ditched us to for each other? What the hell is wrong with you guys?"

Connie frowned and balled her fists up, "What do you mean? I wasn't ditching you, I was just busy! And then you never answered!" Steven's voice rose defiantly, "No, that was ditching! You could've came on our date! I haven't seen you in months, Connie! Don't you know how excited I was to see you?" He took a deep breath in an attempt to calm down but to no avail.

"Look, Steven, I'm sorry, okay? I wanted to go with you, but you didn't answer, so I told Devon I'd go with him instead." Devon looked away, scratching his head awkwardly. "Whatever, Connie. Have fun with Devon. I guess what they say is true. Birds of a feather and all... Come on, Liv, let's go watch RoboCop..."

"Steven, wait!" It was too late. Steven had already taken Liv's hand and led the sniffling girl towards the theater. Her face fell and she felt her gnawing guilt grow. This was all her fault. At the same time, she felt herself blame Steven. "Dang it, if he hadn't taken me forgetting so personally and ignored my call, then we'd be going together! He acts like it's all my fault!"

Devon sat next to her, "It's not your fault at all! It's okay to change plans whenever you want. It's your life, after all! Why would you spend it worrying about what other people think or feel about you? Let him be upset and just do what you want!"

"That has got to be the stupidest thing I've ever heard in my life. Of course I care what Steven thinks! I really like him, okay? And you got in the way with that! What were you thinking ditching on Liv? What's wrong with you!"

He scoffed and got up, "You know, I thought you were cool, Connie, but you're being a huge jerk. I didn't want to go with Liv, okay? I wanted to get her off my back is all. Whatever, I'm going to go see the movie, alone."

She didn't stop him as he put his hands in his pockets and skulked into the movie theater. Once again, she was all alone. She felt tears well in her eyes. Connie had been so, so excited to see RoboCop 4 with Steven. Now, she'd be lucky to either for a very long time. Getting up and wiping her eyes, she began the long walk back to her dorm room before collapsing on her bed. As she crawled under the covers, she fell asleep with her face still wet with tears. She'd try to get ahold of Steven in the morning, even if she knew he wouldn't answer.