Coffee, Cats, and Space Buns

Chapter 4

It wasn't until late morning that Connie woke up still in her clothes from the day before. Sitting up and wiping the crusties out of her eyes, she looked around to see the room empty. It seemed that Macie had made good on her promise and cleared out to hang with friends instead. She grabbed her phone on the end table to find a message from Steven. 'Hey, Connie. I hope you made it to your dorm safe. Text me when you can – Steven'.

She growled and threw her phone across the room where it flopped safely onto a fluffy rug. Falling back into bed, she recalled the night before. Connie didn't know what to think or even how to react. Multiple emotions flowed freely through her body: anger, guilt, sadness, and hurt. She crawled up into a ball and opted to have a moment to herself.

Suddenly, Connie was interrupted by soft knocking on the door. Even though it was barely audible, it lurched her out of her head like a car coming to a stop. She got up and opened her door to see a shameful looking Liv on the other side. "Oh... Hi Liv." The bitterness in her words was palpable.

"Hey Connie... Um, do you mind if I come in and talk to you?" Connie didn't make a move to let her in the room and Liv gave a nervous chuckle. "Uh... Please?"

Silently moving away from the door and sitting in her desk chair, Connie stared at her with a steely expression. "So, what do you want to talk about, Liv? Did you and Steven have a fun time yesterday?"

Liv carefully closed the door before standing in the middle of the room. The air was thick with tension and Liv fidgeted with her fingers. "W-Well, uh... That's what I want to talk about. You see, I've felt terrible all night-"

Connie groaned, "You aren't here just to say sorry for going with him, are you? Don't rub it in my face. If that's what you-"

Liv interrupted, clasping her hands together. "No! It's more than that! Connie, Steven and I kissed last night! Steven and I feel ter-"

"He what?" Connie rose from her seat. "Get out!" Liv opened her mouth to interrupt but was immediately cut off. "I said get out!"

The shorter girl left immediately, eager to get away from the situation. Connie took a couple deep breaths before retrieving her phone from the rug and calling Steven. He answered almost immediately. "Connie! Thank god you called-"

"Steven, did you kiss Liv last night?"

There was a short silence on the other side. "Yes... I'm sorry, Connie, I wasn't thinking..."

"When did you plan on telling me?" Connie felt her heart sink. She never had expected that Steven would've done this to her.

"As soon as you called... I want to explain in person though. Please, Connie..."

Connie wrestled with herself. Part of her wanted to see Steven and hear him out. Another part of her wanted to scream in his face and never see him again. The former part won over. She sighed. "Fine, but I get to choose the place. Meet me in front of Sir Roberto's in an hour."

She heard a sigh of relief over the phone, "Sure, that works for me. Sorry again, Connie."

Connie hung up and looked in the mirror. Her hair was a mess and her clothes were all wrinkly. Her appearance showed just how much this she had let this situation get to her. There's no way I'm going to let Steven see me like this. Letting out a sigh, Connie picked up a hairbrush and started getting ready.

For the second day in a row, Steven waited outside of a beautiful building on a bustling street for Connie to arrive. Just like last time, his stomach was filled with knots and his eyes barely left his phone. She hadn't come along yesterday, and he had done something horrendous. Why was she even bothering to come meet him? What if she just wanted to set me up to wait for her again, to get my hopes up... Thankfully, Steven didn't have to wait long.