The Quest for Epic

Chapter eight

Wednesday evening, after work I headed to McLaren's diner to meet up with Maya and Ben, who had just come into town to see her. I spotted them from outside the window, he was whispering into her ear and she was giggling, still as love struck with each other as ever.

I walked into the diner, my face breaking into a smile as I approached them.

"Hey Ellie", Ben stood up and enveloped me in a warm bear hug once I got to their table "Damn girl, I feel like I haven't seen you in ages"

"That's cause you haven't. Too busy with your girlfriend and being a big time DJ for me", I pouted up at him. Ben was this cool DJ with dreadlocks and all who was kind of popular in the New York party scene, which was of course where Maya had met him. He was really sweet to her and she adored him and they were good together, although their PDA made me want to gag sometimes.

Ben chuckled as he sat down. "You know that's not true. I hear you're quite the big shot now, climbing up that corporate ladder"

I gave Maya a look. "I don't know what this one has told you but that's far from it"

Maya gave me a cheeky smile. "You just like to downplay your awesomeness, Ells"

The gum snapping waitress appeared just then, ready to take our orders. We settled on a large pizza we could all share. Ben asked for a beer and Maya and I ordered milkshakes.

"So when are you taking him to meet the 'rents?" I wagged my eyebrows at Maya once the waitress left

Maya laughed, her hand clutching his big bicep. "Tomorrow. We could have gone earlier but tough guy here was scared. Can you imagine that?"'

I snorted back a laugh. I couldn't imagine Ben scared of anything, he was such a cool cat.

"Hey. I don't know about you guys but where I come from, meeting the parents is a big deal," Ben offered in his defence.

"Anything to help you sleep at night, babe", Maya said, rolling her eyes at him. Then she turned to me, her eyes glinting in excitement "So Ellie, the reunion is officially a go!"

"Really? I can't believe you made that happen", I wasn't entirely keen on the whole reunion thing, but Maya's enthusiasm was contagious.

"Yup. My girl's social skills should be a super power" Ben beamed at Maya

"So when is it?" I asked

"This Sunday. I found this new karaoke bar on Donovan Street and I've already sent out the invitations on Facebook and everything"

Karaoke was always fun. Okay, I was beginning to warm up to the idea now. "Sounds like a blast, Maya girl". We high fived over the table, giggling and the waitress finally returned with our pizza and drinks.

I dug in without wasting any time, I was hungry from work today.

"Woah", Ben watched in amusement as I gobbled down the first slice "Are you on a fast or something?"

I shook my head, washing the pizza down with a slurp of my milkshake. "I've been working in the labs this week, had less time for lunch"

"I see. Your boss working you too hard or something?"

"Oh no. My boss is quite great actually"

"Speaking of your boss", Maya piped up "Heard anything from the boss's son?"

I shook my head, my spirits a bit dampened at the thought of Noah. I hadn't seen or heard from him since Saturday, no calls, no texts. He didn't even forward me his joke of the week which had been a thing for a while. And I was too proud to contact him with the feeling that he was avoiding me.