Is This True Love? (DNF)

Chapter 19: Cake

Not George's cake, at least not yet.
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George POV.

“Okay so is it your turn to pay or mine?” Clay asked, his hand resting in his hand. He continued to smile at me softly, with a care I felt like I hadn’t had in years.
“I’m not sure.” I admitted, running a hand through my hair. “I didn’t think we’d be here that long. I expected Karl to get back right now.”

“I thought that you were annoyed about the fact that you had him going everywhere with you.” Dream recounted, raising a brow as he sipped his glass of water. I gave a small shrug.
“Well it was annoying.” I agreed with him. “I fainted once and they are acting like it could happen again at any time when I feel fine, but Karl’s my ride home from town.”

“Fair enough.” The blond sipped again. “Now… do you want anything else? I’m going to say it’s my turn to pay. They just put out a new cake for the afternoon.” He motioned over to the display. I just groaned, feeling kind of sick after we had spent the afternoon trying all of the different cakes, taking turns to buy food and drinks.

We had given up on fancy drinks like milkshakes, juices, and smoothies and went back to just eating cake. Clay had made the offer after we finished the first cakes, the coconut cream and the choc vanilla. We had a lot to keep talking about so we stayed a lot later.

As it drew on later into the afternoon the cafe got a lot quieter, and I felt that the baristas behind the counter (especially the one who had taken our first order) were just watching us. “So can I ask…” The blond man began. “I understand that you might not have been enjoying your birthday party, but why did you get wasted?”

“I’m not a big party person.” I admitted safely, my hands finding themselves squeezing at the handle of the fork. It gathered at the leftover crumbs on my plate, not wanting to look at the blond as I spoke. “For some reason Fundy thought I would enjoy it, even though he knows that I don’t like big events.”

“That’s…” Clay seemed unsure of how to respond to what I said. “I’m sorry.” Was all he could say. “I used to have a girlfriend who didn’t care about me. She just wanted money and stuff. Glad I’m not dealing with her any more.”
“Maybe I should make Fundy an ex as well.” I spoke to myself, not loud enough for him to hear.

Suddenly I jumped as a pair of hands grabbed onto my shoulders, shocking me. I glanced over while still on edge to see Karl there grinning. “Hey George.” He smiled. “Sorry that I ended up taking so long. I decided to do a bit more shopping, you didn’t mind did you.”

I was concerned. I knew that Karl enjoyed shopping but he had been gone for almost two hours without letting me know anything. Usually he gave me some kind of information about where he was going and how long he was going to be gone. “No, I don’t mind.” I told the brunette, partially to keep the peace but also because I did enjoy spending part of the day talking with Clay.

Karl pulled his phone out to look at the time before letting out an upset and annoyed sigh. “I lost track of time.” He complained. “We have to go, George. I promised Fundy that you’d be home by now, and I don’t want to get a parking ticket.” As he spoke I stood up, putting my own phone which had been on the table into my pocket.

“Thanks for today Clay.” I said, looking at the blond who was still standing. “If you want we could give you a ride back to Niki’s house.”
“No thank you.” He responded, standing by himself. “I actually had to come into town to get milk, just got a little side-tracked with you, George.”

The kindness of his voice was enough to make me blush and smile again, yet I muttered an apology for distracting him from his errands. “You don’t need to worry. It was good. I love my cousin, but Niki and I don’t get on with each other easily. Having some friends outside of the house is good.” He seemed awkward.

When we had moved away from the table the two baristas moved over. They gathered up our plates as we all walked out of the cafe, giving them thank yous as we left. Then Clay walked off after we all exchanged goodbyes. Karl’s hand grabbed mine and he began leading me through the street to where we had originally parked.

Once we were in the car Karl let out an annoyed sigh, refusing to make eye contact with me for a few minutes. “George-” he started before cutting himself off as he thought. “How could you?”
“How could I, what?” I responded, my brows furrowing. I was unsure what it was that he was wanting to talk about so I didn’t respond more than that.

“You were all blushy with Niki’s cousin.” He told me, his voice loud and exasperated. As he said that I looked out of the window. There were a few people walking past and I was worried that one of them could hear Karl’s loud, exposing words.

“You have a boyfriend.” He reminded me. “And yet you were flirting with Clay. My honking God, you have to tell Fundy.” Although Karl continued to panic he moved his hands to rest on the steering wheel. “I don’t know why you’ve been acting so weirdly recently.”
“I could say the same thing to you.” I said, my voice somewhat quiet.

Then I raised my voice. “I don’t have any strange crushes Clay.” I reassured my best friend. “He is just Niki’s cousin and the two of us just met at a party.” My gaze was focused on Karl, thinking that maybe he would tell me something to show if my words were believable and he understood me or just make me seem like an even bigger cheating asshole.

He sighed, the anger and annoyance disappearing. “I trust you George. Just, I know that Fundy will be worried about you. He’s been worried about you since you disappeared from your own birthday party.” My eyes closed and I felt like a tear was about to run down my face.
“I’m sorry.” I told Karl, even though it was different from me apologising to Fundy.

My best friend just gave a nod, not moving his gaze away from the road. Neither of us said anything until he had parked in front of my house. I said goodbye and went inside, listening to him driving off behind me. Fundy was sitting on the couch watching TV, glancing over at me as I quickly moved over to him.

“Hey George, how was to-” he was cut off as I climbed onto his lap and took his face in a kiss. After making out with one another for a moment he pulled me away. “What was that for?” He asked, panting as my lips moved to his neck.
“Just missed you.” I told him, marking up his neck.

That wasn’t true though. It was mainly because of what Karl said. His accusation that I had a crush on Clay, just because I thought that he was nice. This was also because he had been worried since my birthday because I had left. So this was a way of showing Karl that I didn’t have a crush on Clay, even if he wasn’t here to see it.
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1314 words

Okay it is George's cake, but it is revenge cake for Fundy and not Dream.