More Than This (on hold)

Chapter One

~* BRAD *~

"There isn't even a line-up! Come on, Brad, we've got to take advantage of this."

Brad shook his blond curls out of his eyes. "Fine, but we're only staying for ten minutes."

"Whatever you say," Eric agreed, already scanning the small café for a clean table. "Should I get the chocolate muffin, chocolate cake, chocolate donut or chocolate milk?"

"If you're so set on chocolate, why don't you buy a chocolate bar?" Brad suggested.

"I wish," Eric scoffed. "They don't sell those here."

Brad rolled his eyes. "Then buy the chocolate milk. At least it has calcium."

Eric stepped up to the counter. "One slice of chocolate cake, please." The cashier scurried to prepare his order.

"Since when do you care about eating healthy?" Eric inquired after he'd paid for his dessert, greedy eyes glued to the load of sugar in his hands. Delicate brown swirls of icing encased a double chocolate fudge coating over a rich chocolate interior.

Brad shrugged. "I don't know. I guess I got it from Amy."

Eric arched an eyebrow, one chocolate-covered finger already in his mouth. "Amy, eh? So how are you two doing?"

"Puh-lease," Brad agonized. "It's not like we're going out or anything."

"Not at this rate," Eric said. "You don't drop any hints, man. How's she supposed to know?"

Eager to change the subject, Brad turned his gaze towards the entrance doors. "Here comes the crowd. Classes must be out."

"Let's grab some seats before they're all taken. It's a good thing we were let out of class early." Eric led the way to a couple's seat by the window. "How about this? Yo, Brad?"

Brad was preoccupied. Eric followed his gaze to a girl sitting in the corner. Though her face was buried in a textbook, he instantly recognized the long chestnut hair running over the cover. Before Brad could chicken out, Eric bellowed, "Hey, Amy! Can we sit with you?"

~* AMY *~

Amy couldn't believe her luck. Here she was, trying to drown her disappointed heart in math equations, when suddenly the very cause of her woes was standing awkwardly in front of her.

"Hey, Eric. Brad." She tried to make it sound as though his name were an afterthought, rather than being the only thing she'd thought about for the past half hour. "Of course you can sit here." She put her textbook in her bag, making room for Brad and Eric as they slid into their seats. "Whatcha got there, Eric? Or should I say, what used to be there?"

Brad chuckled. "He practically inhaled that chocolate cake. What a pig."

Eric tossed his empty plate into a garbage can. "I'm hungry is all. I ate my lunch in homeroom, and it was small."

Brad covered his mouth as if to whisper a secret, but said loudly, "If you call two salami sandwiches 'small.'"

Amy burst into her signature giggle, causing several people around them to give them funny looks. Brad jokingly covered his ears.

Amy rolled her eyes at the gesture. "Aw, don't look so upset, Eric. Brad's just joking."

Eric wiped his chin free of chocolate. "Nah, I know—I was just kidding around. So what are you doing here, Amy? I don't see any food."