Fragile

Twenty-Two

After hours of me shopping and groans escaping my friends' mouth numerous times, it was half past one, and we all mads our way into a food place. The weather today was nice. The sun shone in the sky, and the fresh and cool breeze ran across the air. It felt nice. It was the perfect weather.

There were tables outside the actual building itself, and when we stepped in, we spotted some tables inside too. There wasn't a queue, and so we walked over to the counter, eyeing the menu flashing on the screens above.

Right. All of the food sounds yummy. The worst and hard decision is choosing what to eat when you can't actually buy everything listed. After several mental arguments about which food to order, I finally made my mind up.

"Good afternoon." A woman flashed a pearly white smile, a slightly British accent evident in her voice. Her light brown hair was wrapped in a pony-tail, her mesmerising grey eyes standing out. She was really pretty. And she seemed quite nice too.

I smiled back at her. "What would you like to order?" She asked politely, giving us all a wide smile.

"Can I please have a jumbo chicken burger and milkshake please?" I answered and she nodded, typing some things up on her computer – probably my order.

After Liam and Cody ordered, we told the girl – whose name noted on the tag was Veronica – that we were going to sit outside and we sat ourselves on one of the tables.

Whilst we were waiting for our food, we chatted about recent things going on. We talked about the teachers, the school, everything. My phone rang inside my bag, and I curiously took it out and read 'Alex' on the flashing screen. I picked it up.

"Yo." I greeted, and I could hear Alex chuckle.

"How's your time in London?"

"Awesome! I went to the match yesterday." I smiled, not wanting to remember the bad parts of that day.

"I'm glad. Are you okay?" He suddenly asked.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" I raised a brow, although he couldn't see me.

"Just, you're with two guys.." He trailed off, and I couldn't help but smile again at his protectiveness.

"You're so sweet." I cooed, earning weird glances from Liam and Cody.

"I think she's got another boyfriend, maybe she's cheating on you.." Liam suspiciously whispered to Cody, and I glared at him.

"Shut up." Cody muttered, but he still looked at me with narrowed eyes. Man, the trust and faith they have in me.

"It's just, I don't trust Liam or Cody.. I mean come on, Liam literally, you know, hooked up with you the first night. And Cody, well, I just don't trust him, even though he is your boyfriend and my friend." I could literally see Alex shrug.

"Alex." I warned, my tone having a stern edge to it. He knew I was serious now, "I trust them, and trust me, I know them, they'll.. Protect me." I smiled. "And what happened with Liam was a one-off." I dropped my voice to a whisper at the last sentence so the others couldn't hear me.

"Oh... It's her brother." Liam sounded like a little child, and he smiled goofily at Cody.

"Okay." He sighed, "But I swear to god, if Cody does something to you-"

"You'll break him." I chuckled, "I know, and it's nice to know you'll be there for me. Thank you."

"You know me too well, sis. I'll leave you to it then. I love you." He hung up, not letting me answer.

"I love you too." I muttered, smiling slightly as I put my phone back into my bag.

"Man, your sibling love is to die for." Liam seriously said.

"Die then." I retorted, earning a loud laugh from Cody.

"It's nice to know you care for me." Liam sarcastically said, grumpily.

The food then came, and I started devouring it the second it was placed onto the table. I could feel the stares of the guys boring into my head, but ignored it. I drank my milkshake and then after what seemed like only ten minutes, slumped back onto my seat, sighing.

"What? I was hungry." I said, when I looked up to see Liam and Cody with their jaws dropped.

"Wow." Cody breathed out.

"This is why I wonder how you don't put on weight." Liam chuckled to himself, Cody nodding and agreeing with him. After the two finished their food, we still continued talking, and it led to us sitting there 'till around four – yes, we talked that much – and then deciding we stayed for too long.

We thanked Veronica for our food and said our goodbyes as we paid – yes, I insisted on paying too – for the food and left.

We had to leave that same day to go back to California. The plane set off at around seven, and when we arrived in the early morning to California, we all headed straight home after saying our goodbyes. I slopped onto the bed, and immediately dozed off.