Maze

22

Naomi and Mark ran inside with her, while the rest of us stayed outside. And of all places, I just have to be in between Seb and Edward once again. As we were about to pull out our phones, Aly shot up as though she had some announcement.

"Damn, it's 6?!" She cried out, looking at her screen causin heads to turn towards her.

"Don't shout obvious things like it's the end of the world," Seb scoffed, but she gave him the cold shoulder.

"Man, time always goes so fast when we're chilling," Adelynn complained. "So, we're watching the fountain show?"

"Yep! Starts at 6:30. Sam better buy her stuff and get her ass going," retorted Aly. Adelynn and I might pay heed to her, but the guys... they were pretty engrossed in their conversations with each other.

"Y-You know what she's like right? Once she stuck her head in her books, it's impossible to get her out unless we forced her," I suggested while giggling.

"Right, why did I even hope for her to get done..." Aly slapped her face as she groaned. "Rena, I'm gonna go and yank her out. Please wait here with the rest."

"Oh... um yeah, sure," I mumbled inaudibly.

"Just be yourself, alright?" She grinned and threw me a thumbs-up, causing my heart to flutter for no reason.

Well Aly, that's what I had been trying my best to do... Before I could respond to her advice though, she was already sprinting into the store, and here I was, staying behind with Edward and friends. One of her many plans of leaving me with them...

Seb and Adelynn continued chatting, while Edward entirely spaced out; nothing seemed to stir his interest. As someone who had been staring at him from afar, I was not sure how comfortable he was with his hair growing to the side of his face. My bangs used to cover my entire forehead but its sharp edges irritated the heck out of my skin until I shortened them.

I guess he wanted to hide his scarred eye, but he could have used his eyepatch—

"What?" Edward shot me a dagger. Whoops.

"N-Nothing!" Yeah, I did not have a clue what I was doing either.

Suddenly, a distinctive chuckle broke out from beside me, to which I realized it was Seb's. Nice job, he was most likely laughing at how pathetic I was for leering at Edward like a shameless person.

"Chill Ed, she's worried about you," Seb signified, before he turned to me. "Dude hates being stared at for too long."

Unfortunately, that was what I've been doing for years. However, those times where my courage was as miniscule as specks of dust, were gradually fading away, replaced by moments of our interactions.

Minutes later, we finally caught a glimpse of Aly and Mark as they pushed Samantha out of the bookstore. Naomi roamed around and guffawed when Samantha strived to weasel herself out of their grasp, but my best friend's furrowed brows and curled lips had her stepping back.

"W-What did you get?" I asked.

"I got the sequel for the best romance ever, eek!" Samantha squealed, "There was this new sci-fi series I just wanna check out so badly, but this gal right here keeps on bugging me..."

"Nu-uh, so are the other books you're trying to read," Aly fired back, placing her hands on her hips. "We're all gonna be here for decades if we wait for you."

"But it's just a peek!"

"I've heard that excuse 100 times, Sammy."

"And I told you 100 times not to call me that!" She protested, while Naomi doubled over and Mark smiled impishly.