Caffeine [July Nanowrimo]

two; lukewarm

He was my best friend. The only one that had ever been my best friend and I doubted anyone else would take his place.

But I digress.

"I am, but something happened so Aiden had to come back down. I'm just accompanying him."

I nodded understandingly, not prodding into it and fell into a rhythm of easy conversation. She was someone who was generally easy to relate to, since she was a sensible and down to earth girl.

After about a few hours of hanging out, my friends decided to make a move and we all bid goodbye to one another, promising to keep in touch over the winter.

Once again, I was left alone, holding chute of sparkling juice -because a sixteen year old girl drinking in a public event is extremely frowned upon- and probably looking pretty awkward. I sighed, my scanning the whole room. I saw a group of teenagers laughing and smiling like they had no care in the world and for a second, I wished so hard I was a part of them. The minute that thought entered me, I shook it off instantly.

Those kids were troublemakers, father had said so. They were always out partying and I'm not talking about those average teenage parties.

They were wild. I tilted my head, trying my best to observe them inconspicuously. Even from afar, they seemed dangerous yet nice. I mean, of course I have heard stories of them creating trouble in their school, but they've always got each other's back.

One of them turned their head towards me but I quickly averted my eyes to the fountain nearby. My heart thudded as I prayed that they didn't see me staring at them.

After a few seconds, my eyes somehow forced themselves back on them. I sighed once again, biting my lip. Many people tend to not talk to me unless they were one of my father's close friend's kids. They either thought I was just as stuck up as the rest or they were too intimidated to talk to me.

Why, I will never know.

It is ironic how they seemed to be judging me thinking that I am some sort of judgmental brat.

I continued to observe the group from afar and those thoughts I had raised up to my conscience once again. Back when he was still here, we would be exactly like that. He would do something cheeky, like swap my glass of juice with champagne, making me choke on my drink and I would pretend to be annoyed by it. He would start making funny jokes about the people here and even if I did try, I couldn't stop giggling. He used to say how he despised the snobby attitude of ninety percent of the elites in this town. I would tell him that not all of them are bad, even though a few of them are. He would make silly impersonations of everyone, even mother and father and I would just shake my head at his immaturity.

He was the only one that I let get away with anything.

As my thoughts consumed me and I was swallowed into my past, I felt a light nudge on my shoulder. Turning around to greet the person, I was rendered still when I came face to face with them.

Or more specifically, him.

It was like a sense of déjà vu except this time he was wearing a waiter outfit, complete with a vest and a bowtie. I would be lying if I said that the outfit did not fit him well. He was holding a chute of champagne. His face was blank slate and void of emotion but deep in his eyes, I saw a hint of curiosity and worry.

On the outside though, he looked like just another waiter serving me a drink and my heart felt like it had been stomped on multiple times.

It was like he was embarrassed to be seen with me. I get it, I mean, he was devilishly handsome and even if people don't associate with him, I knew many of my friends had hots for him. Though I'm not saying I'm ugly, but compared to him, let's just say I was way out of his league appearance wise.