Living With The Bad Boy [COMPLETE][VERSION ONE]

Chapter 31

Saturday is my first shift at the diner in what my swiftly depleting bank account tells me is way too long, so I take the 9:00am bus into town, making sure to leave the house before I can possibly run into Jase. Every time I see him, I feel guilty, like he's a reminder of everything I shouldn't want but do- the fact that my stupid heart is pulling me in the absolute wrong direction.

But, I'm sure with a little space and a little distance, all will right itself.

After all, there's no way in hell I'm just going to be one of those girls with a hopeless crush on Jase.

I just hope it's not too late for that.

I spend the next 4 hours waitressing and spending my off time talking to Cece and Sam- until the two of them leave for their date... and I'm alone again.

It's almost 4 pm and I only have fifteen minutes left of my shift, thank god. I feel like I might collapse from standing for so long, and my head aches dully, like everything else is far away and underwater.

Which probably contributed to me not noticing the girl sitting in the booth by herself.

"Hello," I say, walking up behind a girl with black box braids. "Welcome to Angel's Diner, we're so happy to- Mayah?"

She looks up at me, her eyes cold. "Well? Are you going to tell me about the specials on the menu today, uh..." she looks down, pretending to read my name tag. "Sienna?"

"Mayah, stop it!" I say, lowering my voice when I realize people are staring. "Look. I promise you that I did not send that text."

"Uh huh?" Mayah asks skeptically, an eyebrow raised as she crosses her arms. "Sorry, I thought we were done playing Opposite Day in third grade. I'm not stupid, Sienna. You were at home all day- who would've sent the text for you?"

"Fine. Do you really want to know?" I ask her, sliding into the booth seat across from her. I only have 15 minutes left of my shift anyways, and she's currently the only one sitting in my section. "Jase was the one who texted you."

"Oh, yeah, and fun fact: I'm actually Donald Trump in disguise. Come on, Sienna- just give it up already."

"Mayah- why are you here if you're not even going to listen to me?" I ask, sighing.

"Because." I notice her fidget in her vinyl seat, though I'm pretty sure it isn't because there's anything wrong with the booth. "Because I wanted to... at least see if you could explain yourself... or apologize."

"Sienna?"

I hear a call from the kitchen and jolt up. "Shit- I gotta go. Will you wait for me here- I promise I'll be done in 10 minutes after my shift ends and we can go get some coffee. I'll explain everything, I promise."

I expect Mayah to say no, to tell me to go to hell, but to my surprise, she just looks up at me- and nods.

Mayah and I spend a very awkward minutes walking to a cafe (not Newman's, obviously- I don't want to run the risk of seeing Noah after the... awkward way we ended our date last night), neither of us talking until we've finally ordered our drinks, sitting down and sipping our lattes.

"So," Mayah says.

"So," I repeat. "I guess you want an explanation."

So I tell her. I tell her about my concussion, and about how I was trying to get my phone back from Evan when Jase accidentally opened a door and hit me in the head- how he even admitted to texting Mayah. "He just wants to make my life hell in any way he can- including breaking up my oldest friendship, I swear."