Just One Of The Guys

Chapter Ten

"Hey Austin," The girl beams brightly at him, "Hey, uhm, Brock right?" Cynthia.

"No... It's Ash." I raise my eyebrow at the reference.

"Right," She turns back to Austin, "So, where are you going?"

"To the mall, speaking which, we better hurry." He walks off without giving her an explanation. I stifle a laugh and walk after him. To my despair, she follows us.

"Can I come with?" She asks. I inwardly groan.

"No." I put bluntly.

"I wasn't asking you." She rolls her eyes.

"Sorry, we're on a date," I whip my head to look at Austin. "And a date is kind of meant for two people so...?" Austin says as he puts his arm around my shoulders. His touch made my stomach feel like someone has just turned the heater on inside and it was filling with warmth. Was there truth to his words? Is this really a date?

"Uh huh," she gives a look that says she's unconvinced. "I had something to do anyways, so bye." She spins on her heel and walks the other way.

We shrug and continue on walking. Not even ten seconds later I look back, feeling like someone is watching us and oh, would you look at that, that someone was Cynthia. I urge Austin to walk faster, feeling very uncomfortable. She didn't look angry or anything at all, she looks completely blank of emotions and that was creepy.

"UGG," I pat my now full and protruding stomach, "I'm sooo full. The food is like up to my throat. I am ready to throw up if I make any movement."

"That kind of ruins everything since to shop you kind of have to move." Austin says.

"Not if you kind of shop online." I mock him.

"You still have to kind of move."

"That's barely kind of anything-"

"But-"

"Hi, Austin!" A girl with vibrant red hair who was passing our table suddenly stops.

Austin looks over and a smile blooms on his face while a frown overtook mine. He gets up and gives the girl a bear hug. I frown harder.

"Hey, Ash," Uh, that's not me. "I missed you this summer. How was building homes in Africa?" Are you serious?

"Same as always, the kids are so sweet and lovely." Who even says lovely anymore? What is this, the 20th century? And they are still hugging.

"That's great! I wish I was as good of a person as you are. You're always helping others." They are still embracing. Can they please stop embracing?

"It's not that hard, Austin. Hey, maybe you can come with me next time." She smiles at him and he notices. I don't think he ever notices me.

"That'd be great," No, no it wouldn't be. "I'd like that." No, no you wouldn't. Okay, they are still wrapped in each other's arms. Who even hugs that long? Maybe married couples and I'm pretty sure Austin is not married.

I really feel like I am going to throw up, and not from the food. Okay, forty percent from the food, I ate a lot.

"Excuse me, I need to go to the washroom." I fast walk away, not really going to the washroom. I just need to get away from this.

I slow down when I was far enough from the food court. This was not how things were supposed to go. When I came back here, I thought my plans for the future would follow through. It's my favourite cliché in stories: best friends end up lovers. I didn't ever feel the need to push that hard for us to be together, it always seemed most probable that Austin and I would end up together. The more I thought about it and look back into the past, I couldn't recall a time where Austin really did anything that showed he liked me back. It became clearer that I was obviously blinded by my own emotions after all these years. Whenever he did something, I just wanted it to mean something, so it did. But really, it meant nothing.