I Almost Killed My Crush's Mom

Chapter 8:: Malicious chair legs

Heather follows my anxious gaze, and her eyes widen in realisation. “Jesse wants you to meet Rita and the others today doesn’t he? I completely forgot.”

I nod weakly, slumping against the granite counter.

“Don’t worry about it,” Adam rolls his gorgeously gay eyes. “You’ll be fine: just act normally and they’re bound to like you. You can take a half an hour break, but I want you to work it off at the end of the shift, okay?” He stretches the cloth tauntingly in his hand, before slapping it into my hand with a warning look. I nod and smile gratefully, but the smile disappears as I realise something.

“Wait, did Heather tell you about what Jesse asked me to do then?”

“Yeah,” He awkwardly glances at Heather, “Was that okay?”

“Yeah it’s fine, don’t worry,” I reassure him, “It just saves the job of me telling you myself. Heather,” I turn to my best friend, “Do you happen to have any mascara?”

“Not with me,” She bites her lip, “Why?”

“I’m so screwed.”

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After an hour of procrastination, the time finally comes when Jesse calls me over to his table.

“Lois?” Jesse turns in his seat and smiles reassuringly at me, despite calling me over to my inevitable fate. I falter as my damp cloth leaves the table, and my eyes shoot up to look at him, wide with fear. “Come over here a second,” He beckons me over and I release a shaky breath. This is it Lois. Don’t make a fool out of yourself: just act normal. I pull on a smile and start to walk over to the table that’s always intimidated me. Ben is sat there, and he grins at me, meanwhile Everett is giving me curious looks. Every single one of the group is staring at me as I get closer, but of course being me, I haven’t even started speaking to any of them before I humiliate myself beyond compare.

The malicious chair leg came out of nowhere, I promise you.

Accidentally hooking my foot around the metal bar of someone’s seat, I lurch forward and fall to the ground, landing painfully on my arm. The pain means nothing though, next to the embarrassment of the fall. My cheeks instantly flood crimson, and I continue to lie there for a second begging that the ground will swallow me whole. Everett’s laughter is the loudest, but they’re all chuckling at my obvious misfortune. I push myself up to a sitting position, apologise to the old man sat in the chair which I tripped over, and turn to face the group, chuckling slightly. Maybe if I join in their laughter, it’ll feel less like they’re laughing at me and more like they’re laughing with me. Jesse, chuckling climbs out of his chair and pulls me up, slinging an arm around my shoulder and dragging me the short few steps to the popular table. The humiliation of the situation is almost masked by the fact that Jesse freaking Dales has his arm around me, but not quite.

“This is Lois,” He introduces the group gruffly, and their laughter dies down a little. “Quite possibly the clumsiest girl alive.” He smirks at me from the corner of my eye.

“Nice one Lois,” Ben grins at me, offering up a fist. Immediately I feel a little more relieved at the idea of having Ben there: I know for sure that I can think of him as a friend at least. With a cracked smile in return, I fist bump him and things feel a little bit better. At least I know Ben will diffuse the tension. Or maybe not, because after a second of hesitation the awkwardness kicks in. Jesse leaves my side to pull me over a free chair, and I tuck a loose curl behind my ear. Do I shake the girl’s hands or would that be too formal and weird?