Dirty Little Secret

Chapter Twelve - Coffee & The Truth

Please don't see me, please don't see me. I chanted in my head repeatedly as I waited for my order to arrive. Just one more minute and I'd be out of there, and I could forget all about walking in on Poppy and what I was assuming to be Caden's date.

"A cappuccino to go." The waiter announced before putting my coffee down on the bar. I quickly snatched it away and started making my way back to the exit when a familiar voice screeched "Nina!"

Crap.

I stopped in my tracks and turned around, plastering a fake smile on my face as I faced Poppy. It wasn't like I had anything against her, on the contrary even, she was a really nice girl, but I could hardly tell her she was dating the guy I had been crushing on, and hating, excessively for the last month.

"Poppy." I said in what I hoped was an enthusiastic tone and walked towards her table, gripping the coffee tightly in my hand. "What a coincidence."  I glanced back and forth between her and Caden, who was avoiding eye contact with me and staring down at his plate of untouched fries.

"Hello Caden." I acknowledged him with a nod.

He finally glanced up at me and I immediately felt my face heat up under the intensity of his green eyes. His hair looked disheveled, as if he'd run his hand through it multiple times and he had bags under his eyes. He looked tired.

 "You two know each other?" Poppy asked curiously as she looked back and forth between the two of us.

"Yes" I said at the same time that Caden said "No", never breaking eye contact with me.

Poppy chuckled softly, but she looked just as confused as I did "Yes or no?" she asked.

"Vaguely." Caden finally muttered before looking back down at his plate of fries.

I didn't realize how tightly I was gripping the cup in my hands until some of the hot liquid dribbled out of the top and landed onto my hand. I hissed and quickly released the cup from my hold, setting it down on the table next to Poppy.

"You ok?" Poppy asked worriedly, and Caden's eyes snapped up towards me. I nodded and lifted my thumb to my lips to suck on the sensitive skin.

"Would you like to join us?" Poppy offered and slid over in the booth to make room for me. I hesitated as I looked back and forth between her and Caden.

Yeah, no thanks.

"Actually, I have to get home. My mom is expecting me for dinner." It was partially a lie, since dinner wouldn't be for another hour, but they didn't need to know that.

"Oh, ok." Poppy smiled "Did you ask her for permission to join the school paper yet?"

My face fell at the reminder and I shook my head "Actually, I was meaning to talk to you about that."

"What's up?"

"I'd like to withdraw my application..." I muttered, casting my eyes down to my feet to avoid eye contact with her. I didn't need her nor Caden to see the obvious look of devastation in my eyes.

"Why?" This time it was Caden  who spoke, and I looked up at him in surprise. What was it to him?

I bit my lower lip to prevent the truth from spilling out, something I had found happened a lot when I was around Caden "I'm too busy with school." I lied.

Caden frowned at me, obviously not buying it. He opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by the ringing of my cell phone, Jonathan Clay's voice blasting through the diner, turning the attention of other customers on us.