"screw you, mike! how did you get the girl who's a saint when you're a pile of crap!"
✧ ﾟ･:*✧ ﾟ:*ﾟ *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧
"that's the dumbest thing i've ever heard." el says in a very exasperated voice as she converses with her red-headed best friend. one hand keeps her phone planted against her ear, and the other fidgets with the straw of her milkshake, which is still full, even after a half hour of being in the diner.
i can tell el wants nothing more than to enjoy our date, but every time her finger moves to end the call with max, another hysterical cry erupts from the phone.
honestly, i don't mind in the slightest. el being distracted gives me an opportunity to admire her without having her throw her palms against her face and yell at me for making her blush.
and so, as she rolls her eyes and leans further back into her booth, i focus all my attention to watching her and absorbing in anything that i've missed over the few weeks that we were apart.
she's wearing my sweatshirt, a navy crewneck with VENICE BEACH embroidered across the front. i can't help but smile at the way it's far too large for her and she's practically drowning in it, the way she bundles the ends of the arm fabric into her fists to compensate for the extra material.
her hair is swept into a braid that is thrown over her shoulder, with too-short locks spilling out of the plait and framing her face. a small part of me wants to unravel the braid and run my fingers through her hair as she chuckles and scolds me for doing so.
i notice a slight dusting of freckles across the bridge of her nose and her cheeks, likely due to sunnier weather, and i feel myself falling in love a little bit more at the sight of them.
"god, she never shuts up." el says, pulling her phone away from her ear and dropping it beside her in the booth. she releases an exasperated groan as she speaks, her voice bringing me out of my dreamy reverie.
"that sounded chaotic." i chuckle and slide el's still-full milkshake closer to her, for she hasn't had a chance to drink it during her lengthy conversation.
"oh, it was." el gives me a grin, the kind that makes her eyes crinkle in the corners. "apparently, this girl went and texted lucas during some volunteering thing at school, and then the teacher took her phone and read her messages out loud to everyone."
"well, that can't be that bad, right?" i question. "what could they have been talking about that could have been horrible?"
"they were borderline sexting." el exclaims, a laugh spewing out of her mouth as she speaks. "and the teacher still read it out loud. it's hilarious, i bet she's still crying about it."
"i think you should be more sensitive." i offer in amusement, to which el responds by kicking me in the shin. "i bet you could have easily been in her place."
el scoffs, rolling her eyes at me. "you're saying i would sext you at school?"
"possibly, if you were bored enough."
"that is so rude!" el says, appalled with my words. "i'm definitely more responsible than that, i'm such a good student."
"yeah, yeah, whatever you say." my voice falters to a halt when a waitress places a tray of pancakes on our table and retreats after we give her a smile.
el's fingers hungrily pull the plate of pancakes towards her, and before i know it, she's shoved half of one into her mouth.
"i don't think i'm ever going to give this sweatshirt back to you." el says in a muffled voice, struggling to speak coherently with all the food in her mouth.
"you already have like half my closet." i reply, transferring a pancake from el's plate to mine, to which she frowns in response.
"us being in a relationship means your clothes are mine." el grins and points her syrup covered fork at me.
"i don't have any of your clothes, do i?" i raise my eyebrows at el, and she vigorously shakes her head.
"that's cause you're a lanky, abnormally tall tree."
i open my mouth to argue back, but automatically close it when i realize that my legs barely fit in the space between our booths.
"mhm, that's what i thought!" el pulls her glossed lips into a smile of victory. "oh wow, this is a lot of pancakes. we'll never be able to finish."
"lucky for us, we have company!" i say in amusement, noticing a furrow of confusion appearing between el's eyebrows. i lean slightly out of the booth to see my best friends, dustin and will sitting at a table not far from us, attempting to pretend like they aren't watching us.
el turns her head and follows my gaze, and as soon as she catches sight of them, her mouth forms an o in surprise.
"oh my god, YAY!" she claps her hands together, and dustin and will abruptly turn away from us, failing to be discreet. will grabs a magazine and pretends to be deeply focused on it, but he's holding it upside down. dustin proceeds to take a newfound interest in his cuticles.
"we can see you, you know?" i call out to them, chuckling at how obvious their presence is. i saw them from the beginning of el and i's date, but let their act carry on for a while longer just for my entertainment.
"damn it." will groans, discarding the magazine and throwing his head backwards.
"we were so quiet!" dustin exclaims in disbelief, turning his body to face me.
"yeah, but i knew better than to think that i could go on a date without you two following me." i counter, gesturing for the two of them to join us at our booth.
they grudgingly leave their table and walk to us, smiles immediately painting their features when they see el sitting across from me.
dustin quickly sticks his hand out to her, shoving will out of the way. "hi, i presume you must be el?"
"you presume correctly." el says with an amused laugh, shaking dustin's hand as she speaks. "you're dustin."
"ha! she knows my name." dustin says to will in what he intends to be a whisper, but it comes out very loud.
"yeah, mike probably shit-talks you all the time." will bites back, rolling his eyes as he pushes dustin into the booth beside me.
will then turns to el, and pats her head.
"did you just... pat my head?" el asks in bewilderment, obviously very entertained.
"yeah, i just wanted to make your first impression of me much more memorable than dustin's was." will says happily, shoving his hands into his pockets. "as you can probably tell by now, i carry the whole friend group."
"right, i can tell mike's the uptight bore in the squad." el raises her eyebrows at me as she moves over in her booth to make room for will.
"oh he is!" dustin declares, already stealing my fork and diving into the plate of pancakes. "he only got moderately interesting after he starting dating you."
"alright, can we stop with the mike slander?" i give dustin a pointed look to which he responds with a wide grin.
"yeah, he spoils me too much. i think we should be nice to him." el crinkles her nose and tilts her head at me, her feet moving to mine to play footsie underneath the table.
i meet her gaze with a soft smile, and then i just end up staring at her, not being able to look away.
"ugh, lovebirds." dustin complains, and even though i'm not looking at him, i can tell he's rolling his eyes.
"you're just salty cause suzie rejected you." will says with a laugh, bringing my attention away from el and directing it to dustin.
"suzie rejected you?" i question in surprise, my eyebrows pulling together in disbelief. "i was so sure you had it in the bag."
"no, let me tell you exactly what happened!" will says, his hands moving erratically as he begins his story with extravagant hand gestures. "so, yesterday, dustin and suzie were having this really chill conversation. like he wasn't even nervous or fidgety or anything. i really thought he would succeed in asking her out. and then, suzie asks for his phone number."
"that's good right?" el offers, looking to dustin, who shakes his head pitifully and rests his face in his palms.
"it was good, until dustin totally screwed it up." will says, half-speaking and half-laughing as he continues the story. "he took her phone and typed his number in, and then gave it back to her. now this dumbass, typed his mother's number instead of his! so he has the sudden realization and yanks the phone back from suzie, but his nail snags on the sleeve of suzie's sweater and then this idiot drops the phone onto the floor, and it shatters."
dustin wails in misery and a laughing fit takes over both will and i. el holds her palm over her lips, attempting to stifle a laugh out of politeness, but fails.
"and then he still asked her out! after all that!" will exclaims, his face beginning to turn red from his laughter. "of course, she said no, very harshly, and then he ran away."
"i hate you for retelling the worst moment of my life." dustin grumbles, shoving a pancake into his mouth and giving will a glare.
"you know what, it's fine!" el says, offering a comforting smile to dustin. "she'll see past it! in time, you two will be together and laughing about this story, just watch!"
dustin tilts his head at el, observing her, and then proceeds to elbow me in the gut.
"screw you, mike! how did you get the girl who's a saint when you're a pile of crap!"
✧ ﾟ･:*✧ ﾟ:*ﾟ *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧
hi hi hi!!
gonna make this short, but i hope you had a good day yesterday (whether you celebrate christmas or not) !!
hope you enjoyed this cute chap <33
— rose