It has been about an hour in a half, and Nancy hasn't showed up yet. I've been standing on the entrance of the diner, glancing around, hoping that she's within sight. Some people have gone by and gave me a sympathetic smile, probably thinking that I've been ditched by my date. There's some that just rudely gazed at me.
But overall, I don't really care about those gazes and smiles. Closing up my eyes, the nightly breeze makes my whole-body shiver even within the thin fabric of the jacket that Noah gave to me. The black, with white splatter all over it. I glance around hoping to see a Nancy-figure within the dark road ahead, but there's I couldn't see a thing. I only see people's silhouette come and go from the diner.
Since it seems like she's taking her time, I decided to stargaze until she shows up. Glancing up towards the bright night sky, thanks for the less light pollution, the stars are so visible within the naked-eye.
I let out a soft gasp, the popular W-shaped constellation, Queen Cassiopeia, proudly sitting on her throne. Confident as ever about her unrivaled beauty. It's autumn season, so the Orion constellation won't be quite visible. Scanning up the night sky, hoping to find the largest constellation ever, the Hydra. After scanning for quite a while, I couldn't find it, maybe it ain't visible yet. Why is every constellation I adore ain't visible to my favorite season? Well at least I saw the Cassiopeia, I'm quite happy about that. I don't even bother to check if the Scorpius constellation is visible, it's the end of September anyway.
Letting out a shaky breath from this cold autumn night, glancing around my vicinity once again, hoping to see Nancy this time. Surprise, surprise, there's still no sign of her. I snatch my phone from my pocket and try to type in a text with my cold hands.
Me: Where are you?
Holding up my phone, waiting in anticipation to her respond. I wouldn't be surprised if she's in an accident, since she drives like a madman anyway.
Nancy: On my way...
She's on her way. The question is, how long is this "on my way"? There's a possibility that, that "on my way" can refer that she just went out of her door. I let out a sigh, a cold fog that came out of my mouth makes me chuckle a little. I really love cold season, a perfect time to just read a book, sip some coffee, or perhaps binge-watch anything on Netflix. It really is a perfect season. Nothing will ever beat Autumn season. Autumn will be always on top of my preferred season, under it is Winter.
Smiling at myself, looking like an idiot out here. The cold swift wind flutters the thin fabric of my jacket, trying to take a stand of my hair too. I try to glance towards where did this cold wind came from, and to my surprised, I see Nancy jogging towards my direction. Did the nightly breeze just help me find her? Whatever, at least she's here now, and I'm glad that she doesn't look like someone who went in an accident.
"Why are you taking so long?" I try to fix up my jacket because of the wind, "I thought you were in an accident."
"Well, yeah. I can see myself getting in an accident." She crosses her arms up, glancing between me and the diner, "Why didn't you told me that there were two entrances to this diner?" She finally focuses her whole attention on me, raising an eyebrow.
"Wait, there are two entrances?" I glance towards the diner. What kind of diner that has two entrances? And what's the whole purpose of it?
She sighs, a faint white fog came out from her mouth. "Well, yeah. The other one is on the other side of this diner." She reaches out for my hand, and I reach in. She begins to pull me towards the diner. "So, what are you doing to tell me?"
"But before I spill, let's order something to eat." I break free from her grip, and I'm the one who's pulling her around. We finally reached the one out of two entrances in this diner. Seriously, what kind of diner has two entrances? I let go of her, and pull the glass door in front of us. Weird, the door won't budge after I'm done pulling it, it still won't open. I can hear Nancy snickers softly beside me. Glancing towards her, raising an eyebrow. "What?"
She points out the sign that reads "Push" right in front of me. "What the fuck are you doing?" She laughs hysterically, and she's the one who pushed the door open. She grips my arm and pulls me inside the diner.
I glance around the diner, seeing the interior design of the whole diner. It's like a combination of retro and vintage. With its black and white tiles, the ceiling in light tropical yellow. The chairs and tables are beige with just some black lining on the side. The counter is the same but instead of the black lining, it's a red lining with white outlining. Finally, there's a vacant seat next to the counter.
I pull Nancy towards the vacant seat, picking up the menu from the counter on our way to the vacant seat, and push her down to her chair. "So, what will you have?"
"A drink will be fine and quite a safe choice. I don't want to choke on my food when you are telling a story." She relaxes her whole body down to her chair, smiling at me. "I'd rather choke on something that is liquid than something solid. I also don't think you know how to perform the Heimlich maneuver."
Rolling my eyes at her, crossing my arms in front of me, "I do know how to perform the Heimlich maneuver."
"Yeah, sure, I believe you." Her tone sounds sarcastic and nonchalant. "I'll just have an iced tea."
"Aight!" I glance around to find a waiter, but the sudden fast beating of my heart tells me to stop glancing around. Staring back at Nancy, making sure that she'll understand my facial expression.
She gives me an empathic gaze, and sighs slowly. "You want me to call up the waiter and order?"
I nod slowly, relief gone through my whole soul, "I'm just going to have an iced tea too."
"Aren't you not allowed to drink something that contains a lot of sugar, because of your acid reflux?" She raises an eyebrow at me, her whole facial expression is filled with concern, like a mother to her daughter.
"Eh, I'll be fine. Don't worry." If I die from acid reflux, then that's a bonus for me, but I don't think the surrounding people in my life will agree with that. I don't have any choice, I want iced tea, but it's bad for me. It's really a natural instinct to crave something that's bad for you.
She rolls her eyes at me and raises her hand to call the waiter, still staring at me with her eyes that's filled with disappointment. I just smile innocently at her.
A woman in a waiter suit approaches us with a notepad and pen in hand. "What can I do for you?" She has that smile that the other waitress doesn't have. It's that genuine smile rather than those forced smile. I appreciate about that to minimum wageworkers.
"Can we have two lemon iced tea?" Nancy's sweet tone towards the waitress makes my heart melts for a second.
I love those people who treat waitress and other minimum wageworkers like they're also humans, well in fact, they are humans. Still, I'm confuse about something, "Why lemon iced tea?"
Nancy tears her eyes at the waitress and gaze toward my direction, "Well because the lemon will at least neutralize the acid in your stomach."
Nodding slowly at her. I never thought about that, well I guess no acid reflux for me today. I'll get to live another day.
"Two orders of lemon iced tea," The waitress writes our order down on her notepad. "Anything else?"
Nancy smiles at the waitress, "That would be all, thank you!"
The waitress nods and heads her way to the counter. The world needs more people like that waitress. She really seems happy doing her job. Makes me think if I could just follow what I'm passionate about rather than follow a successful path.
Nancy leans in forward from her seat, "So, what is it you want to tell me?" Every second, I forgot that she gets curious even more as time goes by.
"It's about me having..." A mischievous thought fly by in my mind. "Well, why won't we just wait for our drinks?"
"You're slowly killing me here." She shakes her head, leaning back on her seat.
I smile mischievously at her and glance around the diner, just to pass the time on waiting for our drinks. A group of friends caught my eye, they're all laughing and having fun. A boy caught my attention, I glance at his bag and I smile sweetly. There's a pin that reads, "Trans and proud." I'm glad they went through a beautiful transformation.
The waitress finally came back with a large steel tray with our drinks on it. "Two lemon iced tea." She puts our drinks down on our table with such grace. I'm guessing she's been a waitress for her whole life now, and I'm glad she's passionate about it.
"Thank you." Nancy and I say in unison and we both genuinely smile towards the kindest waitress we ever had.
The waitress smiles back at us and finally walks away from us. I watch the waitress walk towards another table. She still has that same smile she has when she approaches us. Talk about dedication!
"So, we have our drinks." Nancy's voice caught my attention and I glance at her. She's stirring her drink with the red straw. "Care to spill what you want to spill?"
I give it a minute to think about how I'm gonna say this, smiling at the memory of her telling that I'm having a crush for the first time. "You're right." Stirring my drink and drinking it, while wearing a thick smug mask on my face.
"I'm right?" The perplexity that had formed around her face is really visible, even from a mile away. "About what exactly?"
"I do have a crush." I sip my drink in a way that lets out a watery sound.
"Wait?" She takes a quick sip-the quickest sip I ever saw from her, that nearly made her drink half-empty-and leans in forward. "Let me guess, is it Jacob?"
I'm trying to hold back a shout, remembering that we're in a public establishment, "Yes!"
"Oh my God, I was right. You do have a crush on him." She covers her already open wide mouth, holding the gasps from her throat while chuckling softly.
My cheeks heat up, I can feel myself blush. Funny, about a minute ago I feel cold-freezing to be exact. It's my first time feeling warm towards a person who I promise to myself to give him hell. My soul seems to found its perfect home and partner.
"Earth to Margaret." Nancy waves a hand right in front of my eyes, snapping me back from reality. "You're thinking about him, don't you?" She grins widely.
I slowly nod and grin back at her. I never have a crush through my entire life, this is a fairly new emotion I'm experiencing. Jacob, the man I swore to make his life a living hell, is the same man I've fallen into. That sounded cliché, but I don't care. I can't wait to experience and cherish these new emotions I'm having.
"By the way," Nancy leans back from her seat. Glancing up to her, watching her sip her almost empty drink. "Hate to make you even more excited and give you a possibility of a heart attack, but Dennise is back in town."
"Wait? You mean as in Dennise, Dennise?" Oh my God, she's right. The possibility of me having a heart attack increased. I need to calm down before I collapse on the table.
She didn't say anything, but she just smiles and nods in my direction. She's too busy drinking to even say anything.
Dennise Viola is one of my best friends, but we don't talk much because of her busy schedule. She's currently learning how to speak and write in different languages, that's why her schedule is so tight. The best thing is she's in town. I have a lot to talk about to her. Especially the whole crush thing.
Nancy and I spend the whole evening talking about Jacob and how he makes me smile and laugh, even though he throws some insults and is practically bullying me throughout the day. The fact that I insult and bully him back makes it even more adorable between us. We have like a love-hate relationship, but platonically though, we ain't lovers yet. I just hope no one will intervene between us, because damn, that will hurt a lot. First crush and first heartbreak. It ain't the most ideal thing to even have, especially in college life where it requires a lot of motivation and studying.
"What about Amon though?" She raises an eyebrow, slowly finishing the last sip of her drink.
"What about him?" I raise my eyebrow, drinking the last sip of my iced tea.
"Well, from what I heard from you, he seems like that's boyfriend material person." She sighs, placing her drink down on the table, "Don't you feel that about him?" She raises her hands up to catch the waitress' attention. I'm guessing she's asking for the check now. The waitress immediately walks towards our table, handing us the check. We each split it, and we also split a tip for the very kind waitress, because she deserves it!
"Well, I'm gonna be honest here, Amon and I will just be friends, that's all." I take one last glance around the lovely diner before heading out to the door.
Nancy follows after me. "If that's what you think, then sure."
We walk out of the door, the familiar cold night breeze flow through my skin once again. "And I wouldn't think Amon would fall in love with a nobody like me anyway." I huff out, giggling softly at the sight of the white cloud escaping from my breath.
"If you say so." She walks towards her car that's parked right next to the diner, "Should I drive you back to your campus?"
Part of me wants to, so I could save up my energy from walking, but the other part seems to like to wander around the night, appreciating life until I got back to my dorm. "You go on ahead, I'll just walk back." I give her a faint smile.
"Okay," She hops on her car, starting the engine. "Just be safe out there, okay?" She drives off in the distance.
I am now alone, under the night sky with only the stars and moon as my light. Holding my jacket tightly in front of me, trying to fight back the shiver from this cold autumn breeze. Wandering around the block, I really don't feel like going home already, especially when I have an opportunity to walk around under this brilliant autumn night.
I sigh softly, another white cloud escapes my mouth, I'm seriously contemplating whether to let Jacob enter my life. Will I ever trust him, though?
The vibration from my phone distracts me from my thoughts. Who the hell would text me at night? Snatching my phone from my back pocket, I read the message.
Noah: Where are you?
Seems like Noah is looking for me. He might be in the dorm, frantically walking around like a concern sibling. I smile at the thought of Noah having a slight panic attack about him concerning for my well-being.
I try to type in a response.
Me: I'm just walking back to the campus, don't worry abo—
Before I could even finish typing, another message from Noah pops up.
Noah: Never mind, I see you.
Wait, what? Since he can see me, he might have seen me immediately stopped walking. He must have sensed my confusion since he sent another message to me.
Noah: Turn around.
I did what he instructed me, and to my surprise, he's jogging towards me. Crossing my arms, waiting for him to get close, "What the hell are you doing walking around in the middle of the night like some sort of serial killer?" I raise an eyebrow at him.
"Same question goes to you." He crosses his arms, imitating my facial expression.
"Well, I was walking back to the campus. Appreciating the nightly autumn breeze." I pout out my lips, "What's your excuse?"
He shrugs, uncrossing his arms in the process. "Eh, same." He scans my outfit from bottom to top. "I can see you're wearing my jacket that you 'borrowed'." He puts air-quotes as he said the word "borrowed".
"Yeah, why?" I hold back a chuckle.
He lets out a sigh. It's quite weird that there ain't any white fog escapes Noah's breath. Is it because he has different body temperature than me? Another weird thing about him. I'm fairly convinced he's a cold-blooded reptile in disguise. "I'm wondering when will you give it back to me."
I give it some thought for a moment, "I don't know, maybe never?" I shrug. "It's mine now." He shakes his head in disappointment. "And you can't do anything about it." Letting out a soft chuckle, while Noah just groan in disappointment.
He glances away from me for a second, and that gesture alone makes me think there's something in his mind. "I have something to tell you." He puts his hands in his pockets.
I've known him for like a millennium, and I can tell on his gestures, the thing he wants to tell me is something serious. Hence, the anxious hands in the pockets gesture. "Care to tell me while we stroll under the night sky?" I begin to walk slowly, making him walk by my side.
His hands are still in his pockets as we walk side-by-side. "I've had a little chit-chat with Jacob earlier."
From all the things I expect from Noah, I didn't expect that at all. My curiosity piqued because of Jacob's name. "What did you guys have talked about?"
He went silent for a moment. I don't like that silent from him, especially because that ain't his nature. He always seems to be the gossipy type of guy, but this silent is scary from him. After another minute of us strolling under the night sky, he shrugs and smiles at me. "It's a secret."
Oh, my fucking God. I hate that so much. There's nothing in the world I hate most are those people who say that they have something to tell me and ended up with not telling me. And of all people, Noah knows that I hate that. "I fucking hate you right now."
He walks a bit quicker than me now, he must have sensed that we're close to the campus. He glances back at me over his shoulder, "I know, and thanks." I roll my eyes at his innocent smile. For the rest of the night, my mind will now wonder about what Noah and Jacob talked about.