"WHAT ARE THE bloody chances?" Cami whisper-shouted in my ear, clutching my arm and shaking it as she sent surreptitious glances to our left. I raised my eyes and immediately averted them.
When I'd said no to going out with Orion this weekend, and I hadn't expected to immediately run into him on said weekend while he was with Dean.
This was awkward to a whole different level. I could only pray they couldn't see us.
"They see us," Cami moaned as if all the hope had just left her body. "For the love of god, Salome, get me out of here."
"No can do," I said grimly. "We're stuck. Unless you want them to hunt us down later and demand to know why we ran away when we so obviously saw them?"
"Better than running into them here."
"Here, you have me," I slanted her a glance, "if he hunts you down later, you won't have that to your advantage."
"Fuck. Here they come."
The smile on Orion's face was far more pleasant than whatever it was on Orion's. "Hey, didn't expect to run into you guys here."
Cami rolled her eyes besides me. I gave her a nudge and she scowled. "Yeah. Uh. How nice."
Amused, I muttered her name under my breath in a half-warning. She glared at me in response.
"Shopping?" Dean asked, voice tighter than usual.
"Yeah, just getting some new clothes," I said, shrugging. "We just got some stuff from Hollister."
"Yeah, we're on our way to the next shop now."
"Are you telling us we should go away?" Dean asked, raising one brow at Cami.
"That's not what I said—"
"Right. Yeah. Have you guys had lunch yet?" Orion asked, mustering a smile.
"No, we were just about to go find a restaurant, actually," I said dryly, knowing full well it was contradicting what Cami had just been saying. "I think we better be on our way."
"Oh, I was thinking we could grab something together."
Silence. And then Cami's hands wrapped around my arms, yanking me in the other direction. "No thanks! We'll be fine on our own, nothing for you guys to worry about!"
"Camille Tsang!" Dean suddenly snapped. "Don't be childish."
Silence, and then: "Oh, so now I'm the childish one, yeah? Fuck off, Hui Zit-hei, leave us alone you stupid, idiotic—"
"Enough." That was me, shooting both of them a look. "We're out in public. If you feel like having a screaming match, at least wait until we're in private."
"He's insufferable," she hissed, glaring daggers at him.
He glared right back. "But still nowhere as childish as you."
Orion and I shared an exasperated look. He had to realise that having lunch together right now with these two was not going to end well, right? But the other part of him also didn't want to give up the chance to spend more time with me. Even if it meant having to deal with whatever the hell was going on between Dean and Cami right now. I didn't think there was a single term that could explain what exactly was occurring there except absolute chaos.
"You know the noodles place down the street?" Orion finally suggested, tilting his head. "Fancy getting something there together?"
I glanced at Cami. She was too busy glaring at Dean to realise, so I shook her a little. "Noodles place, Cami?"
"If it wasn't with them, I'd say yes."
Orion raised one brow. "Now what did I do to you?"
She didn't reply. "Salome..."
"Fucking coward."
Now Dean had her full attention again. "What the hell did you just say?"
"I said that you're a coward," he hissed.
"Oh no, no, no, you are not going to—fuck you. Fine. Noodles. Whatever. Not like it means anything."
"Cami," I murmured, patting her on the back, "you don't have to if you don't want to, he's just trying to piss you off."
"And it's working."
"Then don't let it work."
Now Dean's eyes narrowed, turning to me. "Salome Lam..."
"Oh shut up, Dean. Fine. Orion, lead the way, since clearly these two aren't in the state for anything mature at the moment."
We walked a bit ahead, which might not have been the best decision, but surely they couldn't do anything too bad if we left them behind for two seconds?
"Enjoying your day?"
"Quite," I replied with a little shrug. "You?"
"Better now that I'm with you."
I made a hurling motion, cutting him a glare. "No."
"What, you don't like cheesy lines?"
"Do I look like I like cheesy lines?"
"Fine." He pulled a face. "Just wanted to try something new."
"Yeah, stay away from those in the near future. They don't match your face."
"Wait, what?"
"Hearing words like those come out of a mouth like yours gives me the creeps."
"Oh, and what's with my mouth, then?" he asked, leaning in. "Hmm?"
I gave him a shove. "No."
He let out a chuckle, turning his head slightly to check that Dean and Cami were still alright. They were walking side by side. Cami's face was stone cold, and Dean was looking anywhere but at her, arms crossed.
He let out a sigh. "Any chance those two could get along again any time soon?"
"Knowing Cami, unlikely."
"Well, fuck."
"They'll handle it, I'm sure. It wasn't this bad like, last week. Did these two argue again sometime when we didn't know?"
"I wouldn't be surprised," he admitted. "And, well, they don't need to see each other in person to argue. Wouldn't be surprised if half their arguments had occurred online."
I winced. "Not much that could be done there."
"Not much at all."
We'd arrived at the noodle shop. It was relatively small, and we managed to get a four person table while the owner happily greeted us in Chinese.
"I'm going to get beef brisket noodles," I told them.
"Fishballs and meatballs," Cami decided, "I'll give you some of mine and you can give me a bit of yours."
"Works fine for me."
Dean tilted his head. "Can't pick, bro. Orion, which one should I get? Squid fish balls or dumplings?"
"Dumplings," Orion said, "I don't trust British squid fish balls."
"Dumplings it is. What are you getting?"
Orion tapped his chin from where he sat opposite me. "I'm going to get the place kart noodles. More expensive, but they got a little bit of everything. Perfect for me."
"Oh!" Cami sat up straight. "Can I have one of your chicken wings?"
Orion glanced at her, amused. "If they give me two, then sure."
"Thank you, thank you, thank you." Cami grinned and then sent Dean a glare. "Why aren't you nice like him?"
Instead of replying, Dean raised one single brow, clearly unamused and unimpressed. I cleared my throat. "Let's order, then? Any drinks?"
"I want a Wong Lo Kat," Dean murmured, referring to the Chinese herbal canned drink.
"Dude, it's so not worth it here," Orion pointed out. "It's like, three or four times the price you can get at home."
"But I'm not going back home for another couple months and I'm thirsty. It's my money, just get it."
"Fine." Orion glanced at me and Cami. "You two?"
"I'll have the milk tea," I told him.
"That's five pounds," he gritted out. "For milk tea."
"It's England," I sighed, "everything is crazily overpriced, but they make it good and I like it. Again, it's my money."
He raised one brow. "I'm paying for you."
"You don't need to."
"I'm doing it. I'm paying for Cami too. This fucker," he said, nudging his chin in Dean's direction, "can pay for himself."
Dean looked outraged. "What kind of discrimination is this?"
"I'm sure you deserve it," Cami sighed, waving herself with her hands. It was quite hot in the noodle shop, even though it was still the dead of winter. The heater, or perhaps it was the steam billowing out from the kitchen where the noodles were being cooked. This restaurant was the closest I'd found to a truly Chinese restaurant, not just in its food but also its environment. If I didn't know better, I'd have thought it was one of those noodle shops on the street next to my apartment, filled with grinning aunties and experienced cooks.
He scowled and said nothing as one of the aunties came over to take our order. I didn't want Orion to pay for both me and Cami, but there wasn't really a good way to say no either. Whatever. I'll pay him back somehow in the future.
"Been getting up to anything lately?" Orion asked, trying to break the ice. Cami tore her glaring eyes away from Dean and flashed a grin.
"Assignments and readings. Lots of it. Essay after essay after essay."
"Still not used to it?"
"I don't think I want to get used to it," she huffed. "It'll make me think this is normal when it shouldn't be."
I glanced at her. "Compared to some other universities, we don't even have that much reading."
"It's still absolutely unbearable."
"You survived Arrington," Orion laughed, "you'll manage Redchester. At least you have way more time to do the actual reading, you know."
"I know," Cami sighed. "And I don't have to eat the shitty Arrington food anymore. I still can't believe that the last time I ate anything from Arrington was like, more than six months ago."
"It's been years for me," Orion remarked, "and I still remember the bland piri piri chicken."
"You need soy sauce on that for it to taste good," I winced. "Add soy sauce and it actually tastes decent."
"They don't always have soy sauce in the cafeteria, though," Dean huffed. "And when they do, someone steals it and you can never find it again."
"Prepare your own."
"And bring it to the cafeteria?" he asked, staring gobsmacked at Cami. "Are you insane?"
"It's behind us now," Orion said, raising his hand, acutely aware that if he let this continue, it would fall back into yet another argument. "No point bringing up such... awful memories of school food when we actually have edible things now."
"Amazing," I murmured, "yet Cami is still stuck with her microwavable food."
"Hey, I can cook some simple dishes now."
"Emphasise on the some."
"I'm going to learn over the summer."
"A bit too late, don't you think?"
She narrowed her eyes at me. "You're being mean. Orion, she's being mean."
Orion tilted his head. "Okay, and?"
Her jaw dropped. "That's your response?"
"What else did you expect?" Dean mocked. "Him to be your knight in shining armour?"
Cami's response was completely within my expectations. "I'm going to throw something at you."
I reached out with my hand, pushing Cami back into her chair. "No, Camille Tsang, no. None of that. No violence. No. Mm ho. Guai di."
She glared at me. I glared back. Huffing, she finally turned away, arms crossed. "Can't we just get this over with?"
Orion replied, mildly, "Or you could both just grow up and deal with it like normal mature adults."
"How about no."
"Then that sounds like your problem," he said with a shrug. "Salome, how's your week been?"
"Nice. I've been binge-watching some documentaries on Netflix."
"Who the hell binge-watches documentaries?" Dean asked, gobsmacked.
"Me," I deadpanned. "They're usually quite fun. Decently made. And you learn from them."
"Seriously?"
"Not everyone is like you," Cami shot out before immediately turning away again, refusing to look at him across the table. I glanced at her and then at Dean before slowly shaking my head.
Nothing either Orion nor I could do about it. It was between them and them only. If they wanted to fix it, it was up to them. Neither of us would or could force them. It was their relationship, their feelings.
But well, was it selfish to look at them and think to myself how thankful I was that Orion and I weren't like that? That even in our worst situation, we were still getting along rather than getting into arguments every two seconds? Even when I was avoiding him like the plague, even when he was angry at me?
It felt mean to think of it like that. That Cami and Dean seemed like what Orion and I could have been had we taken things in another direction. But at the same time, it was kind of true, wasn't it?
That thought gave me pause.
Our noodles came and we dug in, Cami a bit more forcefully than the rest of us, as if she was taking her anger out on the poor bowl of fishball and meatball noodles. As promised, I took one of each from her bowl and gave her two pieces of my beef brisket in return,
All four of us were relatively quiet as we ate, not a word shared between us. Eating provided the perfect distraction from even more awkward conversations and all four of us were more than happy to use that as an excuse. Even Orion, who'd been the one to start this in the first place.
My relationship with Orion was thawing. It was far less awkward than it had been, and most of the time we could chat or even laugh about what was between us without it feeling awful. It wasn't like I was immune to it, it was just that now that I knew he felt the same, the need to hide it, to feel embarrassed about my feelings was gone.
I think I was going to say yes the next time he asked.
I didn't know when that would be. He was pretty unpredictable with this kind of stuff. But I didn't think it was going to be far away.
I liked him. I really did. Thirteen, almost fourteen years of liking him had long made it my second nature. I didn't think it was ever going to go away. It was a part of me, easy peasy. And he liked me back. And he'd been persistent in it so far. It had been a couple months since that night in December, and his feelings hadn't seemed to fade.
And even if they did in the future, so what?
At least I'd have some memories to comfort myself with. That's more than right now. That's more than what I've had in the last few years.
Besides, I was pretty sure both our parents would be ecstatic. Though that really wasn't high up on the list of reasons on why I changed my mind, as it shouldn't be, in all honesty.
Clearly having realised that forcing us four to stay together wasn't a good idea, Orion and Dean headed off their own way after lunch, leaving me and Cami with raised brows and ready to continue on our shopping journey. She latched herself onto my arm, grumbling, "I actually hate him."
"Your opinion of him fluctuates a lot, have you realised?"
"Every time I think I can stand him again," she replied flatly, "the most ludicrous shit comes out of his mouth and it's the cycle all over again. I'm tired of it, so I'm going to stay away."
"In all honesty," I mused, "I'm tired of it too."
"Are you tired of Orion, then?"
"No."
"Of course not. Are you going to put you out of his misery soon?"
I flashed her a smile. "Soon. Soon. Probably. I think."
She let out a scoff. "Make up your mind. If I were you, I'd have said yes a long time ago. But, well, you're you and that's why I love you. But don't drag it on much longer, or it's going to end up like me and Dean."
I didn't think that was likely. But it still had some truth to it. Drag it on too long, and feelings would start getting bitter.
Perhaps it was time to put a stopper into this for once and for all. Have my own happily ever after—however long ever after may actually be.