I dangle my legs down the skate ramp. "I wonder why he's not texting me back. Should I text him again," Camilla says.
Camilla and I have been best friends since the third grade. We've been there for everything. Our first crushes, our first boyfriends, going to high school together. There's no doubt she's my best friends.
"No. I'm going to just leave it," she adds. She clicks her phone off and pushes it away from her. "Yeah, just leave him. He'll reply," I say.
Camilla is dating this guy, Jordan. Jordan used to like me first, then fell for Camilla. I never reciprocated feelings for him, though. They're really cute together. Cuter him and I would have ever been. "Hopefully," Camilla says, crossing her fingers.
"What's happening with you and Ezra," she smirks. I texted her about him last night. I told her about the eye contact and the walk home and when I thought he was going to kiss me.
"I don't know. I like him but it's only been two days," I say. "But you guys would actually be so cute," she says. "You've never met him. How would you know," I raise my eyebrow. "I just do. I just do," she says, grinning. "Besides, I don't even know if he likes me. Or if he's interested," I add. "He wouldn't have walked you home if he didn't like you," she exclaims. She does make a good point. "Yeah, I guess," I say.
"So you've been hanging out with his group, though," she asks. "Yeah. They're not as bad as they seem," I shrug. "Are you sure," she asks. Camilla has always had my best interest at heart. "I'm sure. They're all really nice," I say. "Okay. I trust your judgment," she says.
"You should ask him to hang out with us," she says. "Like with you and me," I ask. "Yeah. Then I can meet him," she says with a sinister smile. "No! You're going to embarrass me," I giggle. "I won't. I swear," she promises, holding out her pinky. I link mine with hers. "Fine. I'll text him," I say. "Yay!"
Me: Hey, do you want to hang out today?
I click off my phone. "Now we wait," I say. My phone vibrates a second after. "Is that him," she asks. I click it back on. "Yeah," I smile. "Well, what does it say?"
I tap on the banner.
Ezra: Sure! Just me and you or?
Camilla looks up from my phone with her mouth open. "He's wondering if it's just you and him? And he said yes!?" "That doesn't mean anything," I say. "Yes it does!"
Me: No. We'd be with my friend, Camilla.
Ezra: Oh. Sure! I want to meet some of your friends, anyways.
"Now I get to meet him," Camilla grins. "Now you do," I smile.
Ezra: Where should we meet?
Me: Well, we're at the skatepark. So here?
Ezra: Be there in 10
"Oh! Speaking of texts and boys, Jordan finally texted me back," she says. "Told you," I say. She always gets paranoid that he's cheating or ignoring her. It's often that I have to reassure her. Though, she does the same for me.
Camilla and I fill each other in on the things we missed this week while we wait for Ezra. I tell her about the book I'm reading, she tells me about her and Jordan.
"Is that him," she asks, leaning into me. "Yeah, actually," I say. Ezra is walking through the park pathway, looking down at his phone.
"Hey," he says, walking up at us. "Hey!" He clicks off his phone and puts it in his pocket. "Ezra, this is Camilla," I say. "Nice to meet you," Ezra smiles at Camilla. "Nice to finally meet you. She's told me so much about you," Camilla says. I nudge Camilla in the arm.
"Told you so much, huh." He smirks at me, proudly, realizing that I've talked about him. "I've mentioned you once or twice," I say casually. "Sure," Camilla says sarcastically. I nudge her even harder. I try to ignore them, and look away.
"Anyways what do you guys want to do," Camilla asks. "I'm not sure," I say. "Brown shed," Camilla suggests. "Yeah, that works," I say.
The brown shed is right across from the skate park. Ezra pulls off his backpack and puts it on a picnic bench. "I forgot I had these in here," Ezra says, holding a stack of neon pink sticky notes and a pen. "Ooo. Pink. Ezra," Camilla teases. "Calm down. They're from school," Ezra says.
"I have an idea," he says. He scribbles something on the sticky note and peels it off. He walks towards me and presses it onto my back. "Hey," I exclaim. I reach behind me and remove the sticky note to reveal that it says Kick me.
"Wow so original," I say sarcastically. Ezra let's out a laugh. I grab the stack of sticky notes and write Dumb on it and press it against his forehead. Camilla let's out a giggle. Ezra quickly takes the sticky note off of his forehead.
He looks at it and gives me an unimpressed look. "I only write the truth," I shrug. He scoffs and runs to the pad of sticky notes and writes something on one and sticks it on my back and another one. I scoff and laugh, removing them off my back.
Camilla pipes up; "I have a better idea then you two putting stupid and kick me on each other." She grabs the sticky notes and starts making a smiley face on the walls of the brown shed. "That's cute," I giggle.
Ezra grabs half the pad of sticky notes and starts pressing them on the wall. Camilla steps back and watches Ezra place sticky notes one by one on the wall. "Is this one of those 'trust the process' kind of things," she asks. "You'll see," Ezra says.
We watch him place them over each other and around each other. "It's a rose," I say. They're placed over each other, creating layers of petals. Some ripped to add more dimension. "I don't see it," Camilla says. "Oh wait, I do. Never mind."
"You're really talented," I say. "Thanks. I pay attention in art class," he says casually. "It's really good," Camilla says, admiring his work. "Thanks," he says. He places the last one on the wall and stands next to us, admiring his work. Camilla pulls out her phone and takes a photo.
"I'm going to show this to Jordan," Camilla smiles. "Hey! I should invite him to hang out with us. It'll be like a double date sorta thing," she adds. I shoot Camilla the death stare. Ezra chuckles.
"Not a double date. Just friends hanging out," I say. "But yeah, invite him," Ezra adds. "K," Camilla smiles. "He said he'll be here in a few, but he can't stay long cause he's gotta work this evening," She announces. "okay, no problem," I smile.
"In the mean time," Ezra says, sticking more sticky notes on me. I giggle and pull one off to stick it on him. He doges me and laughs. He looks up from reading the sticky note and locks eyes with me. I can feel my stomach creating butterflies.
He breaks eye contact and reaches over, placing another sticky note on my arm. "I'm feeling a bit third wheel over here," Camilla says. "Sorry," I giggle.
***
"So your telling me you play football, soccer, and hockey," Jordan says.
He got here shortly after Ezra and I ended our sticky note fight. "Yeah, I just like to play sports," Ezra shrugs. "Damn. I can barely handle football alone," he replies. The guys go on to talk about their football teams.
"Do you know what they're talking about," Camilla leans over. "No," I say. "Me neither," she says.
"So did you see if you could get a job at the library, yet," Camilla asks. "No, not yet. I was going to go this week," I reply. "I'll come with you if you want. I need more excuses to get out of the house," she replies. "sister problems," I ask. "Yeah," she sighs. "But yeah, you could totally come. I don't mind the company," I say. "Cool! Let me know when you're going. I'm free all week," she says. "Me too," I add.
"What about you? Did you find out if Mrs. Benloui needs nannying for her kids this summer," I ask. "I did," she smiles. "And?" I ask. "She said that she'd love for me to Nanny and that she'd probably need me most on weekdays," she says. "That's awesome! That way you can spend weekends with me," I smile, putting my hands under my chin. "Wouldn't be a weekend without you," she says.
"You guys wanna go get gelato or something," Jordan asks. "Yes!" Ezra exclaims. "That's a great idea," Camilla says. We all get off the picnic bench and grab our stuff.
Camilla and Jordan grab each other's hand, walking down the sidewalk. "Are they together," Ezra asks me. "Yeah. They're pretty cute, huh," I say. "Yeah they are," he smiles. We would be too.
We walk across the street to the gelato shop beside the gas station. Camilla and Jordan walk in and Ezra runs In front of me, holding the door open. "Thank you," I smile as he walks in behind me.
The gelato shop is very 60s. Red booth seats, checkered floors, colourful walls. It's one of my favourite in terms of decoration. I look at the glass case with the containers of gelato even though I already know what I'm getting. Raspberry.
I walk up to the counter to order. I pay for my gelato and wait for the guys and Camilla to order. Ezra walks up to me, gelato cup in hand. "Which one did you get," he asks. "Raspberry," I smile. "I got lemon," he says. "Oh I love that one," I say. "It's so good," he smiles.
Camilla and Jordan walk over to us, giggling about something to each other. "You guys ready to head out," Camilla asks. "Yeah, we're ready," I say. We walk out of the shop and yet again, Ezra holds the door for me.
"Where to," Camilla asks. "We could go back to the brown shed," I suggest. "I'm good with that," Ezra says. "Then that's where we'll go," I say.
We start heading down the sidewalk and the guys pick up a new conversation.
"Are you going to the farmers market on Saturday," Camilla asks. "I think so. My mom brought it up saying she wanted to go with me," I say. "I'm going. We should walk around together," she says. "I'd love that," I say.
We walk to the brown shed, sitting right back where we were before. "So, Ezra, tell me a bit about yourself," Camilla says. Here we go. I shift my position on the bench, preparing for Camilla to start interrogating Ezra. "Uh, well I like sports-" "No I mean tell me something we don't know," Camilla interrupts.
"Well, I like to do digital graphic designs for fun," he says. "That's really cool," Camilla says. "Can we see some of your work," I ask. "Sure," Ezra says, pulling his phone out of his pocket.
"Here's one," he says. His screen is occupied by a skull dripping in rainbow paint. "You made that," I ask, shockingly. "Yeah," he says. "I would frame that," I add. "I would too. That's pretty sick," Jordan says. "Thanks," Ezra says, smiling shyly.
"Alright, I gotta go. I gotta head to work soon," Jordan says. "Kay. I'll text you," Camilla smiles. "Bye Jordan," I wave. "Cya! Nice meeting you, Ezra," he says. "You too," Ezra replies.
"Glad you guys got along," I say. "Yeah he's a cool guy," Ezra says. I love when my friends get along with my other friends.
Jordan and I go to the same school, along with Camilla, so we've been friends for a while.
"I should go. My mom has an entire list of things I need to do, and I know I'll kick myself if I stay late and have to clean all night," Camilla says. "Totally fine," I say. "Text me later, k," I say. "I will. Bye Ezra,"Camila says. "Bye," Ezra says, waving.
"She's nice," he says. "Yeah, that's Camilla. My best friend" I say. "Since you met pretty much my entire friend group, I got to meet one of your friends," he smiles.
"Yeah. She seems to like you," I say. "Would you consider that a good first impression," he asks. "Yes. I would. Sorry if she came in strong. That's just what she does to people she hasn't met before," I say. I leave out that she only does that to new guys that I'm interested in.
"Nah, it's all good," he says. "I'm kinda hungry. You wanna get something other than gelato?" "I could eat," I say.