Back at home, Mom and Dad are raving about Will's win in the battles. "I just can't believe you actually won Save The Citizen as a freshman! I mean I know Jada did it last year but wow." Dad raves as he drags Will out the living room.
"And you topped Mom's best score on the pinball machine!" Dad then says and I sigh, annoyed that they haven't said anything about my wins. I love my parents but sometimes, they get carried away with Will and it's like I don't exist.
We all walk into the kitchen to then see Mom and Gwen speaking. I freeze in my place and my face falls. "What is she doing here?" I ask Will annoyed.
"I don't know." He then whispers to me.
"There they are." Mom says as she spots us three.
"Gwen?" Will asks her.
"Hey." She greets him.
"Oh, Dad, this is Gwen Grayson. Gwen Grayson this is Dad." Will introduces them in an awkward way.
I sigh and take out a can from the fridge. I crack it open then watch their interaction.
"Mr Stronghold, it's such an honour. I'm sorry to barge in like this." Gwen apologises.
Dad smiles and I roll my eyes. "Oh, not at all. Will, Jada and I were just hanging' chillin'."
"Honey, Gwen here is a Technopath." Mom explains to dad. "And she's offered to help Will with his science homework. And she's a senior."
"Oh, well sorry to break it to you Gwen, but me and Will were actually going to the Paper Lantern tonight..." I say and walk over to Will with a pointed look.
"We were?" He questions confused.
"Yes. We are. Remember?" I ask him but he's still lost. "You're a lost cause." I whisper to him.
Mom then gives me a pointed look and smiles. "Honey, I think tonight it would be nice if we all eat dinner together."
"Yeah, no sorry. As long as she's here, I won't be." I say and walk out and up some stairs.
"I'm sorry about our daughter." I hear Dad say and I roll my eyes as they are wrapped in her trap. "She can be a little icy to some people." I hear Dad say.
Once, I'm in my room I find some nice clothes to wear. I pick out a simple white top with a skull on it and some black leggings. I put on my converse and check my phone to see it's 7:30 pm. I get my books I need for my studying and then put them in my bag. I then check myself in the mirror and sigh.
I can't believe Will forgot. Some friend he is.
I head down the stairs to see Will and Gwen on the sofa together going over the science homework. "I'm heading to the Paper Lantern. Last chance to join me Will."
"He's with me so scram." Gwen then sasses me and I scoff.
"This is my house." I say and she smirks.
"Is it? Cause you aren't even blood related..." She then says and I look at her angry and astounded. "Will... you seriously gonna let her say that?" I ask him and he looks between us lost.
"Well, she's not wrong...." I hear him say and I scoff, tears welling in my eyes.
"Wow, some brother you are." I say and open the front door then step out and slam it shut. I decide to take the long way to the restaurant to calm myself down and by the time I get there it's 8:20.
~~~
I walk in the red building and noticed how packed it is. I look around and spot Layla sat at a table alone. I smile at the receptionist and tell her that my friend is here and so I sit down at Layla's table.
She looks at me with a big smile then looks around and sighs. I grab her hand over the table and smile. "I'm sorry, I tried to get him here." A waitress then comes over with a pointed look. "Hi, sorry, I just got here, can you give me maybe 5 minutes." I hear her sigh then she walks away again.
Layla then looks at the flower on the table and it slowly crumbles and dies. I give her a sympathetic look and sigh. "It's fine Jada.... You're here now so let's eat." She says slowly and I can see the heart break in her eyes.
We order our food for the night and decide not to bring Will up. I tell her all about my thought process for both battles I did today as she was the only one who seemed to take any care towards me. She then shares how her classes are going and how the guys are getting on in their classes.
~~
As time goes on, we have both eaten half our meals but got lost in conversation so the rest got cold. I look around the room to notice we are the only ones left in here. It get's to a point where we both are just sat in comfortable silence and are picking at our food. I hear footsteps getting closer to us so we both look up to see Warren standing in front of our table.
"Still working on that?" He asks me as he nods to some of my studying next to me.
"Hey?" I greet him confused, forgetting he worked here.
"Hey." He replies.
"Hey," Layla then says, breaking our awkward greeting. "We go to school together." Layla then says and I kick her under the table for being awkward.
"You're Strongholds friend." He then clicks while looking at Layla.
"Yeah..." Me and Layla say.
"Yeah..." He repeats awkwardly.
I look down at my food and drop my fork then look at Layla for what to do but she just shrugs. "Want me to heat those up for you?" He then asks, pointing to our plates.
Layla then looks around and leans closer. "You're not supposed to use your powers outside of school." She whispers and I chuckle.
"I think he was going to use the microwave." I whisper to him and I watch her get embarrassed.
"Anyway, I was supposed to be meeting Will here but...." Layla explains.
"He's a shit friend and brother." I finish for her but she kicks me. "Ow." I say to her and he smiles at our interaction.
Layla then looks at him then at me and back to him. "You wanna sit down?" She asks him and I give her a wide eyed look, asking what she's doing. She nods her head for me to move up so I do. We watch him look around and then sigh.
"I think I can spare a minute." He then sits down next to me and I fully take in what he looks like. Black tank top, hair in a cute bun and he doesn't look as angry as he usually does, he looks... relaxed.
He then lights a little flame on the end of his finger and leans his arm over me to light the candle. I smile at him using his powers and look at Layla. I can feel his leg pressed against mine and it's making my heart beat a million miles a minute.
What is happening?
Suddenly, Layla starts to talk about how Will stood her up and ends up ranting about her whole life with Will. Until she starts talking about the lima beans story. I look at Warren to see that he is getting slight bored and so I look at Layla and give her a look. She takes a hint then rounds up her story on how her and Will became best friends.
"And falling for him was that before or after the lima beans?" Warren then says and I choke on my drink.
"What!? I am not in love with Will Strong..." She looks at us and we both give her a look to say we know. "Is it that obvious?" She then asks us.
"Yeah," Warren nods with sympathy.
"Great." She then says.
"Oh, don't worry, Will is to dumb to realise." I then say and she smiles.
Warren then shrugs and I feel his shoulders against mine. "So why don't you tell him?"
"Well, I was going to ask him to Homecoming, but there's two problems. He likes somebody else and she's perfect." Layla explains and I scoff leaning back in my seat.
"She is not perfect." I butt in. Warren nudges me with his knee and gives me a look to shut up but I roll my eyes.
"You know what I think? To let true love remain unspoken is the quickest route to a heavy heart." Warren says and I lean forward in surprise.
"Whoa." Me and Layla both say.
"When did you become a romantic?" I ask him shocked at his words.
"That was really deep." Layla then says.
"Yeah..." He starts and looks between us. "And your lucky numbers are.." He holds up the paper from a fortune cookie and we both smile. "Four, sixteen, five and forty-nine." He then reads of the paper and I chuckle.
"And he we were thinking you actually had a heart." I joke with him and he chuckles while he nudges my shoulder.
A women then starts shouting at Warren form the kitchen while me and Layla exchange looks. Warren shouts something back in the same language and it sounded so natural that it's kind of attractive.
He then looks at us and smiles. "I got to go." He hands the piece of paper to Layla and smiles. "See you around hippie. See you in chemistry Phoenix." Warren says to Layla then smiles at me and walks away.
Layla turns to me and then smiles. "I'm gonna go home, want me to walk with you?" She asks me and I smile shaking my head.
"No thanks. I'm gonna stay a bit longer. See if I can finish my studying. Besides the owner likes me." She laughs at my comment and picks up her stuff.
"Okay, goodnight!" She then says and walks away.
I watch leave then let out a long sigh. Will is such an idiot. How could he do that to Layla? How could he let Gwen say that to me? Why would he agree when he knows how I feel about the subject? Is he really that love sick? Does he even care about me? Do any of them care about me? I mean they didn't care about my battles...
(A/N, More Warren for you! Hope you like it enough to vote, if you don't know how just press the start! Words: 1759)