.❀。• *₊°。 ❀°。
—𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐋𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐍, 𝐒𝐎𝐔𝐓𝐇 𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐎𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐀
—𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲
Arabella parked her car in the lot of her favorite Chinese restaurant. She hopped out, the evening air brushing against her skin as she walked towards the entrance.
Despite a lingering nervousness about seeing Drew after the incident at JD's birthday, her current anger towards Noah seemed to overshadow any other emotions.
Arabella checked the time on her phone, 6:38. She was supposed to meet Drew at 7, so she decided to wait outside the restaurant for him. But to her surprise, she saw Drew already there, standing outside the restaurant mindlessly scrolling on his phone, seemingly unaware of her presence.
Arabella took a deep breath, trying to calm her nerves, and then instinctively began adjusting her appearance, smoothing down her hair and straightening her clothes.
"Hi," Arabella breathed out as she approached Drew.
At the sound of her voice, Drew immediately looked up and pocketed his phone. "Hey," he smiled.
It was silent for a few moments, the awkwardness finally catching up to them. Arabella felt the tension and she knew someone had to break the silence before it became unbearable.
"So—"
"I—"
Much to Arabella's dismay, the conversation got even more awkward, if that was even possible, when both Arabella and Drew started to speak up at the same time. Their voices overlapped briefly before they both stopped, awkward smiles on their faces, waiting for the other to continue.
"I'm sorry, you can go," Arabella blurted out, her cheeks flushing with embarrassment as she gave Drew an awkward smile.
"You sure?" Drew asked.
"Yeah, wasn't that important anyway," Arabella softly laughed, her gaze shifting to her feet. With the awkwardness lingering, she started to bite her nails nervously.
"Stop doing that."
Arabella was taken aback by Drew's words and brought her head up to look at Drew. "Stop doing what?" She asked, her expression confused.
"Biting your nails," Drew explained, his eyes crinkling with amusement, but Arabella cocked her head to the side in confusion, her brows knitting together. "You don't remember? 11th grade."
Arabella furrowed her eyebrows, her mind flickering through memories until suddenly her eyes widened in realization. "11th grade English, oh my God."
"You for real got so nervous when Mr. Francis called on you that you started to bite your pinky nail so much that you ripped off most of it." Drew scoffed a laugh at the memory.
"Yeah cause he was scary." Arabella cringed as Drew reminded her of the incident. She quickly dropped her hand from her mouth. "Anyways, what were you saying before?"
"Oh, um..." Drew's gaze shifted towards the entrance of the Chinese restaurant. "They don't do takeout anymore, so I didn't know if this would still be a good choice."
Arabella frowned as he said this, "Why wouldn't this be a good choice?"
"Rule number 2?" Drew said, even though it sounded more like a question.
Arabella burst into a loud, genuine laugh at this, her laughter filling the air. It was a stark contrast to the earlier feelings she was having during the argument with Noah.
"I mean, we can cut ourselves some slack; it's our first day," Arabella chuckled, walking towards the door of the restaurant. "I guess it's fine to break one rule."
"Jesus, Arabella, not even two days and you're already breaking a rule," Drew teased, his tone playful, as he followed Arabella inside.
Arabella just looked back, teasingly shrugging her shoulders in response. They reached the front desk and asked for a table. Not long after, they were seated.
As they settled into their seats and perused the menus, Drew spoke up. "So, what made you change your mind about tonight?"
Arabella pursed her lips uncomfortably as she looked up from her menu to meet Drew's gaze. The way they were sitting made it seem like it was a date, and she felt a pang of unease. However, Arabella quickly decided to shrug it off. It wasn't a date, just a catch-up.
"Noah and I got into a fight," Arabella explained. She knew it wasn't the best situation, talking to her ex about her current boyfriend. But she and Drew were just friends now. And besides, rule 3: the past is in the past.
Drew looked up from his menu, a shocked expression taking over his face. "So you canceled on him?" he asked. From the expression on his face Arabella could tell that he was shocked and confused all at the same time, but she couldn't blame him. Who meets up with their ex after a fight with their boyfriend?
"He canceled on me, actually," Arabella spoke, her voice slightly strained as she tried to distract herself from meeting Drew's piercing gaze.
"So he still has anger issues I'm guessing?" Drew scoffed.
Arabella slightly rolled her eyes. "He doesn't have anger issues, Drew. He just gets... annoyed... fast."
Drew raised his eyebrows, giving Arabella a pointed look. "So I was right. He has anger issues."
Arabella pressed her lips into a straight line, holding back a retort. Before she could say anything, their waiter came to the table, interrupting the conversation.
"Hi I'm Amy and I'll be your waiter for today, what would you like to order?"
Arabella looked at the menu, preparing to speak, but right as she was about to, Drew cut her off.
"Could we have two Kung Pao chicken with white rice, but on one of them, could you take out the chilies?" Drew asked the waiter, who was jotting everything down. Drew then turned to Arabella. "You still like Kung Pao chicken, right?"
Arabella was too surprised to respond with words; instead, she simply looked at Drew and nodded her head. She couldn't help but be surprised that he remembered her favorite dish.
But what surprised Arabella even more was that Drew remembered that she would always be embarrassed to order Kung Pao chicken without the chilies, so she would make Drew order it for her. Every time. This small gesture of remembering a seemingly insignificant detail made Arabella feel truly seen and understood.
Arabella couldn't help but smile to herself. She was accustomed to receiving the princess treatment from her dad, grandparents, and relatives, but there was something different about this type of treatment. It was the kind where someone remembered the little things, and that meant more to her than she could express.
"That will be out in a bit."
Drew thanked the waiter as she walked away. "Still don't know why you get it without chilies," he remarked, shaking his head in faux disapproval, then taking a sip of his water.
"My spice tolerance is down here," Arabella explained, lowering her hand towards the floor to emphasize her point.
"Because you never eat spicy food." Drew scoffed.
"I eat Taki's."
Drew let out such a hearty laugh that his water almost spilled out of his mouth, catching Arabella off guard. She grimaced slightly, quickly grabbing a napkin and handing it to him.
After a while, their food arrived and was placed on their table, the aroma of Kung Pao chicken filling the air. Arabella's mouth watered as she looked at the dish in front of her.
"Wait, they forgot my sauce," Arabella huffed, annoyance lacing her voice. Spotting a passing waiter, she quickly flagged him down and requested some sauce. He returned with the sauce and whispered a quick "on the house" before walking away, leaving Arabella pleasantly surprised.
Arabella smiled politely at the waiter, while Drew simply chuckled at the situation. Arabella suddenly snapped her head towards Drew, giving him a pointed look.
"Pretty privilege," Drew snickered under his breath, which earned him an eye roll from Arabella.
"Maybe he was just being nice instead of charging me for a tiny bit of sauce."
"Nah, that's definitely pretty privilege," Drew pointed out, leaning back in his seat and spreading his legs slightly to get more comfortable. "I came here with Rudy last week. Same waiter charged him for the same amount of sauce."
"Well, Rudy should start stepping up his game and start looking like me," Arabella beamed, flipping her hair in a faux attempt at a glamorous pose.
"Don't think anyone could look like you, Ara." Drew said, letting out a breathy laugh.
Arabella chuckled, "I don't know if that was a compliment or not."
She knew what he meant, she knew it was a compliment. But Arabella didn't want the conversation to take an awkward turn, especially since it was going so well. She flashed Drew a grateful smile, hoping to steer the conversation in a different direction.
Drew picked up on the hint, and he didn't carry on the conversation either. The noticeable drop in his expression indicated that he understood Arabella's message.
They ate their dinner and carried on as if nothing had happened, as if they hadn't spoken to each other for the past seven years. Arabella liked it, she liked talking to him again.
"You ready for the bill?" Arabella asked Drew, noticing that he had finished his food. She began to pull out her wallet, but Drew caught her.
"You can put that away." Drew said. "I already paid."
Arabella's face twisted in confusion. "What do you mean you already paid?"
"I knew you would put up a problem when it came to the bill, so I gave them my card in advance," Drew explained with a shrug but Arabella could see him holding back a smile,
Arabella huffed playfully. "Okay, but the next dinner is on me," she declared, a smile tugging at the corners of her lips.
Drew stupidly grinned at her statement, a warm feeling spreading through him. Because unbeknownst to Arabella, he was happy that she didn't change her mind about their friendship.
He also happy that his birthday wish for the past seven years had finally come true.
©𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐞