After an unbelievably long Monday morning, lunch finally came around and I found myself, again, being the first one arriving at our seats in the quad. I sat down and after unpacking some leftover lasagna from last night -I wouldn't dare touch the cafeteria food to save my life- Dinah and Zendaya were the first ones to show up today.
"Mila, we need to go out." Dinah deadpanned as they both sat down at their usual spot.
"Where and why?" I asked as I bit into my food.
"You need new clothes."
"And what's wrong with what I'm wearing?" I looked down at my clothes. I was wearing some dark blue jeans with a black t-shirt that said 'I hate Mondays', a floral snapback and a pair of converse.
"You've worn that shirt so many times, I'm surprised it hasn't got any holes in it."
Zendaya nodded "Yeah, we need to get you something else to wear. Plus I wanna buy a new bikini for this Friday."
I looked at Dinah "And why would I go?"
"Because I think you owe me after you practically threw me out of your house on Saturday."
I put the fork down on the bowl and put my pointer finger on my chin. "Oh really? 'Cause last time I checked, you did the same thing to me the Sunday after Demi's party." I smiled sarcastically at her. "So you see, I don't owe you shit."
"Oh come on" Zendaya whined. "At least go with us so you can help me choose a bathing suit."
At that, Hailee sat down and smiled at Zendaya "What with bathing suits?"
"I need a new one and I want Mila to go and help me pick one because I know that this one here-" she nodded over at Dinah, "-will be paying attention to her own clothes and won't help for shit."
"Hey that's not-" We all looked at her with a serious face "Okay fine, whatever. Can you just go with us?"
"I'm going too." Hailee looked at me "Come on, I'll keep Dinah busy if you want." She looked at the Polynesian girl with a smirk, which was returned with a smack at the back of the head.
I took a moment to answer, then noticed that a certain green-eyed girl's absence and furrowed my eyebrows. I haven't seen her since I bumped into her on Saturday, she didn't even answer my text this morning. I got the strangest feeling that she was avoiding me. "Where's Lauren?"
Hailee looked around like she hadn't even noticed she wasn't here. "I don't know, she told me she had something to do but that she would be here." She shrugged then looked at me. "I guessed she got held back, don't worry she'll go to mall later too. You going or not?"
I sighed then dropped my head at the back of the bench. "Fine"
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"Dinah I swear if you make me try on something else, you're gonna be riding the bus for the rest of the semester." I told her as I planted my feet on the ground and she tried to drag me towards 'Forever 21'. We've been at the mall for over an hour and Hailee's plan to keep Dinah from bothering me had been a total bust. I had to go to back to my car to leave a couple of bags there and I'm practically almost bankrupted at the moment.
She quickly let go of my arm "Oh god no. Okay I'm done." She looked towards the girls who were standing beside me and took Hailee and Zendaya's arms in her own. "You two are coming with me." And left with Hailee looking back at me with pleading eyes and I just looked back at her with a smile, glad to be free of Dinah for a little while.
I looked back when I heard a throat clearing behind me and noticed that I was left alone with Lauren. She was looking at everything around us rather than me, and I wondered why.
"Hey." I called out to her and she finally met my gaze. "Come on, I think there's a little book café around here somewhere."
"Okay." I started walking and I smiled when she started walking beside me and looked at me. After school we had talked a little bit but it was always cut short by someone dragging me towards another store so I was glad that we finally had some alone time.
"Ah, here it is." I spoke as we turned a corner and I saw the place I was looking for in front of us. I unconsciously grabbed Lauren's hand and started walking a little faster towards the little café. When I opened the glass door we were quickly surrounded with the smell of fresh brewed coffee. Gracious by Ben Howard was softly playing in the background and I couldn't be happier. It was a small place that very few people came into because they preferred to go to the Starbucks near the food court but I personally loved it. It had an old school vibe with the dimmed lighting and secluded seats and coffee tables with little lights on top of every single one. At the back there were some stairs that lead to the book store in the second floor.
"Wow."
"I know right?" I smiled up at the girl beside me who was still looking around like she was trying to memorize every single detail of the place. "And you haven't even tried the coffee yet." Still looking at her I started walking backwards over to the counter until I bumped into someone and, like little old me, almost fell to the ground along with the coffee cups that chattered on impact behind me. I quickly turned around and bent down to help clean up. "Holy shit I-I'm so so sorry. I di-didn't look where I was going. I swear I'll pay for this. I'm so-" I could hear Lauren laughing at me but my rambling got interrupted by a familiar voice.
"Mila?" I looked up to see the light brown haired boy looking at me with wide eyes.
"Ash? What are you doing here?" I asked as I was standing back up.
"I uh..." He brought his hand to the back of his neck and chuckled and looked at me with a nervous smile "I work here." I just stood there looking at him for a moment before I started laughing and he hit me with a towel. "Don't laugh you dimwit!""
I stopped laughing at looked at him. "I'm sorry, I just never imagined you as someone who would be working at a book café at the mall. Is this what you had to do today?"
"Yeah. Well, whatever. I needed the money." He shrugged then looked at something behind me. "Hey Lauren."
I looked back at her and she had a scowl on her face which turned into a half smile that looked more like a grimace. "Hey Alex." She mumbled.
"It's Ashton." He corrected her.
"Yeah whatever." She looked at me. "Can we get something to eat and sit already? My feet are killing me."
"Yeah sure." I looked back at Ashton with the best puppy dog eyes I could pull off. "Can I get a discount?"
"No. I just got this job and you made me drop these, which I now gotta get out of my own paycheck. There's no way. No." He turned back and started walking behind counter and I followed him and leaned on the other side with a pout.
"Oh come oooonnnn. Don't be like that." He looked back at me and looked like he was about to give in but when he saw my lips starting to curve into a satisfied grin he shook his head and with a "Hell no" and disappeared into the kitchen. I huffed and asked for mine and Lauren's order, we paid and sat down on a two person couch.
I held my hot chocolate in my hands while I sat down with my legs crossed under me and turned to look at Lauren who was about to try her coffee. She looked at me with an eyebrow raised and I returned the gesture with a nod. She took a small sip from her drink and I saw her eyes lit up like a Christmas tree.
"Holy crap, Camz. This is actually really good." She told me and I smiled victoriously.
"Told you."
She pulled her legs up and mirrored my position, leaning back on the arm of the small couch. She took another sip and moaned at the taste. And holy shit I did NOT need to hear that. Camila get your mind out of the gutter! I shook my head and saw her looking at me with a puzzled expression then looked down. I took a sip from my own drink and she looked up again "So what's up with you and that Adam guy? You guys dating or something?"
I felt my eyes bulge out of their sockets and I literally choked on my drink. After my mini coughing fit I looked up at Lauren was looking at me a little concerned and somewhat confused. "No, of course not! We're not dating. Like at all."
"Oh." She looked confused but a little relieved too. "I thought you two were a thing. When I saw you by the pier on Saturday you two looked pretty cozy together." She said then proceeded to drink from her cup.
"No." I chuckled. "He's actually my best friend since I could remember..." I saw her looking down at her cup. "And for the record, I know you know his name is Ashton, not Adam, or Alex." I smiled when she looked up with a small smile gracing her lips. I put my elbow on the back of the couch and laid my face on my hand "And he's gay."
I could see her cheeks turn a light shade of pink even in the dim light of the room. "How come I've never heard of him until now though?"
I shrugged. "I guess it never came up. Plus he's been traveling for the past year since he graduated. So before this Saturday I hadn't really seen him in about three months, it's not like I had much of a chance to present him to you or some of the girls."
"Right." She nodded
"Anyways, do you know why Daya and Hailee are buying bikinis for 'this Friday'?"
"Oh yeah I never told you." She muttered while looking at her hands. She put down her empty cup and looked at me. "I invited the girls to stay over on the weekend, since my parents are going to go visit some relatives with my siblings. I told them I didn't want to go and that I was old enough to stay home alone and they let me. I have a pool and we were planning on going to the beach too. Even though it was late, you're invited." She added with a smile.
"I'll have to check with my mom, see if she can take care of Sofi or if I have to get her to stay at a friend's house too."
"Yeah sure."
Both our phones rang at the same time and we checked them. It was a text message from Hailee saying she was gonna drive Dinah and Zendaya home so we didn't have to worry about them. To be honest I wasn't even thinking about my friends at the moment, but rather at the girl sitting in front of me. She looked up at me and smiled when she saw me already looking at her. I stood up and held my hand out for her.
"Come on, I forgot to show you upstairs."
She quirked a perfectly plucked eyebrow but said nothing, just took my hand and stood up. I started walking towards the stairs and sped up my pace, I heard her giggling behind me and found the sound absolutely endearing. We spent another half hour goofing around and just looking around for books. Things were back to normal and I was happy. We said goodbye to Ashton and headed out the door.
We were walking around the mall in comfortable silence when she decided to put her arm around my neck. I tensed up for a moment. Out of nowhere I felt a sudden burst of courage and put one arm around her waist and with the other I grabbed her hand. She quickly intertwined our fingers and I looked up to see her face but she was looking forward not meeting my gaze. As if what she was doing wasn't making my stomach do backflips and my heart beat so fast that I feared I was gonna have a heart attack right here and right now.
We kept walking and talked like that for a while longer and I felt like I was on cloud nine. Once in a while she would look at me while I was talking about something stupid, but it wasn't like she was annoyed, it was as if she actually cared what I was talking about or she would decide to squeeze my hand or rub her thumb over it and the swarm of butterflies in my stomach would make a dance party.
When we noticed some stores starting to close up was when we noticed that, again, we had lost track of time and stayed longer than we should have. So, unwillingly, we left the mall and decided to head home.
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As I was trying to do my homework in the kitchen counter there was a knock on the door. And right after it, a giggling Sofi came bursting through the sliding door that lead to the backyard, leaving it open, letting the white and gray husky run after her to get the front door.
I closed my chemistry book, a little thankful for some distraction even if said distraction was in the form of an annoying neighbor. I walked up to the front door right after the dog and pulled on his collar, knowing that if he got too close to the door he would barrel right through anyone who was blocking it. "Come on Loki, we don't need another complaint from Mrs. Sanders saying you took a shit on her flowers." I looked up and saw the boy with hazel green eyes, that's been bothering me my whole life, smiling. "You know, we should really get you a key."
He took that as an invitation and stepped through the door and closed it. "It'd be about damn time!" He looked down at Sofi who was beaming up at him and picked her up. "Hey there princess."
Her smile grew even wider if that was even possible. "Hey Ashy! Do you wanna play with me and Loki?"
I looked at her with a stern look. "No, Sofi you need to get cleaned up and do your homework. You've been out there since you got home from school."
Ashton smiled at her apologetically "Sorry kid. Next time then."
She huffed, and crossed her arms with a pout. "Fine." Then wiggled out of Ashton's grip and ran upstairs.
I looked at him and nodded over to the backyard. He took the hint and started walking with me. "You know, you and Lauren looked adorable on your little coffee date yesterday."
I stepped through the door and let go of Loki and he started running around the backyard. He sat down on one of the chairs and threw a toy at the dog. "Ugh, I wish." I looked at him and sat down on the one next to him. "Oh, and by the way she did think we were dating."
"Well, I'm flattered and all, but Mila... I don't know how to say this. I'm... " He looked at me with a serious and almost nervous expression. "I'm gay."
I wasn't surprised with his response so I just ignored it. "Yeah whatever. So I told her that and it was practically impossible since we've been friends since I was in my mother's womb. Which reminds me, you owe me a story or two about your trip."
He smiled and looked at the dog that had sat down in front of him and pet him. "These past couple of months were perfect Milz. The views, the theme park we went to, the people we met. Everything. I think it was only because it was our last months out in the road, but they were awesome. We even got to go to a couple of concerts with some guys we met in North Carolina."
"Tell me about them. The people you met."
"They were these young guys, about your age. They had dropped out of school to make a band and I swear they were the funniest guys I've met. That's how we got into the concerts, they were the opening act."
I chuckled and joked "They sound hardcore if they really dropped out of school to make a band."
"Nah, not at all. They were so goofy and stupid. Me and the guys loved them." He couldn't stop smiling while telling me about it and I thought it was adorable.
"What were their names?"
"The youngest was a blond with blue eyes called Luke. Then Calum, an Asian looking kid who got mad every time someone called him Asian." He chuckled. "And lastly a kid named Michael who changed his hair color a lot. I mean, in those two months we spent with them he had like three or four different colors."
"Have you talked to them after everything?"
"Yeah, we text her and then, but they're still on the road so we can't really meet you know..." He looked down a little sad, but it was understandable, so I tried to steer him away from feeling worse.
"Hey, what about these theme parks you went to? Any of them close enough that we can drive to them?"
He looked at me with a mischievous grin and nodded "It'd take a couple of hours but it would be so worth it to see you freak out on a rollercoaster again."
"Oh fuck you that was one time! And you gotta admit that fall was freaking scary"
"Yeah okay it was, but not so scary that I was shaking with nerves even after I got off." I hit him in the arm and he yelped. "Hey! Stop it with the harassment, it's getting annoying."
"Yeah well so are you." I stuck my tongue out and he did the same and laughed.
"So when are you planning on telling me you're staying over at Lauren's this weekend?"
I looked at him incredulously "How the hell did you hear about that?"
He just smiled slyly, "I have my ways." I looked sternly at him and he gave in. "Dinah told me."
"I should have known" I dropped back into the chair with a sigh and closed my eyes. "I don't even know if I'm going. I need someone to take care of Sofi, because mom can't handle her alone."
He didn't respond for a moment so I opened my eyes and he answered. "I can take care of her."
"What?"
"Oh come on, it's not like I'm a stranger. And as you heard earlier, I owe her a play date. Plus I know how much your mom works, it would be good for her to take the weekend off from any responsibility and just sleep in and be a couch potato as long as she can."
I pondered for a moment, she does need to rest. It's been a while since she got a vacation and this is the closest thing she's getting to that before spring break or summer vacation. "Fine, but you'll have to talk to her about it."
"Perfect, there's no way she's saying 'no' to this beautiful face." He straightened up, put his hand flat under his chin and smiled down at me, which made me laugh. We stayed outside for a couple of more minutes until my sister came out saying she was hungry. We decided to order pizza and when my mom came home, Ashton told her about his plan. She hesitated but with a little convincing from the three of us -Sofi was ecstatic to have a whole weekend to play and go out with him- she said yes.
Now all I could do was wait until Friday came around.
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A/N: Sorry this took a little while. But I was busy working and, like I said before, I don't have that many ideas as to where the fic is going. It actually shocked me when I saw that this fic had over 300 views on Wattpad. Like why so many people care, is beyond me lol. Didn't proofread bc I'm a lazy little shit. Feedback and/or suggestions is greatly appreciated.
"Better to be unique and stand out then to be like everyone else and blend in. I accept negativity with my middle finger flying proud."
-Kellin Quinn
Take care of yourselves. Love ya!
-Alejandra