It's time.
You're all here for advice aren't you? Because you're all-or have been-in the same position as me. If I must give you the fifteenth tip, you must have a great plan for revenge on your friends. Creativity is always the key.
Grab your cats, sit in a chair and do your evil laugh as you spin around 'cause it's about to get real.
Much realer than reality T.V. so don't worry.
*Cue the mic-drop*
***
"What are we going to do again?" James asks me. I facepalm.
Oh my goodness! I literally just explained the plan in full detail. I could submit it as an english essay! I swear, I'm going to have to repeat this a gazillion times to him!
I explain the plan once more to him, slower this time so that he'll understand it clearly.
"Oh okay. That's great! Not too hard but it'll have a great effect. Very subtle." he responds.
The plan was simple, almost boring really. We're going to walk up to the café and sit down on the patio. Easy. The thing is, we're going to make sure that the couple notices us but then pretend that we don't even know they're there.
Not too creative, I know.
But the creativity comes in what we will do to make them notice us.
When you're a third wheel, you always feel incredibly uncomfortable. So this plan should surely make Daniel almost pee his pants. I mean, how would you feel if the person you lied to was about to catch your lie?
"Ready to execute plan A?" I look up at James.
"Let's do this." he states confidently.
We cross the street to the café. The place is quite busy, waiters scrambling to serve everybody. We take a seat at a table near the couple. Near enough so that we can hear their conversation and that they can probably be able to hear ours. Kiera laughs at a joke that Daniel tells.
A waitress approaches us with a menu. "May I take your order?"
We have to play it off as though we planned to eat here.
"Sure. I'll have a piece of blueberry cheesecake and a water." James says, handing the menu back.
"That sounds good. Make that two." I hand the menu back, smiling.
"Great choice! It'll be here in about 5 minutes." she tells us before heading into the building.
A few seconds after she leaves, James leans in to whisper something to me. "I know that you're going to insist that you pay for your share, but I'm going to tell you right now that I am paying, okay?"
"James it's fine. I can pay for my share-" I argue but James cuts me off.
"See? I predicted that. Besides, don't think I'm being nice to you, even though I am really. I'm only doing this because, uh, my mom will scold me for being not-gentlemanly." he lies.
Sure he's the exact opposite of a nice guy, but he can be a goodie sometimes. Only sometimes.
"Sure, totally." I reply sarcastically. "Shall we begin phase 1?"
"Let's do this." He answers.
I shoot a quick glance at the couple who hasn't noticed us yet. It's time to start our very dramatic conversation. It is sure to get them to look at us.
"Lara, I need to tell you something." James begins, talking in his normal voice, making sure that it is audible to Daniel and Kiera.
"What is it James?" At that moment, Daniel's head shoots up and looks in our direction. I can see his shocked expression in my peripheral vision. I pretend not to see them.
"Please say goodbye to the guys for me. I can't face them."
"What, why?" I blurt out.
"I-I'm going to be a father." he says, dead serious. His acting is on-point! He's actually good enough to be in Hollywood.
Hold in your laugh woman! I think to myself.
"W-w-what?" I look at him, letting my expression turn worried and confused.
"Please. Please don't tell anyone, especially Luke." he continues. "Raylyn and I, we've been seeing each other for some time now."
After that sentence, I shift my eyes to see Daniel's jaw drop. Kiera's eyes widen and she starts figetting with her fingers. See? This is what I was saying about "uncomfortable".
"She has a boyfriend James!" I yell at him. Okay, now we're kind of, sort of, totally drawing more attention to ourselves.
"I know. It's just that, I was drunk one night and then-"
"And then what? Huh? You just saw her again after you guys had a good time? What kind of a person are you?" I yell at him. It feels so weird saying this to him because I know he'd never do that. I tug on my right ear. Our signal for, let's execute phase 2.
"Oh, and I'm moving to California tomorrow. I didn't know how to deal with this so I booked a flight."
"So you're just going to leave the baby?" I question.
"Well-"
James' little line is interrupted my Daniel's booming voice. "YOU GOT A GIRL PREGNANT! AND YOU'RE MOVING TO CALIFORNIA!"
"Daniel? What are you doing here?" I ask, but he just ignores me.
"How could you be so careless? You got her pregnant! Luke is going to kick your a-"
James and I errupt in a pit of laughter. I clutch my stomach, gasping for air. Our acting was so good that Daniel really got triggered.
"What is so funny?" a clueless Daniel asks. "He got a girl pregnant for goodness sake!"
"No he didn't!" I say, wheezing from laughing.
Finally, James and I stop laughing and he raises an eyebrow at a relieved Daniel. "So how's the dentist appointment going? Although I didn't know that this café doubled as a dentist office."
"Well, um, you see man...I-" Daniel stutters.
"Save it. I already got my revenge anyways. Just don't lie to me about these things. And warn the others too before they try to pull a fast one on me." James says.
"Sure man. Dude, you almost gave me a mini heart attack when you said you got a girl pregnant!" Daniel tells us, laughing.
"So Daniel, did you steal that dentist excuse from your girlfriend?" I ask, wiggling my eyebrows.
"You used that excuse too?" he looks at Kiera, surprised.
"Yeah I used it at lunch when I tried lying to Lara!" she exclaims.
"Aw! We seriously belong together darling!" Daniel says sweetly to her before he engulfs her in a hug.
"Gross." I blurt out, sending James chuckling beside me. Of course, the distracted couple just ignores my remark.
Too much romance, brain malfunction, system overload...crash! This is why I hate romantic movies! Unless they're comedies. You see, my brain just can't comprehend the allure of people falling in love. Ew.
Okay fine, I'm not a total antagonist when it comes to love. I'm a sucker for character ships and Korean Dramas. Real life love though? Please stay 5000 kilometers away from me. Eh, it's been doing that for my whole life anyways.
"Two slices of blueberry cheesecake." the waitress places the two plates in front of us and the two tall glasses of water.
"Thank you." James and I respond at the same time.
"Can I get you guys anything else?" she asks politely. James looks at me to question if I want anything, but I shake my head. We still have to get to his house so I can explain the math lesson to him.
"We're fine, thank you though." he tells her.
"Okay then, I'll get the bill ready." she says before she returns to the building.
She comes back with the bill and James pays for the cake, leaving a little (actually a super big) tip for the kind waitress. We say goodbye to the couple and leave them in peace. Ah, how I love tagging along to couples.
***
Apply the formula, solve the equation, remember BEDMAS...done! I put my pencil down a grin at James who is watching carefully in awe.
"And that's how you would solve the problem!" I exclaim, after showing James the steps to complete our last math problem. Finally, our session for today would be ending and I would be able to go home.
"Huh. That was a much easier way to solve the problem than what Ms. K showed on the board today." he states, closing his textbook.
I roll my eyes. "I did it the exact same way that she did it."
Then again, her lesson was accompanied by music and a few dance battles, so maybe that's the culprit behind his confusion in math. Me on the other hand, I am used to working in chaos. After years of survival in a household of insanely loud sisters, I can still manage to study for an exam while commenting on how good their makeup looks or counting the number of situps they make in a minute.
"I don't know, maybe my brain works better when you're with me." he says, then gives me a genuine smile. Hm, I didn't know that he could actually smile and not smirk.
"Or maybe...I'm a secret wizard with a magic spell book with spells that I use on you to make you understand math." I joke.
"Sounds pretty accurate, but now I think you have absolutely nothing to do with it. I was just born a genius." he says, cockiness coating his every word.
Oh yes, thank you universe for reminding me why I loathe him. Your reminder is much appreciated.
I roll my eyes at him. "I don't suppose you understand the meaning of the word 'genius'."
"Anyways, thank you for being such a great partner in crime today." he bows formally before extending a hand to me.
"Pleasure doing business with you." I say, reaching out to shake his hand. I grab my bag and get up from my seat. "So I'll see you tomorrow?"
As much as I dislike James with all my heart and soul, I must say that he is a great partner for revenge. We would be good partners if we were criminals.
"Let me walk you home." he replies, walking me to the door.
I put on my shoes and open the door. "Bye Seb! Bye Gabe!" I shout to the boys who are upstairs.
"Bye Ate Lara!" they scream back.
"Again, I'm perfectly capable of making it to my own home safely." I remind James.
"Oh well, I want some exercise so I'm coming." he states. Looks like I can't argue any further. He laces up his sneakers and we step out of the house.
We begin walking on the sidewalk. James is complaining about school and work while we trade insults in between sentences. My house is just in view when suddenly, my foot decides to fail at being a foot and that misfortune sends me to my doom as I fall flat on the sidewalk.
James laughs hysterically, not caring that I almost died in front of him. Okay, maybe that's an overreaction.
"You really don't have any coordination, do you?" he manages to say between laughs.
"Well that must explain the reason why I don't play soccer." I groan, still lying on the ground because well, the ground is basically my best friend after years of contact with it.
"Here, let me help you." he offers, extending an arm towards me.
~~~
Lake Ontario, Lakeshore, Toronto~
July {7 years ago}
"Let me help you!" the small boy insists as I hold onto a tree branch. He extends a tiny hand out to me and I take it with one hand, my other hand still holding onto the branch for support.
I'm trying to get down to the beach, but I don't want to kill myself! Why the heck is it so hard to step down from these giant rocks!
How is it possible that he jumped down from the rock like it was nothing? I hate how he's gifted with Spiderman abilities and I can't even jump without falling on my butt.
Finally, I manage to get down from the rock and the sand from the beach covers my toes. "Thanks." I mutter stubbornly to him.
He walks to the water and picks up some tiny pebbles in his hand. He starts throwing them one by one into the lake, the stones jumping. He's skipping stones.
"Wanna try?" he asks, holding a handful of pebbles to me.
"No. I can't." I reply, slightly embarrassed that I don't even have that ability.
"Just try it." he insists, taking my hand and pouring a hanful of pebbles in it.
"Fine." I grunt. I take a pebble and throw it into the lake. Instead of skipping, it just sinks to the bottom. "I told you."
"It's okay. Just try it again until it works." he shrugs nonchalantly.
We continue skipping (well, I'm just tossing) stones until we get bored. We make our way back up to the park. I go before him and struggle at climbing the big rocks.
One of my foot slips, my ankle slides against the rough surface and I start to tear up. It's just a scratch, yet I tear up a little more. "I'm going to fall!" I say, mostly to myself.
"No you won't! And if you do, I'll catch you!" the boy tries reassuring me. As if. He was small and scrawny. He couldn't possibly catch me.
I almost laugh, only the fear stopping me. "Yeah right." I say in disbelief.
"Well, if you fall, I'll help you up."
~~~
"No thank you. The last time you offered help, I was sent back onto the ground and humiliated in front of the student body." I snarl at him.
He laughs. "Oh, now that was comedy right there. Just take my hand. I won't do anything."
"I hate you." I tell him as I grab his hand.
"Same. Except only partially." he responds while pulling me up. I dust the dirt off of my clothes and quickly pull out my cellphone to see if any damage was done.
I exhale in relief when I see that the screen isn't cracked. Phew.
I walk up to my front door and wave goodbye to him. He waves back and I hurry inside house.
Good thing the love of my life survived. I love you my phone, almost as much as I love meat lover's pizza.
Hey guys! I'm so excited since it's a long weekend! I mean, here in Canada at least... So what would you guys do if you were in the same situation as Lara and James? I don't know what I would do tbh. Maybe I'd just go there and join in on my friend's conversation just to make it awkward. So what do you guys want to see more of? More Jara? More of the friends? You know the drill! Vote, comment and share! Thanks to everyone who is reading this! Love you!
QOTD: What are your favourite Wattpad books? Mine are TGGBB, I Love You To The Moon and Back and all those other books on my reading list! Check out ILYTTMAB on author (and bestie) missjordanxoxo 's page if you're into fantasy and swooning!
-Summer :)