"Avery this is the dumbest thing you have ever made me do." I crossed my arms, huffing as I watched the pushy girl make a bee line towards the entrance of the Cicada Restaurant. I dragged my feet in trace of her footsteps.
Multiple people swarmed around the building, some of them screamed and some of them just talked at a constant rate. Avery had mentioned earlier that she absolutely had to eat here for, and I quote, "the most important reason in the whole wide world!" And that reason was that Harry Styles was rumored to be having lunch at this specific restaurant.
I can't lie and say I'm not a little excited either, after listening to Avery constantly boast about him, I did my research purely out of curiosity and boredom; the man has his word cut out for him when people say he is everything good from the 70s and up shoved into one; the start of a beautiful history lesson, hotter than texas and florida combined and a face no one could say no to sitting on. Set aside from his good looks, I've never found it in myself to put energy into being a part of a fandom.
I walked in having to push passed multiple people just to reach Avery.
"Avery I don't understand how we're going to get in, celebrity's go here! Last time I checked we're not celeb-"
"Reservation for two, Reynolds." She chimed In and smiled as the hostess lead us to a table.
"Calm down Luna, celebrity's are normal people as are we, therefore we can eat here." She smiled and sat down making herself more than comfortable.
"All you gotta do is keep calling for a reservation until a spot opens up."
I scoffed smacking her arm lightly. "Ow! What? It's the L.A. lifestyle, why are you even surprised?"
I rolled my eyes and sat back in my chair, watching as a primped guy in a monkey suit walked over holding a cloth and a champagne bottle.
"May I interest you in a glass of champagne, it's our finest." He kept a straight face looking directly at Avery as she tapped her index finger on her chin.
"Do you by any chance have a cheaper champagne. You know like the one that says Michelle on the label?"
I snorted at her question and the fact that she was one hundred percent serious, this caused the waiter to frown and stand up straight. "I don't know, I'll have to check where we keep our chicken nuggets and Ben and Jerry's Ice cream." He responded and hummed as he walked away. I continued to laugh and all Avery could do was sit there confused.
"Aves, you just insulted this entire place by asking for a $10 bottle of champagne," I explained to her.
She shrugged, "they're lucky I'm even spending my money here. The least they can do is bring me what I want."
The waiter came back with in fact the cheap bottle Avery had asked for and poured our glasses for us, it seemed like such torture for him just to be the only holding it. He quickly set the bottle down along with our menus and disappeared. "What exactly do people get out of being deliberately judged in a place like this?" I said as I opened the menu and sat it upright.
I peered over the menu, staring at Avery with wide eyes. She glanced at me then back to her menu, biting the inside of her cheek to keep her from smiling. "Can you not be so childish! God damn, kids these days."
"What!-" I laughed and set my menu down. "You're two years older than me, I don't think 22 suffices as a child's age."
She rolled her eyes and took a sip of her drink. "Ah, cheap champagne at its finest." Chuckling we clinked our glasses together and downed what was left of the sweet liquid then poured ourselves another glass.
"Aves," I looked up from my menu and lightly held her hand. She smiled, "yeah Lu?"
I smiled back, exchanging glances between the menu and her, speaking ever so softly and angelic, "I just want you to know that you're paying."
She frowned, pulled her hand away and looked down at the menu, "you are such a pain in the ass." I laughed and sat back looking around the restaurant. Everyone looked like they had a stick shoved up their ass vertically. I smacked my lips together and sighed, completely bored out of my mind.
"Hi what can I get you two ladies this evening?"
I looked up to see a waitress this time, a smile much more welcoming than the other guy. "Yeah can I get the Basil Gnocchi please? And some more champagne for the table. The cheap one."
She nodded, her smile faltering at the word cheap, then coming back as her eyes landed on me. "Can I just get the soup of the day. With some saltine crackers on the side."
She looked at me confused. "Saltine crackers ma'am?"
"You know, the square crunchy things that look like Swiss cheese but dry with salt?"
"No, I mean I know what Saltine crackers are, but we don't serve those here." She exclaimed, giving us the same look the other waiter gave us. "Maybe they're next to the chicken nuggets." I say.
The tip of Avery's heel came in contact with my shin causing me to yelp out in pain. The lady now looking bewildered and disgusted, "I'll see what I can do," she says as she takes our menus and leaves.
"Can you be polite, and more ladylike. If Harry does come in here I'd like you not to embarrass me." She explains.
I smirk and rest my elbows on the table. "However do you mean Aves."
She rolled her eyes and pulled out her phone to keep her busy. I grabbed a straw and pulled it out of its wrapper, biting the tip of the paper and holding the straw to my lips. I inhaled deeply and pointed the straw towards Avery, letting out a short forced breath, I watched as the spit ball splattered against her phone. She looked at the back of it and a look of horror took over her entire face.
"Gross!" She groaned wiping her phone of and grabbing a straw as well. "You are so dead," she says and chews off a piece of paper. I laugh and use my napkin as a shield ducking down. She spit the paper out at me directly hitting the cloth.
"Ha!" I leaned forward and spit one back at her, hitting her right on the forehead. I laughed hysterically as we continued to spit them at each other. Avery had ducked below her chair this time. "I'm gonna hit you with the grossest ball!" She said. I chuckled holding up my napkin waiting for her shoot. She quickly bounced up from her position and shot, waiting to feel it or hear it splatter against the surface.
I looked up, both of us giggling, "where'd it go?" I say as I looked around the table and the walls near us, Avery doing the same. Looking up, I watched as a nearby body looked down at their coat, bringing their hand up to pick at whatever was on it. Squinting, I watched as they now held the previous spitball in between their index finger and thumb.
"Aves-" I snapped to get her attention. She stopped what she was doing to look at me. "What Luna?"
I pointed towards the direction I was looking, her eyes followed suit. The person looked up, gazing around the restaurant. Avery gasped and held up her own napkin to cover her face. I widened my eyes and turned my back towards the person. "We made eye contact, he knows we're guilty."
I couldn't help but laugh at the situation.
"You shot a spit ball on Harry Styles," I said falling into a fit of laughter. I clapped my hands and tried with everything in me to contain it but the task was almost impossible. Her face was beat red, and she scolded me from behind her napkin.
"Excuse me," my attention was brought up as well as Avery's, the color never seeming to fade from her cheeks.
I sat up straight, "Hello how are you this fine day sir."
He furrowed his eyebrows and held up the ball of paper. "Did you spit this on me?" He asks. His voice was deep and slow, soothing almost to the point where it made you weak. I watched as Avery sputtered out nonsense, I don't even think she heard what he said, she was so lost in the fact that he was standing just a foot away from us.
I took the paper from his hand, "yeah I don't know why you're still holding it."
He wiped his hand onto his shirt, looking absolutely confused and at a loss for words. He stood there, like he was waiting for something.
"Aren't you going to say sorry?"
I kicked back in my seat, "I don't see why. If anything you should be sorry."
"What?" He asks furrowing his eyebrows in disbelief.
"Yeah! You stole our spit ball."
Avery quickly stood from her seat and smacked her hand against my mouth.
"She doesn't know what she's talking about, we are so sorry Mr. Styles it won't happen again."
She yanked her hand away and cringed at me as I pressed my tongue to her palm. I smiled cheekily taking my bottom lip in between my teeth, keeping eye contact with Harry. His eyebrows were furrowed, glancing at Avery then looking back at me, licking his lips.
"Just- call me Harry," He said referring to the way Avery addressed him.
She giggled and blushed, "okay, Harry. Um, I'm Avery," she stood up and shook his hand, holding on a bit longer than anticipated. I remained seated, staring at the two. "This is-"
"The names Oprah," I smile and smack my hand against his then fist bump him. Only I was the only one putting effort into the fist bump. Avery looked at me with every ounce of sass she could.
"Your name- is Oprah?" He asks. I nodded and crossed my legs. "Yep, parents are big fans. Huge fans even." Avery smacked her forehead. His eyes remained on my face, darting lower then back up to my eyes every other second. We all stayed quiet, comfortably lounging around the fancy restaurant. At least I was comfortable, they made everything else so tense.
Avery cleared her throat, "I know you're here to have lunch but since you're already at the table could I get a picture with you? And a hug?" I snorted, causing her to glare at me but then immediately smile back at Harry.
"Sure," he smiled and watched as she pulled out her phone. She handed it to me, and stood beside him, his arm sneaking around her shoulders. I could tell she was about to burst with excitement. "Okay say peas."
With every intention I had, I watched as Avery made a disgusted face and Harry say peas. She absolutely hated peas; snapping the picture, I smiled and handed her phone back. "Beautiful."
She grabbed her phone and hugged him. His body towered over her and his arms wrapped around her small body. He looked at me, the corner of his rosy lips twitching up into a smirk, and then he winked. It was my turn to be confused. He licked his lips again and pressed them together as him and Avery pulled apart.
"Thank you so much, it was so great meeting you," she said smiling brighter than ever. His lips curved into a slight smile, nodding then looking at me.
"It was, I suppose quite lovely to meet you ladies as well I've got to go to my table now but, have a good lunch love."
Avery nodded and smiled, the smile that disappeared as fast as he did. She sat down and glared at me. "You're such a twat Luna."
I chuckled and drank my champagne. "You embarrassed me so bad and I hate you."
"Awe no you don't, if you did you wouldn't be my best friend of 6 years and roommate." She crosses her arms and pouted, slouching in her seat. "Things could change."
I held my chest, offended. "Tell you what, since I love you. And you love me. I'll make up for it by paying for lunch." I said.
She smiled and sat up. "Fine with me."
I rolled my eyes and watched as she grinned happily, finally getting our food. She pushed her food around and took a bite, then moaned.
"This looks like baby shit, but tastes like heaven." I laughed, choking on my soup and holding my napkin to my mouth. Droplets of the soup sputtered out of my mouth, causing Avery to laugh as well.
"It went down the wrong tube," I said, my words sounding strained and scratchy. I took a drink of my champagne and exhaled deeply. Avery chuckled and continued eating.
—
"Luna I'm bored!" Avery appeared from around the living room corner, stepping into the kitchen.
we lived in a complex apartment, downtown. A common place for people to live; we had to look into so many complex's to see what fit our price, if it fit our price there was always one thing wrong with it. Eventually we came across the Burton way apartments. They were cute, modern and the perfect size.
I scratched my head with the pencil I held and pushed up my glasses. "Maybe you should come help me with our bills." She threw her head back and groaned, sitting across from me.
"Lu I still can't believe you did that to Harry. You were being so petty."
I smiled and mumbled the lyrics to the petty song, causing her to shake her head.
"I Can't believe I finally got to hug him. He's notorious for having the best hugs ever and it's true. I'm confirming it all. And he smells so good! God it was like being in a cologne commercial."
"Avery! I love you and am so very happy that you got to meet the man of your wet dreams, but I'm trying to finish our payments." I said stopping her from speaking anymore.
She chuckled and looked at all the papers sprawled out on the counter; staring at them blankly and switching from one paper to the other. "Actually, I think I'll watch some tv." She stood up and made her way to the living room. Rolling my eyes, I continue on with the bills, and tiredly rub my eyes.
Being an adult is only fun when you aren't doing the adult stuff. Unfortunately I'm always doing the adulting, set aside from the lack of sophistication when it comes to my behavior.