Chapter 13

It’s our day off today at work and it’s our payday, that’s why we were all hanging out together here in the cafe.

After I dialed Reed’s number, I said yes to his proposal and we talked about going out tomorrow since he’s not available today. Lexi invited the two girls for a hangout instead. I can say no and they’ll think something’s wrong with me, or I can say yes and pretend that I’m fine and nothing’s bothering me. I think you know what I chose.

I couldn’t sleep last night. I was on the roof, eyes staring blankly at the sky as my mind floated around like I was in space. The park was the last place I wanted to go to. She might be there and I wouldn’t want to be alone with her like yesterday. As I got home yesterday, I was finally relaxed, no more shaking or sweating. But I was left with my mind full of questions and curiosity. I don’t know how to react around her now, especially since she’s with us most of the time.

“Our date was a disaster, but we definitely had fun,” said Lexi.

“Oh yeah, we did. After our dinner in Grandlake Restaurant, we decided to go bowling and once we got into our lane, the-” Kayla was cut off by her girlfriend who had a scowl on her face.

“There’s this little kid who kept going in our lane, trying to knock the pins down, but his ball was always going in the gutter, and since he took most of our game, we spent a lot just to play a proper game. Where are his parents? I don’t even know! Maybe they left him or maybe they’re just bad parents who couldn’t even take care of their kid. Then his parents came, bought him ice cream and we told them he kept playing in our lane, they said sorry and was willing to pay. While paying, you know what I did? Before he could eat his ice cream, I took it and he cried so bad and we ran away from the bowling alley!” She ranted.

The 3 girls burst out laughing, while I shook my head, feeling myself smile. Lexi doesn’t care whether you’re older or younger than her. She’ll talk back to anyone who’ll piss her off.

“You’re such a bully!” I chuckled.

“I can’t believe you did that!” Lucy gasped, shaking her head. “Poor little boy.”

I eyed her skeptically. “Please, you’d probably do the same thing,”

Kayla spoke before Lucy could. “That’s true. Lucy is much worse than Lex. She hates kids and one time, she snatched a kid’s toy car and broke it just cause the kid used her head as a road,”

I let out a laugh, imagining the scenario. Lucy seemed like that kind of person. She and Lexi are bullies. While laughing, I noticed that Lucy was gazing at me with a gentle smile. It’s a small action, but it’s enough to send butterflies to my stomach. I coughed, my laughter dying down and I looked away.

I’ve been pretending that everything was good and that I’m okay with Lucy. So far, I think I’m doing a good job. But a smile like that, a simple touch, can destroy what I’ve been doing.

“Honestly, I would do the same,” My best friend told us.

“Good thing we love kids,” Kayla said to me. I nodded in agreement. Kids are amazing and cute. You just can’t be annoyed at them.

“You’re lucky you have a younger brother,” I huffed out air.

“Take Lena!”

“Oh no, you can keep her. As much as I want to have siblings, I’m happy with being an only child,”

“Same here and we live next to each other. We’re basically like sisters. Not by blood, but by heart,” Lexi reached for my hand across the table and I grabbed it.

“How long have you known each other?” Lucy asked.

I touched my chin as I counted the years we’ve been friends. “14 years,”

“14 years?!” She repeated while I nodded. “Much longer than our friendship. Kayla and I met when we were 7, so we’ve known each other for 11 years now,”

“How did you guys meet?” I asked, interested in their story.

Lucy crossed her legs. “Their dog escaped and it went in our backyard, I saw Kayla with her mom running to our house-“

“Ocean, our dog, was never comfortable with other people, but somehow she was comfortable with the Halliwells. Especially with Lucy,” Kayla butted in.

“I fell in love with their dog and that’s how our friendship started!” Lucy reminisced, looking happy as she told the story of their friendship. “What about your story?” She added.

“Amber, would you do the honor to tell our beautiful story?”

I tilted my head. “It’s better if you tell it,”

“Sit back and relax…” She cracked her knuckles and stretched her neck side to side. “We were 3 years old at that time, and since Amber’s family was just moving in, they asked my family if they could babysit Amber for a while since they had to get their other stuff. Now, this part is very funny!”

Knowing what she’s gonna say next, I buried my face with my hands, waiting for my cheeks to get red in embarrassment. “Okay, maybe we should skip this part,”

“But this is the best part!”

“Not for me!”

“Do you guys want to hear this part?” Lexi asked the two and they nodded. “They wanna hear it,” She looked at me.

I glared at her then I sighed, letting her carry on with the story. “Fine. Go on.”

She grinned, clapping her hands in excitement. “Okay, okay! So while her parents are away, we were playing dollhouse then suddenly, Amber started to have bad diarrhea. Like real bad! Then before I know it, she created an explosion! To my surprise, I threw her the doll I was holding and ran out of my room, crying so hard while Amber started to cry,”

I scrunched my nose, cringing at the horrible memory. We were little, but we definitely remember that story. I tried and I tried to forget it, but Lexi said that she’ll never forget the first time we met. All of them were clutching their stomach, tears escaping from their eyes as they laughed so hard.

“My parents took care of it and her parents kept saying sorry, but it’s all good. My parents love Amber with all their hearts and-“

“Excuse me?” I raised an eyebrow.

“What?”

“You’re forgetting something,”

“No, I’m not,”

Now it’s my turn to tell the other part of the story. I smirked and continued the story for her. “Allow me to refresh your rotten memory. Now you guys don’t know, but after that, Lexi started to have it too. I think it must be the food we ate at that time. After her parents cleaned me, they saw Lexi on the bed and she had pooped herself as well!”

“Gross!” Kayla wrinkled her nose.

“We were 3, okay? Cut us some slack,” Lexi chuckled, hugging Kayla.

“What a bomb story you both got,” Lucy joked.

“What a lame pun you got there,” I said, she just smiled at me sweetly.

“Tomorrow’s Saturday, wanna hang out at my place?” Lucy asked us all.

The two said yes, looking forward to tomorrow; however me on the other hand, I wasn’t. This was the moment I needed to tell them about my date and I wished I didn’t have to. But I had to give them a reason why I couldn’t go.

“Uhm…” I started off, rubbing the back of my neck. Everyone’s eyes landed on me and the pressure was on.

“You’re gonna say something, Ambs?” Lexi asked.

I bit my lips, thinking how should I say it. “Yeah, I uh… can’t go tomorrow,”

“Dude, it’s Saturday tomorrow, what could you possibly do?”

I pleaded with my eyes, trying to send her a message, but she couldn’t get it. “Lexi,” I whined quietly.

“What?“

“I c-can’t go, cause I have a date,” I muttered, lowering my head down.

“You what?!” Lexi and Kayla exclaimed in unison.

“You heard me,” I muttered still.

“Is our baby Amby going on a date?” Lexi teased.

“A date? A real date? With who?” Kayla wiggled her eyebrows.

“It’s gotta be Ivans!” I looked away from my best friend’s gaze. She pounded the table with her hands. “You bitch! You gotta tell me the details, man!”

“Well, he asked me out and I thought ‘why the hell not?’, right? So tomorrow, we’ll be going somewhere I don’t know since it’s a surprise.” I informed.

Lexi poked my chest. “I can’t believe my best friend finally has a date!”

“Yeah,” I chuckled shyly. I noticed the girl next to me stayed quiet. Checking to see if she’s alright, I glanced at her and saw that she’s just staring blankly at the floor, looking like she’s in a trance. “Are you okay?”

The moment it escaped my mouth, I knew that she wasn’t.

Thinking that she’s so lost in her thoughts that I called her name. “Lucy?”

And just like that, she’s snapped out from her thoughts, looked me in my eyes for a brief moment. When I got a chance to see her eyes, it wasn’t what I always see every day. This time, I could see pain, swimming in her eyes.

“Yeah?” She said weakly, avoiding my eyes.

“Are you okay?” I asked again. 

“Yeah. Why wouldn’t I be?” She tried to smile, but it didn’t reach her ears. She began to get her stuff and her bag. “I forgot that my family has to go somewhere and I couldn’t be late,” She lied.

“Do you want me to come with you?” Kayla had a worried expression on her face, helping Lucy to put her things in her bag.

“I’ll be fine, Kay. You guys have fun, okay?” She hugged her best friend.

“Luce…” I trailed off, about to touch her hand, but I remembered that whenever I touch her hands, my heart skips a beat, so I kept my hand to myself.

“You, you have fun tomorrow, okay?” She gave my shoulder a squeeze.

I nodded slowly. “Okay.”

I watched her as she was walking out of the cafe as my heart started to ache. Why did it feel like it was my fault? Like I broke her heart or something.

My heart broke into half; probably like hers. But mine had more damage as I saw her like that.