My Words Are Law

Can we be friends (3)

Amaryllis felt her body turn to stone as the silence grew heavier.

"Well, why don't you two sit down while Samantha and I get your-uh-orders!" Mia suddenly piped in, finally recovering from her shock.

"Why should-"

Mia stood up and grabbed the other woman's arms, rudely cutting her off midsentence. "Wow! You're fine with that? Samantha is so kind! Just text me what you like and we'll get them, okay?"

"Thank you very much." Amaryllis uttered before directing an apologetic look to the two women.

"Oh and Chryses... Tobias is our friend. He might not look and sound like it but he's a nice guy. Right, Tobias?" Mia turned her gaze to the man, slightly kicking his foot under the table.

He snorted as if insulted before saying, "Of course I'm nice. When was I ever not nice?" Tobias gazed back up at Mia, the smile on his face neither faltering nor diminishing in brightness. Mia narrowed her eyes suspiciously at her friend's unusual behavior. He's being... weird.

She lingered beside him for a bit, thinking whether to take him with them too, but noticing the grouchy Samantha behind her, she dropped the thought and immediately dragged her along before she could start spouting her refusal.

"Okay. You heard the man. Anyway, send us a text okay?" She reminded Amaryllis one last time before circling around the tables like a pro.

"Mm... Thank you again." Amaryllis uttered as she plopped down on the chair, exhausted. This was a very bad idea... What the hell... What made her think this is gonna end well? Everyone's looking at them as if they're animals in the zoo. Oh god...- 

The sound of a chair scraping against the floor broke her thoughts. On the flipside, Chryses is very lax. In fact, he seems like he's enjoying this. He even chose to sit beside her like a boss and even shot her a dazzling smile that sucked all the energy she had left.

Ugh...

Of course he's enjoying this.

With a tilt of his head, he asked, "How are we going to order when we don't know the menu?"

She deadpanned at his question.

"Oh... Righ-" A notification bell from her phone stopped her as soon as she was about to agree.

It was a picture of the menu. Mia even sent suggestions at a rapid pace, Amaryllis wondered how her fingers were able to do that.

"Mia sent a picture... She suggested some dishes, too-"

She didn't even finish the whole sentence when she felt his minty breath grazing her cheek, sending chills down her spine. It was understandable that he'd scoot closer to check the menu, but even if that was the case, it still made her squirm uncomfortably. He was too close that she could smell his musky scent without making any effort.

Not that she had ever tried to do so.

Amaryllis tried to focus on their surroundings to keep her mind off of the proximity however, the distraction failed after becoming aware of the whispers that became louder than before.

Clearing her throat, she chose to focus on her phone instead. It isn't something to be worried about. The whispers will go away soon... After all, something like this won't happen again.

"I'll order this and... these..." She spoke nonchalantly while typing her choices, but she might have been too presumptuous to think it would ever pass as nonchalant especially with the slight tremor in her voice. "What about you?"

"You really like chicken, don't you?"

Huh? Her fingers hovered over the screen as she glanced at him. How does he know-