The Next Now

Chapter 40: Was that a panic attack?

Henrietta's P.O.V

Sunday Afternoon, London and I cross the road from my house while laughing about something her brother had said.

"He'd definitely like someone like Romeo" I say and we laugh together, till London pauses to look at me weirdly as I knock on the door.

"What now?" I groan at her

"You know, you seem to talk about Romeo a lot, now" She smirks and I narrow my eyes at her

"I do not"

"Yes, you do" She argues as Jay opens the door "Doesn't she, Jay?" She asks and he sighs exaggeratedly as I walk past them into the living room.

"What are you two kids arguing about now?" Jay asks in a bored tone, closing the door behind him

"Tell me" London starts "Doesn't Henrietta talk about Romeo a lot?" She asks Jay

"I do not!" I yell exasperatedly when Jay turns to look at me

"You know what? I think you do" Jay accuses and London grins widely. I just narrow my eyes at both of them

"I know you both secretly like each other. That's what this is about" I accuse, placing myself on the smaller sofa

London turns a slight pink while Jay just rolls his eyes.

"What have you been doing with Romeo, anyway?" He narrows his eyes at me and I roll my eyes

"Nothing much. Just having Ice Cream and all" I shrug

"So, you both just sit around consuming Ice cream and staring at each other all day long?" He goes to the kitchen, supposedly to get Popcorn

"All day long?" I yell

"Jay, it's called an Ice Cream date" She yells smirking at me and I glare at her

"In this case; dates" Jay corrects as he walks out with Popcorn

"What movie are we seeing?" I ask, abruptly turning to the TV, and London scoffs

"That wasn't even subtle" She giggles and Jay laughs along

"Stop" I groan and they just place themselves on the long sofa in the middle

We decide on a new movie about a guy with a robotic arm and blah

Somewhere in between the movie, I can't focus anymore.
I turn to see that London is also not concentrating on the Movie. Instead, she's found something intriguing about Jay's face.

So, London does like Jay. Huhn
I guess it's nice to know that she wasn't just using him to get to me.
It was also to get to him

"So, London- " I call, startling her and giggling quietly.
Jay shushes me as London snaps out of whatever trance she was in and crawls over to me.

She places herself on the carpeted floor right in front of me

"What's up?"

"You going for the trip?" I ask her, and she nods without missing a beat

"How about you?" She asks me, and I smile before shaking my head

"I can't" I watch her frown, but I know she understands because she just nods silently

"Jay usually doesn't go because of me" I tell her "But this time, you've got to make sure he goes, alright?" I tell her and she nods slowly

"But how do I do that?" She asks me, the same time Jay tells us to be quiet, and I smirk.

******

Monday Afternoon, I walk out from Physics class feeling like School was honestly not made for me.