Chance Encounter ➳ Drew Dirksen

8. breakfast & third wheels

It was time for Brandi and Nate's weekly breakfast date, and they had somehow managed to convince Drew to come and join them as the awkward third wheel.

While Drew was trailing behind them, he found himself regretting every single one of his life choices. He regretted defending that pretty redhead in his science class when he was in fourth grade, because all she ever did was ignore him anyway. He regretted lending that kid three bucks, because Drew could only imagine how much he could've had if he had just lied and said he was broke. He regretted being able to play guitar, while the girl he liked was dating a drummer. He regretted liking this girl in the first place and regretted tagging along with her and her boyfriend for their breakfast date.

Unfortunately for Drew, Brandi was very persuasive and could make anyone bend over backwards for her.

Moments later, they arrived at a cafe that Drew had never heard of and Nate went off in the opposite direction to order their breakfast, while Brandi pulled Drew along by the wrist and led him to an empty booth by the window.

"Why did I agree to this?" Drew asked. The question was directed to himself, but Brandi replied anyway.

"Because I said we'd pay for your breakfast," she said. "And because you love me."

"I never said that!" Drew defended.

"I was just joking, calm down," Brandi said, followed by a giggle as she placed her hand on top of his and gave it a squeeze, before it returned to fiddling with the collar of her blouse.

During the short period of time their skin touched, Drew felt like his hand was on fire. It was actually painful and he wasn't sure whether it was good pain or bad pain. It felt similar to all those times he burned his tongue when he drank hot coffee. The pain was nearly unbearable for a few seconds, but in the end it was sort of worth it.

Drew didn't know what else to say. He was the third wheel here and Nate was taking awfully long to order their food, and Drew could feel his hunger growing. He needed some type of food and he needed it right now.

"Down, boy," Brandi said, noticing how fast his knee was bouncing up and down and how he was gnawing on his bottom lip. She placed her hand on top of his knee to calm him down, but that only seemed to make it bounce faster. "Drew, what's wrong?"

"Nothing. I'm just really hungry."

"Just wait a few more minutes, alright?"

Drew glanced over at the very long line of people waiting to order themselves some breakfast and noticed that Nate was still three people away from the front. It was then Drew realized that he was going to die from hunger.

"I'm going to die," Drew groaned. "Thank you for being nice to me."

"Shut up, Drew. You're not going to die."

"Yes, I am. Unless I turn to cannibalism, I'm more or less going to die from hunger."

"Stop being such a diva," Brandi said, rolling her eyes at him. "Here have some candy, while we wait for our actual food."

She pulled some sweets from her purse that she always carries around, just in case she gets hungry while she was out, and handed them to Drew, realizing that he would enjoy them much more than she would.

"Bless your soul," Drew said, before tearing open one of the candies and shoving it in his mouth and shutting his eyes, trying to make the most of it.

Drew wasn't normally like this. He was simply just very hungry. In fact, he was so hungry, he was actually considering taking the food from the guy seated on the table next to them, but he looked much older and much more muscular than him. He could possibly knock Drew's head off of his shoulders with just one punch and Drew wasn't really willing to take that chance.