The day I found you annoying

Chapter 22: Talk

"Grab that orange juice over there." Dawson told me as he pointed at it with his head. I put it in the shopping cart and he kept pushing it.

"Will you teach me how to drive?" I asked, curiously looking around. I loved crowded places. I loved seeing people go with their lives. I loved to imagine what were they doing at the supermarket a Saturday morning.

Our answer was pretty easy, my uncle made us go.

"I think it's a little too soon for that." He absentmindedly responded, looking at the shopping list on his phone.

"I'm just saying." I shrugged. "You told me you were gonna teach me how to ride a bike and you didn't."

"Oh, come on." He licked his lips, looking at the cereal boxes. "You had your boyfriend to teach you."

"Justin's not my boyfriend." I quickly said, getting all red.

"No?" He chuckled. "Come on, what's the deal between you two?"

Question of the year, my dear cousin.

"We're just friends."

He seemed uninterested in the topic, so he quickly kept on walking. "When is he coming back?"

"Next week."

"And that guy you've been hanging out with?"

"What about him?"

Why seemed my cousin so interested in my life all of a sudden?

Yes, I'd been hanging out with Jake for the past two weeks. A lot. He thought I was funny and I thought he was nice. He told me I talked really fast and that my laugh was contagious. I thought he was fun to be around and really, really smart.

And you all know how much I liked a smart guy.

Not that I liked him. Not in the sense you might be thinking.

Really, I didn't.

"I don't know." He shrugged. "Grab the syrup over there." I handed it to him. He looked at the calories and handed it back to me. He was a health and fitness freak. "You're dating him?"

"No." I chuckled.

"Well, he likes you. He follows you everywhere like a lost puppy." Dawson smiled, as if he knew it all.

"We're just friends." I repeated. Was this a pattern?

"You seem to have lots of guy friends."

Oh, shoot me. I had two.

"What about you? Are you dating anyone?" I asked, giving him a pointed look.

"Nah." He chuckled. "College is not about dating."

"And what is it about?" I asked curious.

He stared at me, a smirk on his face.

I gagged, he broke out laughing. "You're disgusting."

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It had been three days since I hadn't spoken with Justin.

He seemed busy, at least he seemed so on social media. He never posted anything and these past few weeks, it seemed like all that mattered to him, was showing the world what he was doing.

People at parties, people at the beach, people in a pool. People, people, people.

And girls.

The last picture he posted was a selfie. A girl was giving him a kiss on the cheek and he looked as serious as ever. Although his eyes seemed relaxed and happy.