Vienna

chapter twenty

I had Daisy pick me up from Lucas's for more than one reason. On the one hand, it was an excuse to not have to spend any more time alone together after that extremely awkward moment. And on the other hand, I had to tell Daisy all about it.

No one is better at helping me sift through my thoughts than Daisy. Most of the time my mind is running at what feels like a million miles an hour. So she always helps me think more rationally.

And boy was my mind racing after Lucas tried to kiss me. Like, what?!! We've been nothing but close friends for the past few years, and now he suddenly wants to swap spit? I mean, I'm not oblivious. I've gotten a vibe from Lucas recently, but I didn't think it went much further than minuscule attraction.

Not to the point where he'd actually try to kiss me.

A part of me wishes I had just let him, maybe gotten a little experience under my belt. But I just don't feel that way towards Lucas, and I care about him too much to string him along like that.

I can't help but feel guilty at the fact that I hope he never brings it up again. Maybe that just my poor coping mechanisms talking, but avoidance seems the easiest path.

When I told Daisy about our near-kiss, she flipped her shit. She went on and on about how he shouldn't have tried to kiss me without me giving him any sort of vibe that I was interested. "Like, consent much?" she said.

Honestly, it felt like she was more upset by it than I was. I was more worried about the awkwardness that was bound to follow, rather than being mad at him for even trying. Plus, he said he just got caught up in the moment. Maybe it really didn't mean anything.

But I had all night to think about it. And boy, did I do just that. It doesn't help that my mind already doesn't seem to turn off but add in something like that happening, and it felt like I was awake all night thinking about it. Forcing myself to relive every awkward second of it. I even dreamt about Lucas once I finally was able to fall asleep.

At times it feels as though my mind likes to torture me.

It was currently the following day. Hannah, Daisy, and I were all sat around our usual lunch table in the middle of the school's cafeteria.

Daisy took it upon herself to recount the details of last night's drama to Hannah, which I was thankful for. I was able to zone out and collect my thoughts while Daisy did all the work of catching Hannah up to speed.

Both Daisy and Hannah promised not to tell any of our other friends about the mishap, as it was just way too embarrassing for both Lucas and me. Throughout Daisy's gossiping, Hannah would reach out and grab my hand or rub my back sympathetically. Such a caretaker, that one.

"Afternoon, my lovely ladies," Noah says charmingly, sliding into the empty seat beside Daisy and across from Hannah and I.

Looking up, I notice that he is accompanied by the rest of the boys. Logan, Nathan, and Lucas were sliding into the rest of the empty seats around the table. I purposefully avoided eye contact with Lucas, but I could feel his eyes burning a hole in the side of my face. So much for pretending nothing happened.

Lucas plopped into the other empty seat beside Daisy, causing her to look at him warningly. I widened my eyes at her in an attempt to send her a silent message as to say 'don't bring it up.'

Luckily, Lucas didn't seem to notice Daisy's brief glare, but someone else did. A pair of green eyes looking between the three of us curiously told me everything I needed to know. That damn boy is so perceptive.

"What's the haps?" Noah chirps, happily biting into his turkey sandwich with extra cheese. 

"Who even says that?" I say with a chuckle. Sounds like something my grandparents would say.

Noah shoots me a glare that I'm sure was an attempt to look intimidating, but made me giggle. He needs to take some intimidation lessons from me.

"It seemed like we broke up a pretty intense session of girl talk, you three were huddled up like the team during a timeout," Noah states.

His statement causes me to make the mistake of looking over at Lucas, who I find is already looking at me. I look away as casually as I can, trying to be as normal and not-awkward as possible.

Thankfully, Hannah's calm and collected self handles his accusation flawlessly. "If we were going to tell you, then it would just be called talk," she teases.

This makes Noah laugh, and the rest of the table erupts into their own conversations. 

I tried to focus in on the conversation between Daisy and Noah, but I could feel my cheek burning from the intense gaze of a pair green eyes. Against my better judgement, I turn my head to meet his eyes, and am faced by his inquisitive stare. 

He quirks a questioning brow at me, to which I look at him innocently. I watch as his smirk slowly grows, his freckled nose crinkling slightly.

I narrow my eyes at him, wondering what's with the cockiness now. But if we're being honest, does Nathan ever need a reason to act cocky? He sure doesn't seem to think so.

I notice a small movement beneath me, and tilt my head down to see one of my chicken strips no longer on my plate. I snap my head up to Nathan's and gape as he bites into my chicken strip.

I narrow my eyes at him. Why am I even surprised? 

Not wanting to let him win this one, I reach over and snatch the rest of the chicken finger from his hand. Not breaking eye contact, I plop the rest of the chicken finger into my mouth.

This makes Nathan gape at me for once. Something flashes across his face, but is gone before I can pinpoint it. 

Feeling smug and wanting to rub it in, I exaggerate the deliciousness of my food. "Mmmm," I moan hungrily. "This chicken strip is sooo good," I tease.

Nathan's semi-permanent smirk returns to his face and he wiggles his brows at me. "You know, my saliva was probably on that. Is that why it was soooo good," he says, mocking my previous words.

Every ounce of smugness drops from my face, and I send him a blank glare. Before I can bite back at him, I notice the rest of our friends had gone quiet and were now looking at us weirdly. Well they were all looking at us weirdly except Daisy, who was wiggling her eyebrows at me.

"Since when do the two of you flirt?" Noah asks bluntly.

"We were not flirting," I defend myself, nearly gagging with disgust.

"Yeah we were," Nathan shrugs, causing me to give him the meanest look I could possibly muster up.

"Shut up," I mutter. Damnit, Vienna. You seriously couldn't have come up with something better than 'shut up'?

Our friends pay no more mind to our exchange and quickly go back to their previous conversations. I, however, keep my eyes trained on my plate of food. 

And even though I wasn't looking, I could feel two pairs of eyes trained on me.