Get A Room!

~:*:~ Forty-Eight ~:*:~

Chace

After Nate messaged that he was bailing on us for breakfast, Leona and I decided to just hit up the coffee cart for something simple.

Little did I know that Ian would be taking that girl here for their breakfast date!

I was about to spin Leona around so we could find somewhere else to eat, but then the girl must have spotted us and called out, "HEY!!! IAN'S ROOMMATE!!! WAIT, UHHHH-..." I turned to see her asking Ian for my name, "CHACE!!! OVER HERE!!!"

Leona gave me a startled and confused look. "Who the hell is that? Don't tell me Ian has already replaced Lexi?!"

"He said it's an ex, but I'm not so sure."

The girl waved frantically and called louder, "CHACE!!! COME JOIN US!!!"

Ian looked uncomfortable with the idea, but he didn't object. Leona and I maneuvered through the crowded tables and chairs to reach them as the girl tidied their table to make space for us. She snatched some papers from Ian's hands and stuffed them into her bag, then removed the bag from the spare chair beside her and insisted that I sit.

"I thought you didn't like breakfast?" She commented as she gave Ian a look.

Leona chuckled and unknowingly regurgitated my earlier sentiments, "Who the fuck hates breakfast?"

"I'm not a fan." I said confidently to save Ian from his lie. "I'm just here to get a coffee."

Leona scoffed, knowing that I was craving a cheese croissant and a raspberry tartlet. But she got the sense to play along for Ian's sake after witnessing another glare from the girl, "Well... I'm starving. So I'll get your coffee while I'm ordering myself all the pastries that my beautiful, shapely belly can handle! Looks like they have some freshly baked cheese croissants... Oh! Are those blueberry tartlets? No... raspberry!"

She teased me knowing that my stomach was embarrassingly grumbly this morning. I cleared my throat awkwardly to hide the loud sounds, and then passed Leona an unnecessarily large bill to pay. I hoped that she'd get the hint to over-buy on pastries so she'd have leftovers for me to eat once we were away from Ian and his date. She yanked the bill out of my hand with a smile, then kissed my cheek and ran off to get in line.

"Your girlfriend seems nice..."

Ian and I spoke together:

"She's not his girlfriend."

"She's not my girlfriend."

Where my statement came off as a breezy, habitual correction that no longer fazes me, Ian's statement came off as annoyed and slightly defensive.

The girl looked from me to Leona in line, not believing my words.

I went on, "She's just my best friend."

"So you're single?!" Again, she was in complete disbelief. "You're too good-looking to be single."

Ian shuffled in his seat in discomfort. He probably wasn't happy that his ex-girlfriend was complimenting me.

"Uhhh... I'm sorry, but I never caught your name?"

She held out her hand to shake. "I'm Miriam!"

I ignored her hand, but not in a rude way; I pretended not to see her gesture as I checked on Leona's progress in line. When I noticed from the corner of my eye that she dropped her hand, I finally looked back with a friendly smile.

"So you're Ian's girlfriend, right?"

She was quick to deny it. "No! I'm his ex... from high school. We broke up a long time ago, and now we're just friends."