Tinkering Hearts

Chapter Thirteen

Sicre

Remind me again why I'm friends with the people I call my friends.

"I'vegotadatewithNaureen sopleaseworkmyshifttoday, my dear dear bro."

"Wha—"

"I'lltreatyoutoice-cream. OKbyeeeee" and there goes Amer, after railroading all those words at me. And it's all on me now. Yeah, fuck this situation.

His words suddenly sink in.

"WAIT! Naureen?!" But the guy already scuttles out of the cafe, his blond curls bouncing happily on his head.

Oh. My. God! My two best friends are dating!

I stand on my toes to look at Amer through the glass door, ensuring he wasn't lying, and ditching me, from my counter space. I see Naureen outside and a smile forms my lips. My babies are growing up.

I am so lost in my thoughts that I don't realize I'm getting late and got customers to attend. Making my way to the main counter, replacing Amer, I take the order from a middle-aged man, who looked like he could really do with some caffeine right now.

"One caramel latte!" I scream to Reece poking my head into the locker room. He rushes out in his new green apron. I get in to grab mine as well.

"On it."

There was a small accident the other day. So a corner of Reece's apron was burnt.
Reece is another buddy of mine. Kody, Amer, Reece, Zeke, and I are kinda the popular boy group around the area. Although I just got here a couple of months ago, I found it easy to bond with the people around me. The small possibility of people interacting with me because of my CEO parents is always on my mind. Yet I shrug off all those matters because, let's face it, I've learned to live through that attention. Now I can't differentiate much between the fakes and the genuine.

I guess, I just know.

And I know my best friends aren't like that. They reek of a no-judgment zone. Amer and I had a reunion when I got to Seattle after three years. He didn't go to Roosevelt so we had to meet at some spot. We caught up on all that has happened and he helped me place where Zaelia could be after all the months of searching. If I had had his contacts, it wouldn't have taken long.

Amer didn't change even a bit though. Yet that funky guy you would love to have a conversation with all night if you found him in a club. I must admit, his stories intrigue me too at times.

I got to know Kody, Zeke, and Reece when I got into Roosevelt. They were the most welcoming people around then. All four of us are on the soccer team and that's how our friendship grew I guess.

Zeke had never been the best at socializing. He's the biggest introvert I've ever met. But we click nonetheless. We have very different schedules, so we don't get to stick around each other more often in school. But nobody can separate us when we're onto gaming. He's a fucking natural and we bonded more through it. Still, I feel like I can never get to know the real Zeke. He feels shut down the majority of the time.

Reece and Kody are like two peas in a pod. Popular with the girls and all that. Kody moves on from girl to girl in a blink of an eye. Imagine looking at a girlfriend of his, you blink and poof! A new face stands beside him. Reece is the most good-looking compared to all of us. He's barely interested in anyone though. He screams bad boy nerd if that makes sense. Snatching with gold-rimmed glasses and an astronomy addiction, and the least favorite of all the teachers because of his coldness and 'pathetic' attitude. You could say he's the only one who's not a pussy to speak his mind.

I love my friends. They are more than brothers to me. It's like, I could trust them with literally anything. Yet, the most I can trust would be Amer. We're childhood friends and he knows Zee as expertly as I do. He is probably the most relatable person in my opinion. So he can be relied on for everything.