Coder Girl 2 /Dreamwastaken/

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I inhaled deeply, an unwelcome wave of nostalgia that I'd been trying to avoid for so long washing over me.

"What are you doing here?" I couldn't even pretend to be unfazed. I had this strong urge to just hit something.

"Just here to see my friend graduate," she shrugged, "how about you?"

As if she didn't already know.

"Watching my girlfriend graduate." I replied, wanting her to feel a sting, even though I doubted she was capable of feeling anything.

"Oh, right," she chuckled, "just saw her receiving flowers from a man. Thought it might be you or your buddies, but turns out it wasn't."

I tightened my fist, feeling my thumb crack under the pressure of my grip.

"Sure," I attempted to move past her, but she placed her hand on my stomach, blocking my path.

"Was it a relative? A friend? Or maybe she's not as loyal as you think, huh?" She taunted.

My blood was boiling.

I stepped back, raising my eyebrows and laughing as I looked at her. She didn't seem too happy about my reaction and gave me a questioning look.

"You using the word loyal is just cracking me up," I shook my head, laughing.

"You knew that I've been set up and you didn't even give me a chance."

"We're not gonna have this conversation again," I was getting so frustrated that even looking at her made me have violent thoughts, "move aside and move on with your life."

"Sure. But I have some things to share with you," she removed her hand from my stomach, "so if you ever feel curious, just leave a text."

Fortunately, Nick and George returned. I was only aware of their arrival because Nick loudly said, "Not this bitch again."

I turned around, noticing them with all the flowers. I eagerly grabbed the red roses, relieved that they didn't acknowledge her presence, not even a single glance at her face. It seemed to be enough to make her leave.

"What did that thing want?" Nick made a disgusted face.

"I honestly have no idea," I responded. All I could think about was the need to compose myself before Lizzy arrived.

"Bro got jumpscared before October," George handed me a bottle of water with his words, "should we go find Lizzy?"

I was about to say that I needed a minute to get myself back together, but Lizzy found us instead.

She had the biggest smile approaching us, but I couldn't help but look at the flowers she was holding.

I hated myself for it, but it felt like bugs were eating me from inside.

I tried to smile as George and Nick were congratulating her, hugging and giving her the flowers. And when it was finally my turn, her smile got even bigger.

"Congrats, baby." I intended to offer her the flowers, but she was practically struggling to hold them all. Nick quickly took some from her arms, making room for the flowers I brought. And only mine.

"Aw, thank you," she was even ready to ruin her lipstick. She gave me a kiss, "wait, how many did you get?"

We looked over at all of the bouquets, four of them in total. And considering that we only got the three of them, her question was concerning.

"Three," I managed to say, though I had to crack my fingers repeatedly to keep calm and not sound overly possessive, "but it looks like you received some too."

She stared at me, her mouth slightly parting, but no words came out. She glanced back at the flowers, almost as if she was counting them, then back at me.

"They... weren't from you?" She asked, sounding somewhat surprised.

What the fuck is going on.

"No," I replied, and I could see the expressions on everyone's faces change with just that one word. "Who gave them to you?"

She glanced around as if searching for the person in the crowd but apparently didn't spot anyone.

"It... it was a guy," she stammered, "he gave me the flowers and said they were from a special someone. I thought they were from you."

I bit my tongue, feeling the tension in the air as I struggled to take a deep breath. My knuckles were beginning to itch.

"Who was the guy?" I asked firmly.

"I don't know, I didn't know him-"

"And you accepted the flowers without questioning it at all?" I interrupted.

"She thought they're from you." George jumped in, reminding me that I might have been a bit too harsh on her.

"You know what, it was likely a mix-up," Nick said, grabbing the flowers and placing them on a table - away from the rest, "problem solved. Let's go take some photos now."

I was grateful that they were there to intervene before I lost control. I could sense the tension on Lizzy's face, and to ease it, I draped my arm around her shoulders and drew her close to me.

"Sorry," I whispered as I kissed the top of her head, feeling her shoulders relax under my arm.

"I'm sorry," she replied softly, "I don't know what that was."

"It's okay, forget about it," I wasn't going to forget about it, "don't even think about it." I was definitely going to think about it and find out.

We found a good spot to take pictures. We took a ton of Lizzy alone with her flowers, and she looked gorgeous in every single of them.

Then George forced me to pose for half an hour with her, trying to get a good photo of us. However, either one of us laughed, made faces, or the photos turned out blurry.

"Dip her down and look at her with dreamy eyes," Nick instructed, "get it? Dream-y."

I chuckled, wrapping my arm around the small of her back and gently dipping her, causing her to giggle as George snapped a thousand photos.

Just when I thought we had already captured the best picture, I leaned in and kissed her before bringing her back to her feet. George managed to capture that moment perfectly, turning the unintentional photo into the best one of all. I might even post it.

And then we took some pics all together, and called it a day.

While the three of us got ready to go back home, Lizzy had a graduation party to attend. I'm not sure if it was because of what happened earlier or if I was just overthinking, but I couldn't help but feel a bit worried and had this uneasy feeling inside me.

Maybe I'm just crazy.

"Call me when you finish, I'll come pick you up," I kissed her forehead while saying goodbye, "and be safe."

"Wait, don't you have an event tonight?" She reminded me that I had a livestream scheduled. I couldn't believe I had forgotten.

"Oh, damn, you're right," I wrinkled my nose in realization. "Alright, call Nick then."

She nodded, giving me one last hug before we went our separate ways.