Half Hearted

Chapter Six

| Teresa |

We were about to leave to grab some pizza from Papa John's - since we didn't want to use up money on delivery - when Oria stopped at the door. "What's the hold up?" I asked, trying to look over her shoulder, but failed due to my height, so I looked from under her instead. "Oh... Ash."

Completely different from his expression when he saw me, Ash's eyes were sparkling. His face held the expression of an innocent child, staring at their first soft ice cream cone. "Hi, I'm Oria. You remember me, right?"

He broke out of his daze and nodded, "of course. How could I forget?"

I rolled my eyes, and Oria turned to give me a look saying 'I told you so.' Sighing, the two of them fell into conversation as if they were best friends being reunited after many lonely years.

I gave them about two minutes, and when I got tired of waiting, ducked under her arm - which was still holding the door open - and then left them alone. "Teresa, wait!" I heard her scream, scrambling to lock the door. "Come with us, we're going to grab dinner. Hope you don't mind that we're on a budget right now, so pizza will have to do."

"No, of course not," I heard him reply. He was being so nice to her - someone who had done nothing compared to what I had done - and it was pissing me off.

"You're as fake as your leather jacket," I muttered, not bothering to wait for the elevator, and going down the stairs instead. Oria took her time alone with Ash, taking the elevator instead. I headed outside and started the car, already annoyed at their future relationship. This was always the pattern for her. Get a guy within a month, stay together for another month, and then break up. She would run to me and Steven - who would need to be prevented from breaking her ex's noses - and then find another guy again. And although she was one of my closest friends, there was no denying the slight envy and distaste I had for how she lived her life.

I sighed as she got in the back seat with Ash rather than the seat next to me. During the short drive, Oria was giggling and laughing. I even saw her playfully punch his arm while we were at the stop sign. He remained himself, but with a lot more of the smiling thing going on.

When I parked, Oria told me that she and Ash would stay in the car while I went to get our order. "But you said you would pay," I stood there dumbfounded, holding the car door open.

"Here," she grabbed some cash from her wallet and handed it to me. "Come back if it's not enough."

Trying not to slam the door too hard, I grabbed the money and walked inside. Not even one hour into it, and I was already getting pissed. First of all, he had the audacity to show up at my apartment and treat me differently? Second of all, had Randy meant nothing to her? She was sobbing about him just yesterday, and now she was all over some model?

As if all of that wasn't bad enough, I had just been informed that the kitchen had run out of Hawaiian barbecue chicken pizza.

"Sorry, it'll be about a half an hour wait for us to make another one," the cashier lady shrugged. I looked at her name tag - Barbra.

"Barbra, are you sure there's nothing left in the back there, just waiting for that one extra customer who'll start a rampage if they don't get their pizza in less than five minutes because they're business savvy and management is afraid to get a bad review on Yelp?" I questioned. I knew how the system worked in fast-food chains - I used to work in Wendy's!

The lady stared at me with perplexed eyes, amused and annoyed at the same time. Without saying anything, I pried my mouth shut, gave her an unsure shrug, then walked out of the restaurant with my hands in my pockets.

My favourite flavour of pizza in the world, and I would be apart from it for half an hour. 

When I got back to the car I saw Oria's hand on Ash's thigh - her classic move. Knowing she wanted me to give them some space, I interrupted anyways. "They told me it's going to take half an hour. We can just stay here for a bit."

"Yeah, that's fine," Oria dismissed, victorious at her newly gained time with the runaway celebrity, but slightly frustrated that I was cutting it short. She gave me the 'leave me alone' eyes, and so I did just that. They continued their conversation about New York City, while I excused myself to go to the washroom. I didn't, really. Instead I went for a walk.

The sun had already gone down, so the extra bit of warmth we had left went away. Winter was my favourite season, so I was happy that summer was finally done with. Although, I wasn't happy that school had begun again. I was on my last year of Kinesiology, and the first day started a week ago. It was hectic, since I wasn't always the best at memorization, so these last three years had been a struggle for me. Even though my grade average was over 70%, I found myself being disappointed whenever I saw Oria and Claire's grades at the high 80's. They didn't even need to read over our notes; memorizing things just clicked with them.

After walking around the neighbourhood for about half an hour, I headed back to the store - only to be told that they had already retrieved the pizza under my name. Thanking the cashier, I headed out and saw them already eating together at the backseat.

"Hey, what took you so long?" Oria said in between her bite. She was trying hard not to pig out, because Ash was present, and he was eating his pizza surprisingly well. He wasn't making a mess or anything - which would have been a problem, as I was overly protective of the cleanliness of my car.

"I just got caught up in a phone call," I lied, starting the car and heading for home.

"A phone call lasting half an hour?" Oria questioned. "With who?"

"Tyler," I replied, trying to sound normal. "We were just catching up."

"You seriously need to tell him you love him," she retorted as she struggled with the cheese dangling from her mouth. "You don't have forever."

I let the conversation die as I pulled out of the parkway and headed back home.

We showed Ash around the apartment, but after being overshadowed by Oria's bubbly presence, I gave it a rest and left them alone. He only gave me glares anyways. With her, he was smitten in love.

Sighing, I had another night of binge-watching on Netflix, only to be reminded that I had school tomorrow. With a grunt I stood up to leave for my room, then I noticed how Ash was sitting down on his mattress with his face in his hands. Oria was in the washroom taking a shower, so I decided to try and approach him. "Hey, are you okay?"

He looked up, and when he saw that it was me, gave a scowl. "I'm fine."

He was really funny, looking perfect for Oria, but showing me his true colours. I didn't know what I did to him, to cause him to treat me so differently. I admit that it hurt.

But I had already cried enough for people; I wasn't going to add this model on my list.