The Friend Zone

Chapter Nineteen: Apple Bee's and Three Wise Crones

Oh, the irony.

Life has a real sense of humor doesn't it?

Leah tried to get me to stay after, asking if I wanted to stay till dinner with her and....Luke, yeah, I would rather cut my tongue.

I hurried outside the house as fast as I could, feeling claustrophobic as if the walls were going to close down on me any second now, I couldn't bare to look at Luke much less at Leah, and when he wrapped his arms around her, that was it to me, I offered them a hasty smile, because that was me Sam Cramer and I stayed cool under pressure, but I made my escape as quick as my legs allowed me.

The pain in my chest was unexplainable, and I kept thinking to myself that I'm too young to have a heart attack or wasn't I?

I didn't cry, despite the pain, because there was no crying in football, and I vaguely wondered if this was how Leah felt when I rejected her, but I suspected that this was worse, I actually had hope, I was so confident in myself that it was such a shock when I saw Luke embracing her, as if someone punched me in the stomach, no, worse, as if I was kicked in the nuts.

I drove away, not knowing where I was going, all I was concerned with was getting away, from Leah, from the pain and the heartbreak, and mostly from me.

I found myself parked in an apple bee's restaurant and until I've seen the sign till I realized how hungry I was, I search through my pockets for my money and came up with a fifty, which was more than enough to feed me.

So ordering myself a meal, I sat down and waited to be served, unfortunately this was a very bad night to be in Apple Bee's, couples were every where, old ones, teenage ones, happily married ones, even two four years old were sitting in the table across him holding hands.

To stop myself from tormenting myself with the romance in the air, I plopped my head into the table's cold surface and waited for my meal.

I was so sunk in myself misery that I didn't notice the girl standing beside me, till she poked me in the arm, I slowly raised my head, and gave her a level look, can't a guy get some peace and quiet and maybe good food when he was in pain? Apparently not, because she took the hint of smile in my face as invitation and sat in the chair across me.

I didn't know how to react, should I ignore her, or what? Usually in other circumstances I would have flirted like crazy with her, maybe even offered her a ride home, gave her a long not so innocent kiss before dropping her off, she was cute enough for it, short black curly hair and smooth olive skin, I couldn't see her body but I was sure it would have been killer, but she wasn't no Leah, Leah's perfect skin was marred by a mole in the centre of her left cheek, a mole that was shaped and reshaped with the dents and grooves as she smiled, Leah's hair was long, and wavy, and in the sun it changed red, Leah's eyes weren't brown like this girl's eyes were, nor weren't they so sensual, her eyes were blue with violet flecks and were wide with innocence.

I waited for the girl to say something, but she didn't, just kept smiling and staring at me, I have to admit I was getting a bit uncomfortable there, I mean, yeah she was hot, but this was still creepy, so when she said nothing and neither did I, I finally caved and said "And you want?"

I wasn't feeling like being talkative or even bothering with manners, and yeah maybe that was rude, but the girl should have taken the hint that I wanted to be alone right now, and hit it, but apparently she's dense, I used to go for that, dense girls who didn't question everything.

Now all I can think about is one smart girl who reads War and Peace for fun, and who can quote Shakespear and Star Wars perfectly, a certain girl with witty talks and killing comebacks, and a strange sense of humor, but this one, the one in front of me, just stared at me from behind wicked eyes, leaning back in her chair she opened her mouth and said "Does it matter? I was just sitting there with some of my friends_" she hooked a thumb behind her pointing at a table with two blushing girls, "And we thought that you were too cute to look this lonely."