LIVING THE DREAM ✅

Fourteen: The old friends, the dish and the other date

"-and that is how we became friends," Theo finished narrating his part of the story about how he and Hannah became friends

"Who would have thought?" Austin whistled. "I can't wrap my head around the fact that Hannah was a nerd! With her ability to speak like she swallowed a memory card, I'd have guessed a cheerleader instead. Or one of the magazine people that talk to everyone."

"Or," Claire chimed in, "I imagined Hannah as a minion of a popular girl. Like, she totally would nail the role."

"You all have so much faith in me," Hannah replied as she wheezed with laughter. Hayley was trying not to chime in to avoid making herself look extra stupid. But in all honesty, she couldn't figure out why Hannah was laughing. Nothing funny had been said, yet, she was chocking on her food. "But anyway," Hannah continued, "I was a nerd and I literally had no friends till Theo."

"I bet Theo was the hot nerd," Austin smirked. "Like that guy in 'he is all that' - the Addison Rae movie."

"Haha, no," Theo deadpanned and took a bite out of the chicken. "Hmm, this chicken is great. As I was saying, I barely had any muscles then and I didn't know what to do with my hair. I just let it be."

"Do you want more soup?" Mitchell gestured at Theo's almost empty bowl of sauce

"Yes, please," he nodded with a smile. "You are a good cook."

"I try."

Just then, Hayley felt someone kick her foot under the dining table. It didn't take rocket science to figure out who.
When she looked up at him, he mouthed 'more soup' and pointed at himself.

She reached for the dish to get some for him but Mitchell had other plans.

"So, Theo. You are my sister's supervisor?"

"I am."

"You are nice. Hayley says good things about Vine except that you have a very rude receptionist that keeps flinging doors in my sister's face."

Hayley felt her face burning and without realizing it, the dish slipped out of her hands and fell on the ground. Unluckily for all of them, the dish was breakable and it did break - into countless pieces and the soup flooded the wool carpet.

If that didn't scream embarrassment, Hayley didn't know what. She muttered a short apology under her breath and before anyone could stop her, she fled the house, tears flooding her eyes.

......

"It's not a big deal," Claire tried to reassure Mitchell who was already doing the hard maths in her head on how much extra work she'd have to do to afford the dish. She felt embarrassed. They'd been invited into that house with open arms and what did they reward them with? A broken dish that probably cost a fortune. "It's just a dish," Claire repeated for maybe the a hundredth time. "I have plenty of other dishes in the cupboard. Way more expensive than the broken one. Don't stress, alright? It's fine."

"I swear, I'll pay you back. It's gonna take a while but-"

"It's fine, seriously," Austin wrapped his arm around her shoulder like a warm blanket. "It was an accident, we get it. Don't feel so bad about it."

"I'm sure Hayley feels even worse," Hannah added. "You should go up to yours and talk to her before she flees the country. Meanwhile, I'll be taking my leave now."

"Do you need a ride?" William offered

"Uh- no. I'm fine. You guys have a safe journey home. This has been nice and we should totally do it again. Right guys?"

The suggestion was met with nods of approval, effectively taking everyone off Hannah's back.

"And I'll walk you home," Austin gestured for Mitchell to follow him out

"I will do the dishes," Claire walked to the kitchen

Mitchell and Austin walked quietly for a minute or two until Mitchell couldn't take the silence anymore and asked the burning question.
"Why didn't Hannah let William and Theo drive her home? It's kinda late."

Austin shrugged.
"Her boyfriend gets really mad if another man drives her home, even me. He gets super weird about it."

"Oh," it didn't make sense but Mitchell didn't want to pry. "What are you going to name the cat? That's if you get to keep it?"

"Him. It's a he," Austin corrected. "I'm just gonna name Van Der Waals."

"Van Der what now?"

"It's a weak bond in chemistry. Like how can a weak bond have such a complicated name? Beats me. Anyways, that's the name unless you have a suggestion."

"You'd let me name him?"

"Why not? If you hadn't talked to Claire about allowing me to keep him, we'd still be arguing till now," Austin laughed and adjusted his scarf. "And before you ask how I know, I overhead your conversation with her in the kitchen. Thanks for that. How do you get her to agree to stuff?"

"It's an elder sibling thing."

"Fine. Keep your secrets. So, any recommendations for the names?"

"Honestly, my brain is kind of fried right now. I'm not thinking straight at all."

"Maybe you can tell me tomorrow," Austin wiggled his eyebrows

"What's on tomorrow?"

"The cinema we went to last time is showing Your Place or Mine tomorrow. I'd like you to come with me after my shift if you don't mind."

"I wouldn't turn down a chance of eating free popcorn and ogling at Ashton Kutcher?"

"Bold of you to assume that I'll be paying," Austin grumbled

"That's what you said last time but you still paid."

"This time I'm serious."

But they both knew that Austin would end up paying anyway. None of them said it out loud but it was kind of an unspoken agreement. Suddenly, Mitchell was pulled into a warm chest. As Austin said his goodbyes, his chest vibrated sending little sparks throughout Mitchell's body.

"Good luck with your sister," he said once he let her go. "And remember that we aren't mad about the dish and we'd love to have you over again. And again as long as you want. Alright?"

Mitchell nodded and watched Austin walk away. Her stomach filled with dread, she took a few steps towards the house. She couldn't help but frown.

With Hayley, it was always one step forward to two steps backwards.

Triple update:)