𝒸𝒶𝓁𝓁 𝒾𝓉 𝓌𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓌𝒶𝓃𝓉

[Chapter 14] Sounds Fake

"Y'know, when I told you I was going on a date with Amber—I wasn't expecting you to be so invested that you FOLLOWED us there."
Harry's teasing tone is matched by his playful head tilt as he leans against the to go counter of Fresh Street Deli and I roll my eyes. "As if. Trust me, had I known you two were going to be there—I would've gone literally anywhere else."
"Right..."
Clearly he doesn't believe me.
"...and you definitely weren't hoping that you might see me there."
Harry cross his arms and I match his energy, doing the same. "You didn't cross my mind once."
"Ouch, Knockout." He presses a hand to his chest with a wounded expression. "You tryna convince me or yourself?"

"Are you gonna order or not, Harry?" I sigh, getting irritated by his insisting.

"What do you suggest?" He ponders, studying the overhead menu.

I purse my lips. "There's this awesome pizza place down the street, go there."

He scoffs, eyes not leaving the menu. "After the universe literally brought me into the place you work? No way."

"Just order please." I sigh deeply, my phone buzzing in my back pocket--probably a text from Lake considering I haven't heard from Dakota in almost a solid 24 hours.

I half thought about going to the cops and reporting her missing but unfortunately, once Dakota's enamored with a guy--this becomes pretty typical behavior.

"Alright." Harry claps his hands together. "Let me get a BLT, extra everything, couple of those little chocolate chip cookies annnd, what's the best lemonade?"

"Pear," I reply honestly. "But only if you squeeze some actual lemons in it."

"Perfect, I'll take that then. Exactly how you drink it."

I ignore him, swiftly tapping his order into the tablet before turning it around to face him. "$18.45."

"Steep," he comments, tapping his phone against the screen and I rest a hand on my hip. "Mhmm. Alright, you can sit anywhere, I'll have it out when it's ready."

"Okay, I'm trusting you not to poison it, Knockout!" He calls after me as I turn to head back into the kitchen.

I pull my phone out of my khaki shorts as I swing the door open and walk in.

so when do i get to see you again?

Lake, just like I guessed.

I don't want to admit that I'm flattered by the fact that our little run-in at the Mexican restaurant happened just last night and he's already trying to see me again.

He's a guy, Kelly, don't be dumb.

"Oh my gosh, girl. I got so wasted last night." Veronica sighs, causing me to look up from my phone. "Donna got on my ass for being late to open this morning. Like, damn-- if you make me close and then open the next day OBVIOUSLY I'm gonna be tired. So unfair."

"Vere, you're fifteen. You shouldn't be drinking," I point out, abandoning my phone back into my pocket and grabbing a large plastic cup before filling it with ice. "Besides, didn't you say Crawford was picking you up yesterday? How late were you guys out?"

Veronica scowls in response. "Not even that late. Besides all I had was some punch, the guys are the ones that wanted to do body shots--"

I hold up a hand to interrupt. "Stop. You stress me out, I don't want to know."

"Girl." Veronica makes a face, before going back to blankly staring at the ticket screen. "Whatever."

I fill the plastic cup with some lemonade based before adding a few pumps of the pear syrup, the aforementioned lemons and topping it all off with water. "Hey, can you bring #80 to the counter when it's ready?"