Best Friends and Boy Friends

Chapter 1 - My Locked iPhone

CIARA

I have never been happier. So here's my brilliant situation: I just finished school and I'm taking a year out before going to college to study Education, I have bagged myself a summer job at the local café on Monday to Thursdays which pays pretty well, oh and I am about to turn 18. Life couldn't be better.
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I hear Adele's Someone Like You blasting from my back pocket and I immediately know who's calling. "What's up Clo?" I ask her through the phone as I exit through the gym doors. I've started going to the gym a lot lately and I must admit I really like it.

"Have you seriously forgotten?" She barks.

Oh crap. Oh crap. I was meant to pick her up half an hour ago to go shopping for my birthday outfit. Now don't judge me - I am NOT a girly-girl who goes shopping every weekend with her girlfriends for outfits. This is just one shopping trip I must endure to find a flattering outfit for my birthday party which is in two weeks. It was all Chloe's idea, she's such a shopaholic it actually scares me a bit.

"Sorry, be there in 10!" I respond as I end the call and start my car towards Chloe's house.

Chloe isn't my bestfriend. She is more like my 'sista-from-anotha-mista' as they say. We grew up together. Literally. She lives next door to me and we've practically been friends since birth. When we were younger we even tried to convince people we were twins. Nobody believed us though, our opposite looks being a complete giveaway. See Chloe, or Clo as I call her, is tall and skinny with slightly tanned skin and green eyes. She has long, straight brown hair which seems to look perfect all the time. She is so pretty and she doesn't even realise it. On the other hand there's me. I'm very small (honestly, I don't think I've grown since about the age of 11) with pale skin and long wavy hair which can be described as 'dirty blonde'.

"One more store then I promise we'll go!" Clo pleads and I agree, being the wonderful friend I am. We've been shopping for about four hours going from store to store in search for a party outfit. We enter a store called The Closet and I am immediately drawn to a red dress in the corner. I don't know but for some reason it caught my attention. "Oh my God Ciara!! It's pefect!!"

I can hear Clo squeal as I reveal myself from the changing room. I turn around to look at my reflection. Oh my God. It really is perfect. When Clo persuaded me to throw a party for my 18th I wasn't very keen. The thought of about 100 teenagers in my house getting drunk while celebrating my birth - no thank you - but now I'm feeling kind of pumped as the day draws nearer, and especially now that I'm in this dress. I don't really know how to explain it, I just have a feeling it'll be a good night.

We buy the dress and head to the food court for some well deserved ice cream. I take a seat in the parlour while Clo joins the queue to get us our favourite ice cream, honeycomb. I pull out my phone and pretend to be texting someone. I'm not a socially awkward person or anything like that I just don't like the idea of people seeing me on my own, on a Saturday afternoon. How sad.

As I tapped my locked iPhone I suddenly felt breathing on the back of my neck. Worried, I turned around to find a guy about my age staring back at me over the booth.

"Is it just me or are you tapping a blank screen?" He asks as I take in his features. He's got pale skin with dark brown hair and very intense green eyes. I must have zoned out as I hear him talk again.

"Well?"

I can't help but giggle at him, he must be so concerned about my mental health; sitting on my own in an ice cream parlour, tapping my blank phone and getting completely lost in his eyes. God how embarrassing.

"Shit sorry I zoned out and to answer you're question, yes I'm tapping a blank screen." As I'm talking I take a look behind the guy and notice he isn't alone and there's another boy about my age sitting with him, but I don't take much notice as I'm awaiting guy #1's reply.

He lets out a chuckle. "You're funny. I'm Aaron." He introduces himself and politely shakes my hand over the booth, which I have to go on my knees to shake back due to my lack of height. Just wonderful, I know right. Anyway as I'm about to introduce myself, Clo walks towards our booth holding both our ice creams in hand. I thank her and turn around to talk to Aaron again but to my surprise, he was gone in that very second, leaving two half eaten ice cream cones on the table.

I had two questions instantly in my mind:

1) How can boys run so fast?

And 2) What just happened?