Unconditionally ➳ D. O'Brien [2]

➳ 13

Cara arrived at Jenn's café at promptly 12:35 p.m. She wanted to get there ahead of time, so she could steel herself for seeing Dylan for the first time in three months. After grabbing herself a bottle of water, she claimed a booth near the window, so that she could see Dylan coming. She tapped her finger against the grainy table top in a pattern of one, two, three, pause, one, two, three, her gaze shifting around the familiar café. She ignored the teenage girl taking photos of her from the other side of the room, giggling whilst her half-asleep friend looked on in disinterest.

She sat back against the booth, changing the pattern that she tapped into the table. The time was slowly ticking by. At 12:43, she noticed Jack and Paisley sitting nonchalantly in a car parked across the street. They were trying to be discrete, she knew it from the way Paisley pulled her hood up over her head and focused on the phone in her hands.

new text message to: princess paisley

captain cara: you guys are so obvious smh

princess paisley: i have no idea what you're talking about

captain cara: if you're going to be stalkers, at least come inside and grab a booth, have a coffee, laugh at my discomfort

princess paisley: i would never laugh at you in this situation

princess paisley: jack, however, might

captain cara: just come inside!!!

[read: 14:46]

When she looked back to where her friends were, she saw that they were crossing the street, both looking like they'd been caught stealing candy from a baby. Cara huffed out a laugh, rolling her eyes at them as they separated; Jack went up to the counter, whereas Paisley came to sit with her.

"We'll leave when he gets here," She promised, flashing Cara a smile just as Jack returned with their drinks. It was quite in here, and she was grateful for that. Though, she wasn't sure how quite it was going to be when the girl that was still taking photos of her told the world (or, just her twitter followers) that Dylan was here. If she did that― and Cara hoped she didn't. She just wanted a quiet conversation with the father of her baby, the man she'd fallen hopelessly in love with.

"How you feeling, Carebear?" Jack questioned as he slid into place beside Paisley, mirroring the blonde's soft smile.

"I'm good," She answered, folding her arms on the surface of the table, "Nervous as hell, but good,"

"Are you going to tell him the truth?" Paisley asked, her gaze soft as she eyed Cara, who shook her head.

"He wouldn't listen the first time I tried," She sighed, "And telling him now― I think it'd only make everything worse, like I'm trying to get him to break-up with her and get back with me for the sake of our baby,"

"Here he comes," Jack said, nodding out the window. Cara turned to look, spotting Dylan as he climbed out of a car driven by Tyler, who climbed out afterwards. "Looks like we were right to come here, Pais',"