Sequel (Advent Calendar 2016)

THE 8TH OF DECEMBER

The 8th of December

...

He sits by a table, eating his nachos slowly, trying to avoid the noise from chewing the crisps; he's hungover, having drunk one too many beers last night.

Kristen sits down across from him, like she does every day. But for the first time, he's a little surprised, thinking she would have sat next to Lucy. She has a smile on her face however. He doesn't want to know why.

"Rough night?" She asks, knowing his hangover face way too well.

He groans in response.

"Did you go out?"

"No," he says, not bothering to elaborate.

"Oh, then what did you do?"

Do I tell you that I spent all night drinking cheap beers and strumming random chords on my guitar, trying to distract myself from thinking about you on a date?

"Uhm, nothing special, just binge-watched some, uh, Game of Thrones, fell asleep at three, had to be up at 7."

He looks into her eyes, so she can see that he's lying, see why he needed to get drunk. She sees nothing.

(more in comments)

"How did you spend your night?" He asks her, knowing most of it, yet not sure if he wants to know the rest.

"I went to an Italian restaurant." She waits till he looks at her, before she adds, "with Lucy."

His face remains the same, not surprised at all, having spent the past 24 hours thinking about Kristen at an Italian restaurant with Lucy.

He could ask her if it was a date, if the food was good, if she had a great time. He doesn't.

"You don't like Italian," he says.

"No." She doesn't say the words, but they're written in the air.

"But you like Lucy," he voices.

She looks at him.

"She's fun," Kristen shrugs.

Fun to kiss?

He needs to know.

"So what - did you just go out for dinner and talked, or was it like... a date?"

Kristen narrows her eyes.

"What do you mean?"

Rob swallows.

"Just, was it a date?"

She crosses her arms. "I don't see how that's any of your business."

"I'm just asking, Kris, don't be like this."

"What do you mean? Like what?"

Rob puts his head in his hands, his head pounding from the alcohol last night and the conversation he's currently having. He didn't want to upset her, but she didn't have to be so defensive. He was just trying to make conversation after all, to ask her, as a friend. Unfortunately, it was the jealous ex-boyfriend in him that ended up asking her instead.

"Do you know what, Rob? If you're so interested in whether Lucy's just a friend or whether I'm fucking her, the tabloids probably know every little detail by now, so go and read a magazine or something. Fuck you, Rob"

Kristen stands up, the force of her movement knocking over Rob's drink, and storms off without looking back.

...