beautiful pieces

unexpected love

    I dragged my black converse shoes on the wet pavement as Julius and I walked side by side, our arms brushing against each other, each time sending my nerves into overdrive.

    “C’mon Camille, you have to make a decision.”

    “Geez Julius, it’s harder said than done.”

    “What’s so hard about picking between Little Caesars and Pizza Hut?” He gives me a slight nudge and shoots me one of his famous half-smiles, the one that makes my heart pound faster.
    Julius has been my best friend since freshman year. It was a whole new school for me, filled with a sea of unfamiliar faces giving me dirty looks. Luckily, Julius quickly found me and we became instant friends. It was sophomore year when I realised I had feelings for him, but he’s always on and off with his girlfriend Miranda. Gag.

    “Okay fine, We’ll get some breadsticks from Little Caesars, the one by Starbucks on Crawford street.”
   
“Finally! You took forever!”
   
“Oh shut up Julius!” I punched him on his right bicep.
   
“We’re you trying to punch or tickle me?” Julius jokes, sticking out his tongue, which forces me to laugh.
   
“Whatever.” I roll my eyes and we continue to stride along the sidewalk.

    A few moments passed, and gray clouds started forming above us and water droplets begin shooting us from the sky.
    Julius grabs my hand and started running across the street, and let me tell you, God damn that boy can run. My short legs could barely handle the speed he was going. We quickly reach the Little Caesars entrance. He drops my hand and pushes the door open for me.
    After ordering, we looked around for a few seconds, finally settling at a table by the window.
    I pulled out a greasy breadstick from the paperbag. The aroma of of a variety of herbs filling the area. Once the bread touched my tongue, I bit down on it, immediately releasing the butter and garlic flavoring, leaving it too dance around my mouth. Once I finished my breadstick, I avert my attention back to Julius.

    “Jesus Christ Julius, you could’ve ripped my arm off back there.”

    Silence.

    “Well anyways, how’s you and Miranda?”

    More awkward silence. Julius was looking out the window. He had a worried face, and that made me worry.

    “Julius what’s wrong?” As if on cue, Julius snaps out of his trance and turns his head to face me.

    “Huh? Oh yeah, I’m fine. I’m totally fine.” He grabs a breadstick and furiously starts ripping pieces off and throwing them into his mouth.

    I observed his actions while mentally checking off a list in my head.

Clammy hands? Check.

    Looks like his mind is somewhere else? Check.

    Avoiding eye contact? Check.

    It’s official, Julius is hiding something from me.
    I slap the rest of his breadstick out of his hands and and watch it roll across the tiled floor.

    “Hey! What the hell was that for?” I ignored his question and asked one of mine instead.

    “What are you hiding from me?”

    “Geez Camille. Don’t worry about it.” He reaches for another breadstick, but I slap his hand away.

    “Don’t give me that bullshit Julius! What’s actually wrong?”

    Instead of answering, he looks out the window again. This time, I follow his gaze over to the nearby Starbucks. And there he was. A tall slim man dressed in a suit, holding a large hot coffee mocha. My dad’s favorite. But it doesn’t day Marcus on the cup, it says Addilyn