Eighty Days of Heartache

the sixth day;

THE SIXTH DAY;

THE SCHOOL CANTEEN is busier than usual, and as Ivy, Luke and I sit down at our usual table at the far end of the large hall, I can't help but feel happier than I have done in months.

"You're smiling a lot today," Luke grumbles at me as he takes a bite out of his chicken and mayo sandwich, which makes Ivy's nose wrinkle with contempt. "I don't like it."

My smile, turns into a grin.

"Ivy, make her stop," Luke whines as I open my own cucumber sandwich and munch on it happily. Ivy pushes at his shoulder, which he instantly wraps around her to draw him in.

She's looking at me, her jade green eyes are sparkly and all knowing. "She's happy because her date went amazing," she's gushing as if she was the one that went on the date, which has me laughing.

"It did?"

"It did."

"What happened?"

"He took her stargazing."

"What the fuck?"

"How romantic!"

"Again, what the fuck?"

"Why don't you do that for me?" Ivy complains, her voice turning into a groan of displeasure as she removes her head from his shoulder to stare at him directly in the eye. "For our first date you took me to your sisters apartment to illegally watch the movie we wanted to see in the cinema, but we couldn't watch it in the cinema because it was sold out."

Sheepishly, Luke scratches the nape of his neck before giving her a small and cheeky smile. "But you loved it," he replies instantly, pressing a kiss to her temple. "You love me, too."

"I do," she sighs dramatically, her head falling against his shoulder again as Luke gives her a mega—watt smile. "I do love you... a lot... we can go on double dates again now, Fawn."

I roll my eyes at the jump of conversation, before finishing the first half of my sandwich with a blank expression. "No double dates."

"Why not?" She asks offendedly, her eyes shooting towards me but her head staying settled on Luke's shoulder. "Best friends are supposed to go on double dates!"

"I've only been on one date with him," I whisper under my breath, eating the other half of my sandwich as Ivy pouts at me with her puppy eyes. "You'll scare him off."

She opens her mouth to reply, but her eyes look over my shoulder and she begins to grin like a lunatic. "Well, apparently not, because he's currently walking our way."

I blink thrice, before slowly looking over my shoulder where — sure enough, — Nero is slowly walking through the canteen. The sea of people and children part as he cuts through, a smile stretching over his face as he notices that I'm looking at him.

I'm wordless as he reaches out table, Forrest trailing behind him with his short blond hair and blue eyes pristine and clear. Forrest is in two of my lessons; philosophy and psychology, but we've never really spoken.

"Hey, Fawn," Nero smiles, and surprisingly I find myself giving him one back. "Can we sit here?" He points to the empty spaces beside me, and before I can answer Ivy is already nodding enthusiastically.