Interlaced (book 2 of Intertwined)

Chapter 8: Fries and a Shake

It was almost 5:30, I could hear the my stomach growling.

Lilly gave me a knowing look, "How about we go get food?" she suggested.

"That sounds good, how about you invite Alice and Liz?" I asked. I've known Alice and Liz most of my life and Lilly seemed to really like them.

"I know a great place to eat," North said. He gave Lilly the address while I leaned my head against the headrest. I hear Lilly telling us that they'd meet us there in about an hour.

We pulled up to Luke's, I look over to Lilly and I can't help but shake my head a little. She tore out of her seat belt and jumped out of the car. She jumped up and down, excited for food and North joined her.as Oli and I shared a smirk with each other before we jogged to catch up. We laughed at them as he opened the door.

"You look like a puppy when you do that," Oli said, shaking his head laughing at them even more. I could feel jealousy flare up in me; I know he's flirting with her. I tried to shake it off, but I can't help it. Lilly is the love of my life and I threw away my only chance with her.

"Well, you look like a lemur," Lilly shot back, that pulled me out of my brain. I couldn't help it, I burst out laughing from our inside joke. When we were younger, I was completely obsessed with lemurs when I was six. I would act like a lemur and talked about them nonstop. North and Oli shared a look at us. I felt incredibly embarrassed that she said that, especially out loud.

"Lemur? Did you seriously just call me a lemur? Why the hell did you say a lemur, and why is it so funny to you two?" Oli asked totally confused.

"Cole was completely obsessed with lemurs when we were six. That's all he would talk about," she explained in between gasps of air. She was so beautiful when she laughed. Her face shined and her eyes caught the light as the light melody of her laugh graced the air.

"I remember that, you were crazy back then," North said laughing. My face turned bright red. I was staring at her way too long and I don't want to make it obvious I was checking her out.

"Let's just grab a table," I said trying to change the subject; my cheeks were still burning as we walked into the diner laughing.

We picked a table towards the far end, there were menus already resting on the table. The guys and I sat on one side of the table, leaving Lilly's side for the girls. Oli sat in across from her with North and I on either side of him. Luke came up to us with a pen and a pad of paper. He wore a blue shirt and a backwards baseball cap.

"Hello boys, long time no see, where have my best three customers been at? He glanced over and saw Lilly. "So this explains it," he chuckled, "My name's Luke and I own the diner. What can I get you to drink?"

"I'll just have some sweet tea please," Lilly politely replied.

"Coming right up."

I knew he would get us our usuals. I wondered what Lilly really thought about me. I know we share a mind connection, but sometimes I feel like that's the only reason that we ever became friends in the first place. If we never had this connection would she had ever talked to me when she moved here? I don't like to play what-if games but I love her. I just feel like she's only with me because she feels forced. I glanced up at her only to notice her staring at me. "What are you looking at?" I asked her.

"I was just thinking," she replied back.

"Thinking about what?"

"Just how much my life has changed in the last 24 hours. It's crazy how I went from being a girl with no one to one with six great friends." she smiled her gorgeous smile at me. No Cole, you gotta stop thinking about her. She's not yours to think about.

"Yeah, I-"

"Alice, Liz, over here," North called out. I looked up to see the girls making their way over. Everyone exchanged greetings as Luke came back with four drinks.

"Well look at that, if it wasn't my two favorite girls here too. What are you two doing running around with these three troublemakers," Luke said as Alice stood up to hug him.

"Hi Uncle Luke, Lilly invited us to come eat out with them," Alice replied smiling. Luke released her after ruffling her hair up, at that Alice scowled and ran her fingers through it.

"Is everyone having their regulars?" Luke asked. Everyone in the group besides Lilly chimed in with a yes. "What about you, Lilly?"

"I'll have a cheeseburger with curly fries please."

"Great choice, it's coming right up," Luke said as he walked back behind the counter.

I caught Oli and Lilly sharing a look before she blushed and looked away. I felt my hands clenched into fist as I get hit with another flare of jealousy and anger. The anger was directed to me because I can't control how I feel about her.

"What have you guys been up to?" Liz asked.

"We were bowling before someone decided to fight over a hot pink bowling ball with someone else," Oli said with a pointed look towards North before turning to look at me.

"It wasn't like I was trying to break the chair," North said flabbergasted.

At the same time I exclaimed," I had the ball first!" All of us laughed at the two of them, they were like little kids that got caught red handed.

"What about you guys?" Oli asked Alice and Liz.

"We went to the mall over by Chesterfield and shopped a little before going to a movie," Liz replied.

"Did you see anything good? I didn't think there was any good movies in theaters right now," I said.

"Not really, I think we both ended up falling asleep partway through it," Alice said giggling.

Luke came back with several plates stacked on a tray and drinks for Alice and Liz. North had a BLT, I had cheeseburger thatLilly also got, and Oli had a huge shake and a plate of fries to match. Alice and Liz had grilled cheese with tomato soup and side salads.

"You dip your fries in your shake too?" Lilly asked.

"Of course I do, what kind of person would I be if I didn't?" Oli asked smirking. His smirk was similar to mine. It was moments like these that makes it clear that we are related.

"A normal one," I said throwing one of my fries at him. Oli picked it up and dipped it in his shake before eating it. He licked his lips and sat back with a content sigh.

"Oli smiled and he slid his shake towards Lilly, "Go ahead and dip it, I know you want to." She laughed and dipped one of her fries and ate it. North took the plate and finished the fries that were on it. I looked up to the seat across from me and saw Alice staring at me. She blushed bright red after being caught and she looked away quickly. All in all, tonight had been a good night.

"So what's next?" Liz asked. We all laughed.