Friend Zone

Chapter 2

     I dragged myself to my car alongside Pidge. "C'mon Keith, it can't be that bad" she nudged me with her elbow. "Mhmm yeah" I said sarcastically. She rolled her eyes and laughed while getting in the passenger seat. I got into the car and started to pull out. Before I could pull all the way out, someone stopped in front of me. "Seriously" I mumbled. It was Lance's car, he was just trying to annoy me.

     While attempting to keep myself calm, my hand was slowly moving toward the horn. After about 25 seconds of him not moving I decided to honk the horn. He looked up at me and apologized. I just honked again until he moved. "Calm down" Pidge told me. "You calm down! Lance won't move his stupid car fast enough" I said loudly.

     She slumped down in her seat as I attempted to move from the parking spot. I turned on the radio to hear the song "The Ballad of Mona Lisa" by Panic! at the Disco on. Pidge and I smiled at each other and I blasted the song. She started head banging and singing loudly as I laughed. We would yell the lyrics while holding hands or pointing at each other. It was fun until I remembered we were driving to see Lance at a coffee shop.

     We arrived and Pidge and I got out of the car. Lance had parked right next to me, and said hi obnoxiously while Hunk waved. I just waved to Hunk and we walked inside. After Lance got us a table, we all sat and waited. "So, Keith" Lance looked to me. I stared blankly at him, waiting for him to speak. "Our first date huh?" He said, smiling devilishly. "That's it" I got up to leave. Lance grabbed my hand "No! I was kidding" he said. I held his hand for a second before pulling away and sitting down, annoyed.

      Lance clearly noticed me hold his hand, but didn't say anything. Hunk and Pidge had already started making conversation without us. I tapped my fingers on the table, waiting for the awkwardness to go away. "Any idea what you want?" Lance asked, handing me a paper with drink names and prices. I skimmed over it until I found something that looked good "Yup" I replied.

     "So watcha gonna get?" Lance asked me. "Iced Caramel Macchiato" I said back. "Me too!" He smiled to me. A small smile broke through "you don't have to get the same thing as me" I told Lance. "No really, I like the Macchiato" he insisted. I giggled and just went with it. A waitress came over and asked what we wanted. We told her our orders and she smiled brightly. "Keith, you need some of her happiness" Lance joked. "Oh ha ha" I said with sarcasm.

     Pidge looked over to me "how are you doing?" She asked. "Fine" I lied. She stared at me for a second and looked to Lance. She was interrupted by the waitress coming over with our orders. "Thank you" we all said synchronized. "Your welcome" the waitress said with a laugh before walking away. When I looked at the tray, there was only 3 drinks.

     One of the drinks had two straws. That drink just so happened to be the Iced Caramel Macchiato. "Guess we're sharing" Lance said before taking a drink. I tried to come up with an excuse, but just gave up and accepted it. Me and Lance both tried to grab the drink at once and accidentally grabbed each other's hand. It turned into what seemed like and endless cycle of "go ahead, no you" between us.

     Eventually I just took a drink and quickly put it back down. I caught Lance staring at me multiple times and tried to ignore it. Eventually I gave up "what?" I asked him in an annoyed tone. "Uh nothing" Lance's face got red and he looked down. I snuck a smile before looking away from Lance so I didn't turn red. Lance grabbed my phone off of the table, wich I didn't have a password on. "Hey!" I yelled, stretching across the table to get my phone.

     This caused me to knock the drink over and spill it all over myself. I could tell Lance was holding back a laugh while Hunk stumbled around to get napkins. Pidge tried to pick up the drink and make sure nothing else got wet. "You want my shirt?" Lance reached for the bottom of his shirt. "No!!" I stopped him "I have a shirt in my car" I said, getting up. After I walked back in, the table seemed to be clean again. I also noticed Lance still had my phone. "Gimme that" I snatched the phone from him.

     "Well this is one heck of an after-school meet up" Pidge said when she stopped laughing. "Yeah, thank God it isn't happening again" I said, death staring Lance. He smiled and waved at me innocently as if he's not annoying. "You still have to tutor him this summer" Pidge reminded me. "Oh yeah" I rolled my eyes. "Have you seen your brain yet from rolling your eyes so much" Lance joked. Hunk laughed, but stopped when I glared at him. "Can we leave" I said to Pidge. "Keith, try and enjoy yourself a little" She said. "Well, he did kinda just spill coffee all over himself" Hunk said in my defense.

     Lance laughed "he better get used to me" he told Pidge. Pidge laughed and agreed with Lance. "I wish Mr. Shiro would have picked another student to tutor you" I said to Lance. "Hahaha, nope" he paused "just me and you" he said with cringey finger guns. I rolled my eyes again "shut up before I use real guns" I said to Lance. His eyes widened a little before he took a sip of his coffee. Pidge was wierd and ordered tea instead of coffee, slowly drinking it and looking around at all of us. Hunk ordered hot chocolate, even though it's summer.

      "So, what subject will you be tutoring me on" Lance asked after taking a drink. "Math" I replied in a very monotone voice. He nodded and did his wierd smile. "I had to tutor a girl once" he paused to look at me "we did lots of studying"  he said wierdly. "Eww Lance!" Hunk exclaimed, shoving Lance's shoulder slightly. He chuckled and shoved Hunk back. "I'm so sick of Lance being an idiot" I mumbled to Pidge. "Take some Tylenol if you're sick" Lance joked. "oh ha ha" I said sarcastically "Tylenol is for headaches, I'm sure it can't fix you" I said quietly. I put in one earbud and started listening to music.

      Lance rolled his eyes with a cute sigh "don't mess with mister emo" he warned. I gave him the death stare, holding back a smile. "You know you like me" Lance said, sipping his drink without breaking eye contact. I rolled my eyes, looking down at my phone. As I reached for the drink that Lance and I had shared, he also wanted a drink. I pulled my hand back, our fingers slightly brushing against each other. Of course, I could feel my face getting hot, wich meant I was blushing like an idiot. I glanced up for a second to see that Lance's face was also slightly red.

       Maybe just a little, I guess there is a possibility...