My Waitress (NOT EDITED)

Chapter 14

Back to Nicole's POV

A couple of weeks have gone by and now it's the middle of October, where the leaves change color and gracefully fall from the trees. Small breeze and cooler temperatures, which I like. I can start wearing my favorite hoodies and jackets! I skim through my tiny closet to find something that would top off my tight white top and black leggings. My eyes lay upon a black leather jacket. I stare at it for a few seconds, trying to remember where I got it from.

...... Oh yeah! Malachi gave it to me when we were at that lake after the first game. Something about being distracting. Hmm.

I slip my arms through the sleeves. I step in front of the mirror and look at myself. It's big, but cute. It feels all warm and cozy on the inside, I can snuggle in my bed with this all day. But the fact that it's Malachi's... cue my ears heating up.

I grab my school stuff and wait outside for him. He said he'll take me to school today with Jace and Noah, no turning back, and as always he's running late. He thinks that I'm just waiting for him in front of the old brick building, not knowing that I actually live there. It's not going to be easy, but I should learn to be calm in cars. It's better when someone's in the car with me, but it'll take me a while to drive by myself, not thinking about what happened.. I've been thinking about saving money for a car myself, so I can be on time unlike this one who's pulling up right now.

"You're late," is how I greet the three.

"Someone just had to stop at McDonald's." says Malachi, glaring directly at Jace, who's busy chowing down two sausage, egg and cheese biscuits. Jace looks back at Malachi with a full mouth. "Imh wahms humngry."

"McDonald's sucks anyways," says Noah. I feel his eyes on me. "... isn't that Malachi's jacket?"

"Yeah.." Malachi turns his head toward me. A tint of red forms on his cheeks and the bridge of his nose. He smiles. "I was wondering when you were gonna wear it."

His blushing is making me blush. I look outside the window and shrug. "It's getting cold." He chuckles and starts the car.

During the ride I do my homework. My memory is getting worse and worse, and it's hard to remember the things teachers say. That's why my binders are full of notes. But thankfully Noah is here to save the day. We talk about the chemistry and literature homework, but after that we just keep talking. I learn that he wants to be a video game designer when he gets out of college, which is pretty cool. On the other hand, he even lets me play some of his games on his phone. On the other hand, I notice Malachi looking back every 5 seconds.

"Mal, bro, keep your eyes on the road," says Jace.

Malachi silently scowls. We pull up at the school and park. He turns off the engine but doesn't unlock the doors. Noah and I give the same confused expression when Malachi turns around. "Noah, do you like Nicole?"

Um what. Jace chokes on his McDonald's. Noah's eyes widen behind his thick black frames. My eyes widen as well. "What?" says both me and Noah.

"You heard me." He stares down Noah for an answer. Noah stares back at Malachi with an eyebrow raised. I don't know whether I should say something or be more concerned about Jace choking. Probably the latter. I'm in an awkward position.

Noah finally sighs and crosses his arms. "No, not in the way you do."

My eyes widen more. Not in the way you do? What way? Wha... I can't function right now. I can see that Malachi's thrown off by his response too, blankly staring at Noah.

"I only like Nicole as a friend," Noah continues. "I just like hanging out with her. She's actually a girl that I'm okay with being around us. Because the previous ones, including Alice, just kept getting on top of us. I remember one was actually trying to get on top of Jace. They were just annoying."