Don't Judge Love

1

Vanessa's voice was muffled by the ice cream in her mouth. She was telling me all of the information about the school dance that was coming up. "C'mon, wouldn't that be romantic? Zach and I dancing together as the music plays softly. He'd probably be all flustered too, which is adorable!"

"Riiiight. As Mister Fuckboy Axel tries to fuck his girlfriend in the locker room and you can hear them when the music gets quiet?" Vanessa hit my arm in disgust and I choked on my drink while trying not to laugh. She covers her virgin ears and glares at me.

"If I have to endure that, you're coming too!"

"Over my dead body." I scoff as Roberto comes over to our table with his notepad in hand.

"Hailey," she whined like a child, "it won't be the same." I silently begged Roberto to change the topic with his fancy Italian accent.

"What won't be the same?" He clicked his pen and occasionally twirled it.

"If Hailey doesn't go to the dance!" Seconds had barely passed and Roberto groaned as loud as could.

"Dances are stupid, you're being overdramatic." He leaned on the booths. Thank goodness I finally had someone on my side about this.

"Roberto, you literally met your fiancé at one. How do you not like it?" Vanessa spat in horror before slurping the rest of the ice cream out of the bowl.

"Just because I met em there doesn't mean I like them. Now do you two want anything else?" He clicked his pen once more expectantly at us. I shook my head and glanced at Vanessa who copied me.

"Anyways I'm not going and that's final." I watched my friend's nose scrunch up. She glanced at Roberto who chuckled softly. Her dark eyes burned back into me.

"Well you know what? I'm gonna get you a date. I bet that's what your problem is!" There are days that make me question why I'm friends with her. Right now it's one of those days.

"Absolutely not. First of all, you don't know my type. Second of all, you are the worst when it comes to setting anyone up. So you can kiss my ass." With that I grabbed my backpack, gave Roberto a couple dollars for my drink and headed home.

Roberto looked up from the table he was cleaning when I came inside. My face felt warm from running down the sidewalk not too long ago. I took a seat on a stool behind the register. Leaning my head against the wall, I caught my breath. "Hailey? What's going on?" I glanced at the empty cafe to double check that no one would hear me.

"Listen, Rob, I've been meaning to tell you this for awhile. I kinda," I took in a heavy breath. How do I phrase it? It took me a moment as I stumbled over my words when Roberto raised a hand.

"You don't have to say anything kid. I already knew." He mumbled, putting his weight on the broom. "It's mostly because of Lilith."

"How long have you known?" I fiddled with my sleeves. Lilith huh? She's like that.

"A couple years." Roberto kept sweeping the floor, a couple times he accidentally hit the tables. Pushing my flannel sleeves up, I rested on the countertop. The front door slammed open, the bell ringing violently. Lilith hopped onto one of the bar stools.

"Hailey what's taking so long?" She dramatically flopped on the counter. "I've never been so bored in my life and my dad talks about the different types of rocks all the time. Why did he become a geologist person?" I laughed and played with her hair.

"You're such a dork, but I'm done. We can leave if you want." Lilith jumped up with a goofy grin.

"About time. I was going to diiiiie. Of boredom. That's a really lame way to die!" She ranted to me as we waved at Roberto.

Hope y'all enjoyed the first rewritten chapter!