Homeroom

10: Hot Sauce

I close my menu after ordering and hand it to the waiter. 

"I'll take an egg and cheese omelet with white toast and hot sauce," Aaron requests, scanning the large menu laying on the table in front of him, "Oh, and a glass of orange juice."

"Um, we don't have hot sauce. Is butter okay instead?" the waiter asks, attempting to hide a confused expression.

"Yeah, that's fine. Thank you," he agrees.

The waiter quickly writes his order down on the pad of paper in his hand, slightly nodding as he scribbles. He collects Aaron's menu and tells us that our drinks will be out shortly.

"Do you really like hot sauce with your eggs?" I ask him curiously.

"Yes! It tastes fantastic."

I crinkle my nose in disgust. "I feel like that combination is gross"

He laughs. "You can't judge something that you never tried."

I warily nod my head, narrowing my eyes at him as he laughs to himself. I really have no clue what's so funny about hot sauce, but I'm not going to question it.

I look back at my hand, rubbing my finger over the shiny metal cast around my thumb. How the heck am I supposed to hold a fork with my left hand, let alone cut my pancakes?

I declare war on Luke Hathaway and his side-kick girlfriend. You can mess with my volleyball career and my studies, but no one messes with me and my food.

"So how's your thumb doing?" Aaron asks, folding his hands on the wooden table. 

I shrug. "Eh, it still kind of hurts, but there's nothing much I can do about it."

"So how did you manage to hurt it?" he asks.

I airily laugh. "Take a lucky guess; I dare you."

He unclasps his folded hands and rubs his chin, genuinely looking perplexed. He ponders an answer for a few seconds as I patient await an answer.

"Does it have something to do with Harry Styles?" he asks.

I laugh loudly because that was the most absurd thing I have ever heard. Tears pool in the corner of my eyes, and I wipe them away as my laugh dies down. I have no idea why I found that comment so funny. I guess my soul just needed a way to release stress or something, and laughter is a good way to do so.

I look at Aaron, who seems utterly confused. I sigh, forcing myself to turn the thoughts and anger in my head into coherent sentences.

"Luke's girlfriend slammed Luke into my locker right as I was reaching to grab a pencil, which ultimately smashing my hand between the door and the frame of the locker. They were literally making out while my hand was being smashed to bits."

His hazel eyes widen, his mouth agape. "Luke did that to you?!" he exclaims.

I nod my head twice, watching him closely as he groans into his hands and tugs at the ends of his crazy hair. "Oh my god, Callie, I am so sorry," he apologizes.

"It's okay, Aaron, calm down. You couldn't have prevented it, anyway."

He dryly laughs, which doesn't sit right with me. "See, that's where you're wrong."

My eyebrows scrunch up in confusion. What in the world is he talking about?

"What do you mean by that?" I calmly ask, confused and curious.

"Um, ah," he fumbles. His face pales as he nervously rubs the back of his neck.

I'm completely lost. Why is he acting so weird? I was expecting him to have some quirky remark to throw at me, but instead, he acting as if I caught him doing something he shouldn't be doing.

"FOOD!" he excitedly shouts, completely changing the topic.

Nice save, Aaron.

The red head waiter sends him a funny look as he sets down a plate of pancakes and cup of coffee in front of me. He moves towards Aaron, setting an omelet and orange juice in front of him. We both thank him, and he nods silently before departing again.

Aaron devours his meal as I take warily look at mine. There's only one reason why flapjacks are intimidating to me right now. "Hey, can you cut these for me? I'm kind of disabled at the moment."

Aaron chuckles.  His utensils clattering onto his plate when he sets them down and pushes it away. He pulls my plate in front of him and quickly chops my food up in the matter of 30 seconds. "Thanks," I peep, pulling my plate away from him.

He smiles warmly. "You're welcome."

We both continue to eat and halt all conversation because food is obviously more important than talking about the weather or whatever.

I haven't forgotten Aaron's awkwardness from earlier, and it's still is still bugging me why he's acting so guilty. Why was he so bent over on avoiding my question? And why is he only ever apologizing for Luke? Didn't I mention that his girlfriend took part in the incident, too?

Instead of pressuring him about something that's probably not even a major issue, I continue to eat my pancakes with my left hand, wondering how the heck we even ended up in IHOP on a weekday.

* * * * * * * * *

[A/N] Hey guys :) I'm so happy because I double-updated this weekend and I went from 113 to 150 votes in 1 day!!!!! :) :) I'm so happy that my book is gaining readers too :) :)

I probably won't update this week because I'm so busy with school. I'm a sophomore in high school and I take AP Calc so most of my free time is spent doing homework. :(

BUT ON THE BRIGHT SIDE I PLAY VOLLEYBALL FOR MY SCHOOL'S TEAM!! :) I'm the only JV setter and a Defensive Specialist on Varsity :)

WOW this is a long A/N. Comment about your life and I'll read them all :)