Just A Bet

Chapter 3

Lucy's POV

It's friday and school just finished, so we are heading to my house to hang out. We stop by our local ice cream shop and grab some milkshakes. I picked cookies n cream--a classic.

"Lucy, can I have a sip of yours?" Ezekiel says with childish grin. He begins to reach for my drink, but I slap away his hand.

"No! I don't want your saliva all over my straw." I wrinkle my nose.

"Why? It's like sharing a kiss. You don't wanna kiss this pretty face?" He starts playfully puckering his lips, closing his eyes and leaning in. But before I can shove his face away, he whips his head toward Chase and plants a wet kiss on his cheek. We all burst out laughing. With a look of disgust, Chase grabs a tissue and scrapes away any remnants of Ezekiel's kiss.

----
We walk in the door to my house and from the kitchen I hear, "Hey, Honey!". I guess my mom is home from work. We follow her voice into the kitchen.

"Ms. Williams! It's nice to see you," Ezekiel energetically greets her and gives her a hug.

"Hey, Ms. Williams. How are you?" Chase asks.

"I'm doing well. You boys look so mature now." She smiles, and the boys thank her. "Especially you Ezekiel, you used to be such a chubby little boy, but look at you now!" While Ezekiel sheepishly chuckles, the rest of us stiffles laughs.

"Okay, you guys have fun! I have to go back to the office."

For the rest of the day we just chill and watch the new season of Stranger Things.

Isaac stands up from the couch saying, "My parents want me home for dinner. Chase, can you give me a ride?"

"ME TOO PLEASE," Caleb pleads.

"Yeah, for sure guys."

"Can I stay a bit, Lucy? I don't feel like going home yet," Ezekiel asks me.

"Of course." I look at him with sympathy, understanding why he never stays home.

"Okay, bye. Love you guys," Isaac calls out.

"Love you guys," Chase and Caleb say already on their way out the door.

"Love y'all!" Ezekiel and I say to them. Chase's eyes linger on Ezekiel and I for a moment before he turns and shuts the door. He seemed concerned. But why would he be? Ezekiel stays over all the time. I walk back to the couch, shift my focus back to the TV and shake the thought away.

"Let me take you out this weekend."

Still paying attention to the show, I say "Sure we can hang out. Want me to text the guys about it this weekend?"

"No, just you and me. Let me take you out on a date." I whip my head to face him with a super fucking confused expression.

"What do you mean a date?"

"A date. Are you having trouble calculating? I know you're shit at math." Yes I'm having trouble calculating. This has nothing to do with how shit I am at math.

"But why would we," I point between him and I, "go on a date? Besides, you don't go on dates. You just use girls and then ignore them." Girls fall for Ezekiel all the time. When he talks you, he makes you feel like you have all his attention, like you're important to him. But a lot of those girls he hooks up with don't matter to him, making that trait very toxic.

"Maybe I'm trying to change my ways. Grow and all that." He shrugs.

"Mhm sure." I roll my eyes, and he puts his arms around my shoulder, smirking.

"C'mon, it'll be fun. You mean so much to me as a friend. Maybe there's something more than that between us." I am just so confused. We've been friends since we were kids, and the idea of us dating has never come up. Why now?

"You're ridiculous," I scoff.

"I'm picking you up next Saturday around noon. Be ready. Sound good?"

"You're not letting this go?"

"No."

"Whatever man." I laugh.