Forget Her Not

15 | one vanilla milkshake please!

"How was your day?"

Liam slots himself into his seat, shrugging off his backpack and sending a casual smile my way. He starts bouncing his leg up and down though, maybe a little nervous, but stops, probably remembering that this is a habit he is trying to lose.

"It was alright." I answer. "Yours?"

My words are clipped, slightly quieter than usual, because the space around us has suddenly gone muted at our scarcely carefree interaction. Liam rubs at the back of his neck and nods.

"Good." he says back.

There is a moment of uncertain eye contact. I smile hesitantly, and Liam's face relaxes, slipping briefly out of his usual, stoic resting expression. Then I remember Sheila's aversion to Liam, her face when she had told me to leave her house. I avert my eyes.

Is being on friendly terms with Liam really the right call here?

Liam clears his throat just as Miss Laney walks in.

I peek at my phone during class. I hide it carefully behind my laptop, angled away so that our teacher cannot see. She usually tends to be a little lax with a few seconds of phone usage during class, but I can never be too careful.

There are no new messages from Sheila. I open my chat with her and start typing.

Arden: Meet outside the cafeteria for lunch?

Sent. I stare for a few seconds at the screen. There is no acknowledgement that she has seen my message. I look up to the board. I've missed a line of notes that Miss Laney has written up, so I quickly jot them into my notebook. Sheila still has not replied, so I pick my phone up and slide it back into my pocket.

When the bell rings, signalling the start of lunch time, Sheila still has not replied to my text. She must be really upset with me.

"Are you heading to the cafeteria for lunch?"

Liam is packing his things up too next to me.

"I guess so." I say to him.

"With Sheila?"

I purse my lips at this.

The class chatters around us. I put my laptop back into its case first, but in doing so I knock my pen onto the ground. It hasn't rolled too far so I stay seated as I bend to pick it up. Someone else's hand gets there before mine.

"Here, you dropped this."

"Oh, thanks."

Kenzie's perfectly manicured hand places my pen back onto my desk. She has a pretty smile on her face that she greets me with, but her friend next to her looks noticeably less happy to see me.

"Are you coming, Liam?" her friend asks.

"Yeah."

He gets up and slings his backpack around a shoulder, tucking his chair under the desk with one knee. We make eye contact for a moment.

"See you." I say to him.

"Bye."

Sheila is not there when I get to the front of the cafeteria. I wait around for a few minutes, but my message to her is still on delivered and it is not looking likely that we will have lunch together today.

"Arden! Hey, how are you?"

Delilah is glowing today, her porcelain skin accentuated even more so by the baby pink coloured, knit camisole that she is wearing. She comes up to me and loops her arm through mine.

"I'm okay." I answer honestly. "How are you?"

"Good, good. Starving actually. Have you gotten food?"

"I packed my own today."

"Sweet, I should probably start doing that too. These cafeteria prices are crazy!"

She leads us away from the cafeteria doors and outside.

Delilah shakes her tub of salad around as we walk. "Is Sheila here today?"

"I think so." I say sadly. "She's doesn't want to have lunch together today though."

"What? Why?"

We find a fresh patch of grass on the square lawn outside. Delilah sits down and I follow suit.

"She's mad at me. Mainly because of what's happening with Liam, I think."

The inquiring look in Delilah's eyes fades to something softer.

"Oh, Arden." she says.

She pulls me into a hug carefully and gently pats my back.

"It's okay. I'll fix it with her."

She can't really be mad at me forever. It will work out. It has to. Sheila is my best friend.

Delilah pulls away and checks a notification on her phone. "Oh, Jisung's wondering where I am. Can he come sit with us?"

"Sure."

I pull my box of apple slices out from my bag as Delilah texts Jisung back.

"So, tell me what exactly happened."

I go into it briefly. My conversation with Liam at Delilah's party, which she seems to startle a little at when I mention. Our conversation the day following that after my shift at the café. My tense conversation with Sheila at our sleepover. How Liam and I are not on bad terms now anymore. Moving into the territory of friends.

"Hi guys,"

"Hey,"

Two voices greet us. Liam stands next to Jisung, who smiles amiably at the both of us. Liam moves past him to sit next to me. He is comfortingly close. As always, he looks awfully good in sunlight.

"What are you eating?" Liam asks.

"Apple slices, and an egg and lettuce sandwich." I say, popping another slice into my mouth. "You want some?"

He shakes his head. He gives me a little, familiar smile as I chew, and I feel shy all of a sudden.

Delilah looks at Liam. Looks away to address her next question at Jisung.

"Why is he here too?" she asks.

Jisung shrugs. "I said I was coming to eat with you guys and Liam wanted to join suddenly."

"So," Delilah begins casually, turning to Liam. "I hear you and Arden are friends now?"

She gives him less than a second to respond before she continues.

"Liam, what exactly did you do to make it up to her, after being a complete and utter dick?"

Liam freezes up. I exchange an alarmed glance with Jisung.

"It's okay," I say to her, to him. "He apologised."

"What? Was that it?"

Delilah's eyes are sharp, wide and disbelieving, her mouth set into a disapproving line.

"Yeah." Liam says back dumbly.

"I can't believe you." she says to him. Her eyebrows furrow. "Go buy her a milkshake from the cafeteria, get her the most expensive thing that they have. Arden, you have to make him grovel a little first! What do you want him to do for you?"

Three pairs of eyes stare at me, waiting for my request. Two expectant, one guilty.

"Well, a vanilla milkshake would be nice." I say.

"And some cake!" Jisung pipes up. "I think I saw they had fresh slices of something today."

Liam looks at me, eyes slightly beseeching.

"And some cake, please." I confirm with a smile.

"Okay," Liam sighs. "Coming right up, your majesty."

Jisung laughs as Liam stands up. Delilah gives him a cross look and pouts her lip a little to show her dissatisfaction. Liam gives me a slight mock bow which makes me laugh too, then he trudges back to the cafeteria lines.