Feelings Incarnate | ✓

05 | ❝ She's my girlfriend. ❞

Kiara࿐

Nervously, I looked up to find his hazel eyes staring down at me and hastily stood up from my seat, the chair screeching as it was pushed back by my sudden action. A few heads turned my way in annoyance, and I felt my cheeks burning at the unwanted attention diverted to me.

"Oh, hey!" I exclaimed, trying to act like I just saw him, though I knew that was dumb since he had already caught me looking at him.

"Whoa, long time no see!" he exclaimed. "What are you doing here?" He eyed Hayden, who was now patently alert and was quietly watching the scene unfold in front of him.

"Nothing much, just a college assignment," I answered, beaming at him. My eyes flickered to Hayden, and I noticed that he was frowning at me, probably confused.

At least, I thought it was confusion until, out of nowhere--as if he hadn't caused me enough headaches already--Hayden cleared his throat before declaring, "She's my girlfriend."

I gawked at him, my lips parting in shock. I swear, I could've literally strangled him to death, if it wasn't for the fact that Jay was beside me.

Speaking of Jay, the boy looked like he had entered the wrong room or something.

I frantically tried to clear the tension in the air that was getting thicker by the moment.

"No, I'm n-- Ow!" Hayden kicked my knee--cutting me off--and nodded towards the back, where I saw Chloe was making her way towards us.

"Are you alright?" Jay asked me, clutching me by my elbow while I held onto my knee, glaring at Hayden.

"Oh, no. I am so sorry!" Hayden said, suddenly putting on an apologetic face and coming over to kneel in front of me and examine my knee.

I stared at him in disbelief as, figuratively, my jaw clattered to the floor.

Wow, this fraud. Dude should definitely become an actor. With his talent, he could probably win a couple of Oscars.

"Come on." He sat me down on my chair and turned to face Jay, who was still peering at me with concern. "I'm her boyfriend, Hayden." He held out his hand.

Jay shook it and nodded.

What the heck is with that formal way of greeting?

"Nice to meet you, I'm Jay." He looked down at me. "Then I'll get going. Hope we see each other again, soon." He said, emphasizing the last word.

And then before I could gain control of myself, I heard myself say, "Why don't you join us?"

Hayden's head whipped around immediately, glaring at me.

Oh, please. Why can't I interact with my crush for a moment, if I'm helping him impress his?

"You sure? I don't want to interrupt anything here." Jay said, glancing at Hayden.

I waved him off, "Don't worry, you weren't interrupting anything."

I shifted to the corner chair of the table, while Jay sat down on the chair across from Hayden.

As if on cue, Chloe came rushing over. "I talked to Chris about tomorrow, and he agreed! Yes, this is happening!" She then noticed Jay sitting beside me. "Oh, hello, who are you?"

Gosh, does this girl need to know everything?

"This is Jay, one of my school friends," I explained to her.

"Ah, alright. Do you want to order anything?" she inquired, pointing a pencil at the menu lying on the table.

"Just an iced latte," he answered.