Pizza, Anyone?

Chapter Eight : Introductions

“Hey Mia, it's your boyfriend's song.”

Leigh is in my car, having just picked her up, and has just turned on the radio which is now blaring a T2E song. Coincidence? I think not.

I roll my eyes. “He's not my boyfriend Leigh. And since when have you started calling me Mia?”

She laughs.

“Future boyfriend, then. You told me Louis calls you that, didn't you? And I'm your best friend, so if he can call you that, so can I” she says, pretending to huff and harrumph.

“Whatever Haddie”  I said, knowing she'd get annoyed for calling her that. (For reasons unknown to me, I'm not allowed to call her that; but being her best friend and having a right to annoy her, I call her Haddie anyway.)

“Leigh. Not Haddie. I've told you a million times.” she growls, glaring at me. I grin, satisfied.

“Anyway, wouldn’t they get recognized? Being Europe's 'Next Big Thing'?”

I shrug, thinking back to my conversation with Jai a few minutes before I’d picked up Leigh, where he’d told me they were ‘going in disguises’. I’m thinking aloud, so I indirectly answer Leigh’s question.

“Hm” is all she says before leaning back against the seat.

“And when do you plan on telling Acacia about your nefarious activities?” she asks, two minutes later. I smack her arm with the hand that's not on the steering wheel, but can’t help grinning.

“I’m accquainted with her favourite band, not a drug-lord! Sometimes I wonder about you, Leigh. How I managed to befriend a strange creature like you,”

This time, she smacks me.

“You want strange? Just look in a mirror, babe.”

I click my tongue in a mocking fashion. “Don’t let my identical twin hear that, honey.”

“Hey, but I really need to tell you something,” she says, serious all of a sudden.

“Go on, darlin’,”

“I want to break up with Austin” she says, sounding strangely calm. I press the horn in surprise, then mouth an apology to an old lady walking nearby who nearly fell over at the sudden loud noise.

“Whoa, after two years? You guys were voted ‘most likely to get married’ in Year 11!”

She nods, remembering.

“Yeah, but,” Leigh begins, only to get interrupted by me.

“Oh my god, don’t tell me; he cheated on you in a bar with a Victoria’s Secret model!” I exclaim, earning a look of bewilderment from the blond next to me.

“Where’d that come from?!” she asks, her eyes wide.

“Fan-fiction” I say, smiling sheepishly.

 She stares at me -- I can see her from the corner of my eye -- for a few seconds before she bursts out laughing.

“You’re such a weirdo!”

 I pretend to take a bow.

“Thank you, thank you. So what’s the real reason why?”

“I guess...I’m just not that into him anymore.”

I nod knowingly, even though I wouldn’t know, because the only real boyfriend I’ve ever had, moved away. After breaking up with me.

“Well, if you've really had a thought about it, and if you're a 100% sure, then alright.”

She beams, clearly happy that I’m on her side. Why wouldn’t I be? I’m her best friend, after all.

I turn up the volume when Animal by Neon Trees comes on. We groove along to it till I pull up at the entrance of the Zoo. I nudge Hadeigh to signal her that we’re there and she quickly runs a hand through her long, stick-straight blond hair. She hops out the minute I stop the car and makes a big deal of stretching her long legs that have apparently ‘been cramped’. (Probably showing off since she’s like, a head taller than me)

I switch the engine off and chuck my stuff into the sling bag I’ve brought along, before hopping out myself. Locking up the car once I’m out, I turn to face the knob also known as Hadleigh Chase.

She gestures to the entrance. “Shall we?”

I nod, grinning and proceed to push my hair out of my eyes, before sprinting to get inside.

***

“... And Jai, this is Leigh” I say, gesturing at her. He smiles sweetly, looking especially cute today.

“Hey, Leigh. Nice to finally meet you” and he extends a hand.

“Likewise” says Leigh, flashing him a smile as she shakes his hand. Turns out their idea of disguises are just hoodies and shades. I have a gut feeling they’ll get recognized, but I brushed it away so as not be pessimistic.

Andy looks at us, squinting in the sunlight, he’s taken his shades off, and gestures to a nearby ice-cream vendor asking, “Shall we get some ice-cream?”

“Yeah, I’m craving butterscotch right now,” replies Leigh, squinting as well. The weather is rather strange today - it’s chilly out here, but the sun is out too, in full power, as if it’s goal is to blind us all.

“Vanilla for me!” says Lys, excitedly, his dimples out in full force. What I'd do to have a pair of them!

“I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream,” says Haefen suddenly, in a high-pitched voice, making us all crack up. He rarely ever talks, but when he does, it's almost always funny.

Jai offers his arm to Leigh, a strange expression on his face, and she takes it, looking surprised. 

It was the start of a beautiful friendship...

That is, if you can a call a relationship where you throw maple syrup on each other’s faces when you’re mad at one another a beautiful friendship, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

A/N - Not my best chapter, I know, but hey, it'll have to do for now!! :c

xx Rudy