On My Own Time

Chapter 5

"I'm so hungry!" Sara whined.

We had already ordered the food and were just waiting. The pizza here was great, one of the best which is why you normally see a lot of kids from school here. It was a family place that turned to a place for teenagers. It was usually packed on Mondays and Fridays, the place swarming with needy and rude teenagers. It was rare to have a whole family come and eat there because the parents get annoyed with all the teenagers around. Ronnie's Pizzeria was just too good to pass up though. The bad thing was that they took quite a while to actually serve you the food.

"Do you think they're hitting it off?" Sara asked me suddenly.

I looked up at her and raised my eyebrow in question. Who was she talking about? I looked around to see if she was looking at someone or anything but her eyes remained on me.

"Who?"

"Charlie and Max. Do you think they are hitting it off?" She asked again.

I snorted and said, "I mean they only went to a store and I think Max is more determined to find that piercing he wanted more than anything."

"Piercing?" She asked, looking at me surprised.

I nodded and took a sip of my drink. "He's getting his eyebrow pierced but he wanted a piercing from there cause he saw one he liked."

"Do you like anyone?" She suddenly asked.

I couldn't help but to choke on my drink for a couple seconds, some people turning to stare. I coughed a few more time before taking a sip to relax my throat a bit. Who suddenly asks questions like that? I didn't even know how to properly respond to that.

"I'm sorry?"

"Do you like someone? Is there a lucky girl?"

I searched her face, wondering why she'd suddenly bring that question up. What does that have to do with anything? We weren't even talking about that.

"Can't say anyone comes to mind."

"Oh," she said with a frown, her perfect eyebrows scrunching together.

"Is there someone you like?" I asked casually but watched her carefully.

She shrugged and took a sip of her drink, scanning her eyes around the crowd and ignoring my stare. I wasn't stupid, I knew she liked someone and I had a feeling it was either me or Max. I begged God that it wasn't me because I didn't feel that way and I did want our friend group to be even more weird since Max likes her. I was glad when Max and Charlie came in our line of vision as they both chatted while walking our way. Charlie was laughing at something Max said, probably one of his lame jokes. He looked happy that it made Charlie laugh, he never got Sara to laugh like he wants but he must've felt nice to receive laughter from someone. No matter how hard I tried to genuinely laugh at his jokes, I couldn't. That were just too terrible.

"Tell me another one!" Charlie said, sitting down beside Sara while Max sat beside me.

"What's brown and sticky?"

Charlie's eyes sparkled as she waited impatiently for the answer, not even bothering trying to think of the correct response. I, unfortunately, already knew the answer. Sara knew too and it was known as she rolled her eyes with a small smile on her lips. Charlie, however, still was desperately excited and just wanted the answer.

"A stick."

With those two words, Charlie was sent off into another round of laughter. People glanced but simply shook their heads. Sara rolled her eyes yet again and Max was grinning in delight. I couldn't help but chuckle because of Charlie's behavior and how proud Max was for himself.

"Jesus, that was good," Charlie's said, wiping her eyes as she slowly calmed down.

"You've always been a sucker for lame jokes," Sara said and moved the ice around in her cup with the straw.

Max's face fell a bit but he quickly shook it off and got up to get his drink, offering to get Charlie's drink as well. Charlie thanked him and started a conversation with Sara about her ex boyfriend, ignoring my presence. I didn't know what to do so I let my eyes scan around the place. Some kids from school were already here and some were arriving. When Max came back with the drinks I was glad I wouldn't look and be so lonely. We talked about his piercing and a tattoo he wanted to get until the food finally arrived. Sara seemed to lighten up in her mood as we began to eat and talk about the house I just moved in.

"How is it living with the hottie Caden?" Sara asked, taking another bite from my food.

I shrugged and said, "We don't talk much and we barely started officially living together."

"He's annoying," Max said with a scoff.

"He has his cute moments though," Sara said, defending Caden which made Max freeze for a second before looking down.

"Nah, Caden is annoying. My Maxie here is cute though," I said and pinched his cheek to which he chuckled and playfully shoved me away.

We both laughed while Sara rolled her eyes and Charlie awed. I knew Max was feeling down after the many mini blows Sara threw at him so I tried to cheer him up. It worked a little but a little is more than nothing. After we finished eating Charlie dropped us off and rushed home, rambling about how her ex texted her asking if he can come over and she needed to look "damn good" just to reject him. I'd hate to be him.

As I entered the house I could hear my mother in the kitchen most likely cooking up dinner. I wasn't sure if Caden was home but I wasn't bothered to find out. Instead I went to the kitchen to greet my mother. She looked happy, freely moving around to finish up her cooking. She wore jeans with a regular shirt, an apron over her clothes. Her hair was up in a clip to keep it from getting in her eyes. She looked really happy.

Her eyes lit up when she saw me and she happily asked, "how was school, honey?"

I gave her a small smile and said, "It was alright, same as always."

"Where did you go? You're later than usual."

"I went to the mall with some friends," I didn't have the heart to tell her I already ate.

The counters had a bunch of food and I didn't want to hurt her feelings by saying I already ate. I was glad I only ate two slices of pizza because I wouldn't be able to eat a plate if I had ate more. Hopefully Daniel was hungry enough to eat at least two full plates.

"That's great, honey. Daniel will be home around seven so we'll eat dinner then. Go ahead and do your homework or something and I'll call you when it's time."

I thanked my mother, gave her a kiss on the cheek, and left up to my room. I heard faint music coming from Caden's room on the way there but I continued my journey to my room. I threw my backpack on the ground and fell back on my bed, groaning as I felt my muscles relax. It was 6:30 and I debated on taking a nap or not but my mind got distracted by the vibration of my phone. Max's name popped up and I opened his message. He began to rant about how Sara didn't like him and that he should just move on. I truly didn't know how Sara felt. I only knew that she liked someone but not who that someone was. I tried to relax Max the best I could until I fell asleep while waiting for his response.