Today happens to be Thursday and the D-Day for the execution of the cafe plan (as I like to call it). I am currently bashing out my lungs at Justine at the parking lot our usual hang out spot after school every day, because she told Noelle what our plans were even after promising not to. And for some reasons that even I don't understand, I haven't been able to talk to her ever since she spilled the beans to Noelle.
"Why, you crazy head, why did you betray me?" I said, my voice full of feigned annoyance. I was not really that mad at her to begin with but I wanted to act like I was
"Aaah, I have said sorry for the 12th time now, what else do you want?" she sighed
"Well tell me the reason you did it, I don't need your sorry" I tackled
"Okay okay, fine"
"Am listening" I pressed
"She noticed that we were avoiding her and she asked me about it, and she was so pitiful and loneliness was evident on her face, I just couldn't say no to her"
"But still..." I tried to come up with something to attack what she said, but everything was logically justified
"No buts! if it were you, you would have done the same thing" she stated
"But why couldn't you tell me all of these before now, if I haven't pestered you just now you won't tell me, I need an explanation to that!"
She strached her head and smiled nervously "I was kinda avoiding you"
It all makes sense now, the Reason I have not been able to communicate with Justine this past week was not because I wasn't trying, it's because she was avoiding me.
"So you have been avoiding me because you told Noelle... All of a sudden my phone starts to ring inside my bag, I turned away from Justine and picked my bag up from the hood my car, took out my phone and dropped it back on the hood before answering the call which was from an unknown number
"Hello?"
"Hello am I speaking with Any, please" I heard from a now very familiar voice
"Jace?" I asked even though I knew the answer
"Yes" he answered
"Oh, okay go on"
"You see I was actually wondering if the cafe hangout is still up, I am outside of it now in my car, thought to call first before entering"
"You remembered!" was the first thing that came out of my mind
"Of course, why won't I"
I smiled even though he couldn't see me "I am actually on my way too, stay in your car till then, will you" I half lied
I haven't even moved away from the spot I was standing, but what he doesn't know wouldn't hurt him right!
"Okay see you then" he hung up
I turn back to face Justine who was now pressing her phone, her face down towards it
"That was Jace" I said to her
"So I heard" she replied sassyly
"He just called" I said again because it felt surprising to have received a call from someone whose number you don't have. I was surprised and curious at the same time to how he got my number. But here is Justine unsurprised at all (maybe she thought I gave him my number)
I wanted to address the matter so badly so I said again "how on Earth did he get my number" this time I said almost to my self
"I gave it to him" Justine finally talked
"He knows you?" my surprise heightened again. I haven't ever introduced any of my friends to Jace, so it was surprising that they know each other
"He knows am your friend" she replied nonchalantly
"But I never introduced you two" I said almost to myself again
"I guess he cares enough about his friends to know who they are friends with, he approached me last week during P.E
"Oh" I couldn't help but notice the butterflies moving around in my stomach " but he could have just asked me"
"Said he wanted to surprise you and he did surprise you, you better let's get going before all of the students we hired start to arrive and moreover we have got Noelle and Jace waiting
We both enter my car but before I could start it, Justine started talking "you know, I kinda like that Jace guy he is really friendly, I want him for Noelle really bad"
I smiled at her words but at the same time I felt sad, although the reason for my sadness I don't know "yeah me too"
We arrived at the cafe 7 minutes later, I parked the car and we got out and I called Jace's number which I had Justine save in my phone for me while I was driving (I asked where he was waiting, and he told me he sees me already and that he will come meet me) then Justine called Noelle and ask if she's in the cafe already, while I called the manager of the cafe at the same time to ask if all spaces has been occupied except for the last two seats (we paid ten dollars each to 70 random students) which he confirms and Noelle was already in the cafe angrily waiting for us because according to justine, Noelle said the cafe was filled to the brim and she couldn't save more than one space except for hers, and she wants us to hurry so me and Justine can share a seat as our punishment for being late (which I couldn't help but laugh at, when Justine was relaying the message to me). Meanwhile, Jace gets out of his car and joins us at the entrance and OMG he drives a Mercedes Benz ( I didn't know he was a rich kid too, although it doesn't matter, but still it's a plus). We all enter the wake and see the cafe crowded and Noelle sitting at a corner on two chairs that belongs to the table she's sitting at, looking constipated (from anger I guess) and looking I her phone every now and then. Jace who is now beside Justine starts to speak "This place is so full, I guess we arrived too late"
Justine who is beside me plays along even though she knows fully well why the cafe is crowded "yeah too late"
"But our friend is sitting there" I point to where Noelle is seated "and she still hasn't seen us let's go say hi"
Jace talks again "ah, I know her, she always hangs around with you and Justine"
"How do you know that, been stalking me? I raised an eyebrow at him
"Not really, you hardly go anywhere without the two of them" he gestures to justine then to Noelle, that's how I managed to get your number"
Before I could reply him, Justine intercepts "And we still haven't been officially introduced" she side-eyed me. Jace smiles showing off his dimples and I scowled
"That will happen in a few, let's go meet Noelle" Justine leads the way, I follow and Jace followed me
We get to her, she starts to rant about how annoyed she is at us until she spots Jace and stopped talking. He says hi to her, she separates the chairs she was sitting on and greeted back shyly.
"Jace these are my best friends" I started introducing them to each other " this is Justine, Justine meet Jace
Justine laughs then said "nice to meet you Jace"
"Noelle meet Jace Urrea, Jace meet Noelle plotnikova" I continued
"Nice to meet you" Jace mimicked Justine's tone
"Same here" Noelle replies blushing
We all stand awkwardly in the crowded cafe until I took control of the situation "Jace you should sit down and let me and Justine find the manager and see if we can get extra chairs"
"But..." Noelle stated
"No buts, we will join you two in a bit, okay!"
He sits then said "don't stay too long"
"We won't" Justine said, then she faced me "Tiff I forgot my earphones in your car, let's go get it"
"Yeah"
We exit the cafe with Justine's lie and drove off in my car. We succeeded in getting the two alone together. I hope things goes well between them