Half Baked Hearts | ✔

14. Ugly Crying In the Passenger Seat

After making that rookie mistake the other night, I was glad working at my dad's office kept me too busy to stop by Cake Me Up.

I knew Janae probably saw the like on an almost two-year-old photo. What I didn't know was if she told Nate about it. Or maybe she told Andrew. Or maybe she told her friends and they were laughing about it in front the Acropolis.

I had to remind myself that I didn't like the photo from my main account. All she knew was that some bakery was stalking her account.

Did she know Nate had a job at Cake Me Up? What if she thought he ran the account? That he liked the picture of her and his best friend out of pettiness?

How could liking one picture cause me so much stress?

A thud made me jump. Nessa stood on the other side of the reception desk where I was working that day. She had dropped a plastic container, a sandwich, in front of me. Her eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"You're thinking about him, huh?"

"No," I said too quickly to be believable.

She pursed her lips, shaking her head at me. "Well, I'm officially off punishment, so we can do something on our list."

That actually brought a smile to my face. I felt like I hadn't hung out with Nessa in weeks. When in actuality it'd only been two days since I told her about my crush on Nate.

She came around the desk, sitting on the edge of it as I pulled up the list on my phone, where I typed it out while Nessa wrote in her journal.

"What'd you have in mind?"

She leaned in to look at my phone as I scrolled through the long list of summer activities.

"What about...number twelve and," she scrolled down further. "Number twenty-two."

My gaze shifted from number twenty-two on the list and my friend who had a wicked grin on her face.

"No," I shook my head. "Absolutely not."

"But it's on the list!"

"I thought I'd be more prepared before we had to do it."

She pouted. "Charm, come on. It'll be fun."

"Nope."

She poked my cheek, switching hands every time I tried to block her until we were both laughing. I agreed to go along with number twenty-two.

♡ ♡ ♡

Number twelve was Boba tea. Neither of us had ever tried it, confused by the little balls. Were they just decoration or were we supposed to consume them?

After discreetly asking the barista the protocol, we order two honeydew Boba teas and sat outside at one of the restaurant's umbrellaed tables.

I thought the tea was delicious. Nessa frowned up with every sip and mostly dug around for the balls.

"Now, let's talk number twenty-two." She grinned. She had her journal out, opened to the list where she'd just crossed out "Try Bubble Tea" with her pink gel pen.

I hid my groan behind my Boba.

"Today you are going to experience the freedom on the opened road," she grinned, taking another sip of her tea and cringing. "I have some errands to run and you're gonna be the chauffeur." She dug her keys out of her bag and dropped them on the table, issuing a challenge.

My eyes bounced from her keys, to her car, and back to her. "But...you parallel parked."

"Come on, it's not as scary as it looks." She stood from the table, tossing the rest of her drink in the trash. "Your bike can only take you so far."