Pedestrian |✓

|3| s l u r p e e

"So what are you gonna do about it?" Lily asked from the other line, her background changed from pots banging into a silent one. She probably escaped their kitchen and climbed up to her room.

"I'll just abduct him, I guess," I said, placing the cell phone in between my ear and shoulder as I twist open the cap of my newly bought blue nail polish. Applying a fair amount on each of my toe nails and praying silently that I won't smudge it and get any on my bed sheets.

She chuckled. "Well that sure sounds promising."

I rolled my eyes at her sarcasm. "You're not helping."

"Come on Anna, you can't blame Austin, you're scary when you're oh-so determined," Kayla piped in, sniggering at something she found amusing. This is why I hate three-way calls.

"Remember it when she was so determined to ace that Math test back in Sophomore year? I swear her eyes were red and if you poke her she would snap at you," Lily added, both of them laughing at my stupidity back then.

"That was before," I said, recalling the time when I wanted badly to ace that Math test because my ex-boyfriend, Mackenzie said that all his girlfriends were good in Math except me. I shuddered remembering that phase when I was so insecure about myself every time I see Mackenzie's ex-girlfriends pass by the hallways.

"Yeah yeah-" Lily said dismissively, sensing that I don't want to talk about it. "-so what are you going to do now that he doesn't want to get interviewed?"

I sighed, twisting the cap of my nail polish close, before plopping down on my bed and staring at the white ceiling of my room. My feet propped up against the headboard for my toe nails to dry. "I really don't know."

"What about you give him something he likes? I heard he likes Skittles, especially the blue ones," Kayla suggested.

"And you know this because?" I asked, surprised that she knows this information. We personally don't know Austin aside from the fact that he was a former Basketball Varsity player and a Debate team member.

"I'm not some stalker okay? I know this because his best friend is my ex-boyfriend."

"Oh Stephen Hall right?" Lily gushed, always the fan of relationships.

"Yeah. we dated for three months if you guys remember, back in Grade 11."

Oh. The blond guy who called me Angela, I shook my head in amusement, realizing that I forgot that simple detail but Kayla's long list of ex-boyfriends is exactly the reason why I forgot, it's not that I can remember everyone form the list.

"Okay, you should buy him Skittles!" Lily squealed from the other line, making me wince, leaning away from my phone before putting it back against my ear.

"Who?" I asked, confused. Who are we talking about again?

"Austin," my best friends said at the same time.

"Why would I do that?" I asked, unimpressed by their suggestion. It's not like I could just go and walk towards Austin and hand him a pack of Skittles in exchange of an interview. I'm not that desperate.

"Why not? Oh my gosh there's a convenience store a few blocks away from your house right? You should buy it there, then what if you see him there? Isn't that what happens to romance novels and chick flicks? After speaking with the guy, you meet him everywhere? Then all of a sudden you're together. Your destiny's at that store. Oh my gosh you're finally getting a boyfriend again!" Lily gushed, sounding all excited and cheesy making me groan and Kayla snigger, trying to contain in her laughter.

I groaned, closing my eyes in frustration. "I'm not gonna buy him Skittles! I'm not that desperate."

****

"-twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen. I guess eighteen packs of Skittles are enough to make him say yes," I mumbled to myself trying to balance all the eighteen packs of Skittles in my arms as I walk towards the cashier to pay for it. Well maybe Lily and Kayla are right, I'm that desperate after all.

Not even four steps towards the register, five packs slipped off my arms, falling on the cold tiled floor. I silently cursed as I knelt down to pick it up while balancing the rest of the packs against my chest. "Stupid gravity."

"Here let me help you with that," a hand grabbed the packs lying on the floor and handed it to me, I raised my head to look at this chivalrous young man-I really do have a problem-only to see one of my friends, kneeling in front of me as he continued to pick up the rest of the packs.

"Patrick?" I asked, surprised but after realizing that it is Patrick, my friend I started to laugh, dropping the rest of the Skittles onto the floor along with me.

Oh my gosh there's a convenience store a few blocks away from your house right? You should buy it there, then what if you see him there? Isn't that what happens to romance novels and chick flicks? After speaking with the guy, you meet him everywhere? Then all of a sudden you're together. Your destiny's at that store. Oh my gosh you're finally getting a boyfriend again!

Lily's voice rang in my ears making me double over in laughter while Patrick looked at me in a perplexed expression, his blue eyes staring at me confusedly as I continue to laugh at the situation. I now confirm that her hopeless romantic theories are all but true, especially if you see your guy best friend instead of the expected guy.

If this happened way back in grade ten before I dated Mackenzie and still had a crush on Patrick, I would've stuttered and thanked heavens for having him in front of me, picking up the things I have to purchase. Especially after Lily told me that I could get a boyfriend after meeting someone who can be my destiny unexpectedly in this convenience store, but that was before. When I actually thought that Patrick is my destiny due to Lily's hopeless romantic behavior rubbing off on me, not now when I know that ending up with your guy best friend only happens to love stories. The feelings I had for him is long forgotten and buried under the years of friendship.

Realizing that I looked stupid-not that I'm not, I cleared my throat to calm myself down and grinned at a very bewildered Patrick. "What's up?" I asked, picking up the scattered packs of Skittles on the floor, which he helped me with, before standing up from the ground and dusted off my hands, wiping it against the rough fabric of my jeans.

He stood up also, towering my five-five foot frame as he handed me the pack of Skittles. "I was just buying a Slurpee," his chin motioned towards the group of vending machines, perched against the wall.

I nodded, looking at the vending machines before turning back to look at him. "That's nice."

"So what's with all the Skittles?"

"Oh these?-" I raised my arms, showing him the packs of the sugary treat in my arms before shrugging. "-it's to bribe someone."

"Oh okay? Wanna have a Slurpee? My treat," he said, pointing over his shoulder to where the vending machines stand.

Well who says no to free drinks? Grinning, I quickly handed him some of the Skittle packs and sprinted towards the machine to grab a paper cup.

"You sure are excited," Patrick chuckled behind me, handling the packs in his arms with ease.

I turned to face him with a huge grin, waving the cup filled with Slurpee in front of his face. "Nobody says no to anything free."

He chuckled, grabbing himself a cup. "Of course, you'll say that."

I shrugged still smiling. "You know me too well."

"So why are you laughing when you saw me earlier?" he asked, filling his cup with the cool drink that promises a brain-freeze.

I groaned. Did I say I hate Lily?

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