To Know More

18 | brutal brawls

| Amelia |

"It bothers you, doesn't it?"

Leila's jaw ticked at Zoey's question for just a moment before returning to its normal state again, seemingly unbothered. 

She shrugged, trying to feign nonchalance but failing at it rather miserably. "I told you, it doesn't bother me in the least."

Averting my gaze to the topic of conversation, I once again assessed the scene that Leila was now actively glaring at: at the opposite end of the café stood Sophie, chatting with another girl from our class while they fetched their coffees from the counter. Her hysterical laughter could be heard even till our end of the cozy space, and the fact that it was arising due to her conversation with the girl was decidedly pissing Leila off.

"I mean, in her defence though, it doesn't seem like she's doing it on purpose." I bit out unsurely after a few seconds, trying to pacify her a bit, "Plus, them talking doesn't mean it's anything romantic, right?"

Leila's demeanour remained harsh while she nodded her head stiffly, her voice coming out as extremely unconvincing in response. "Yes. Exactly. It's not like I care anyway."

"I thought you were going to sort everything out with her, were you not?" Zoey asked her while I nodded, remembering how Leila had told us a few days ago about her plans to start with a clean slate with Sophie.

Now that I was aware of what had gone down between the two of them, I couldn't help but wonder if Noah was aware of Leila and Sophie's relationship. Would he be angry if he knew? 

But with that thought, arose another unavoidable question: was their relationship even a coincidence? Could it be that Noah had intended on that since the start? 

I shook the though when Leila grunted in response to Zoey's question, her grip on the table getting tighter. "I was," she spoke gruffly, her voice getting angrier by the second, "but someone doesn't want to take our 'thing' any further."

Zoey and I both looked at each other for a moment, knowing inwardly that no matter how tough Leila acted on the outside, it was rare of her to be open and vulnerable with someone like she'd been with the brown-eyed girl who was now taking her seat at a table not far from us. Hence, this was bound to be hurting her on the inside.

Before either of us could speak, though, the cheery sound of laughter echoed from the table in question, making Leila's muscles turn horrifyingly rigid.

With a swift move, she pushed her chair backward with a loud screech, capturing the attention of the previously laughing girls along with the rest of the small crowd in the café, anchoring it in our direction.

I looked at her with concern. "Leila-"

"I think I'm going to leave." She cut me off and spoke with finality, beginning to stomp away with her jaw still clenched. "This place fucking sucks."

My eyes widened as I heard her talk that way about the café, especially when I noticed Margaret standing beside our table with our orders assembled neatly on her tray.

The middle-aged woman's gaze followed Leila's form as she shut - slammed - the door behind her; she then looked at us with concern. 

"What's up with her?"

"Marge, she didn't mean what she said, you know she-"

But the woman simply huffed and face-palmed herself. "Yes, of course I know that, silly." She almost scolded, rolling her eyes. "I meant, why is she so...on edge?"