Sequins and Shots - Book Three of the Café Latte Trilogy

Part Two: Chapter 3

Hi! Sorry for being two days over - I've had a manic couple weeks at work, and it's finally settling down. Hope you enjoy!!!

Love, Cam

♡

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Chapter Three

Harper

I didn't notice something had changed until it was too late. My body had been getting tired faster. My doctor said it was probably chronic fatigue syndrome, and that there wasn't much I could do about it but accept it and rest. It didn't feel like how people described chronic fatigue syndrome, though; it wasn't so much fatigue, pain, and it didn't give me mobility issues. I just felt tired. 

After my talk with Edward, I'd insisted on blood tests, which Dr. Branner had approved given my HIV+ status. He'd called to ask me to come down and discuss them, and frankly, I did not want to do that.

"Oi," Ross' voice interrupted my thoughts, and I felt a napkin hit my face.

"What?" I asked irritably, putting the napkin on the table.

Ross was eyeing me from under a furrowed brow, and he scoffed. "Honestly, the pair of you, it's like you're half a world away."

I looked to Edward, who was sat next to me, rolling his eyes as he scrolled through his phone. "Yeah, yeah, whiny arse."

"What's up?" I asked, trying to distract Ross before he retorted and they started a bickering match in the middle of the café.

"Pulse is doing a paint party," he said, and I resisted the urge to follow suit and roll my eyes. "Should I pick you up at ten?"

I snorted. "Dude, you couldn't pay me to go out tonight. I'm tired."

"You're always tired," Ross muttered irritably, and I felt a stab of anger in my chest. It wasn't his fault. I hadn't brought up my doctor's visit. Or talked about it. With anyone other than Ed. But I still felt it. "Ed?" he asked.

Edward, once again engrossed in his phone, looked up and said, "Hm?"

"Paint party at Pulse tonight, Harper's bailing on me," he said. "You're coming, right?"

"How can I have bailed when we didn't have any plans?" I asked in annoyance, folding my arms across my chest.

Edward laughed at my expression. "Ross, stop being a tit to everyone just cause you had a stressful day and want to blow off steam. I can't go tonight, I've got a date."

Ross huffed a sigh. "So? Reschedule. It's just a date, you can find someone to bang at Pulse."

"No, it's a proper date," Edward replied, flicking through his phone screen. "I'm taking someone out for dinner."

Ross and I exchanged a glance, our mini-argument forgotten. "Uh, who?" Ross asked tentatively.

Edward, distracted, replied, "He's called Bram. Abraham, but he doesn't like that. He's great. We're going to that Italian place Harper wouldn't stop banging on about last week."

You could have knocked me over with a feather. I didn't know what to focus on first, but for some reason my brain centred on the restaurant. "It is a good restaurant," I protested against the obvious slam on my incessant recommendations.

"Bit romantic for a first date, isn't it?" Ross frowned. "Harper said it was super intimate."

It was; I had been with Tom for his fourteenth birthday because he loved Italian food and the entire time I had received bizarre looks from the wait staff who clearly were torn between wondering if he was my boyfriend and just looked super young, or if he was my son and I just looked really good for my age.