Emojis and Food

Chapter 13: Bagels

Xialing

hey, you almost ready

Yeah.

I'm on my way down right now.

•••

Katy walked past the teal and white doggie daycare. A small cream-colored dog waddled out with pink and purple bows attached to her ears. She smiled at the puppy and glared back at her phone. The delete button shoved the letters from her text off of the screen before she shut it off and shoved it into her pocket. She pushed open the clear glass door and the bell above her head jingled while she stepped towards the hostess.

"Table for two, my friend's on his way." She was lead to a table by the window, water was poured and a basket of assorted bagels were given to her. As she searched through the menu. Her eyes slowly scanned from sweet crepes to savory omelets, all of which would usually appeal to her. But today, the emptiness in her stomach felt right. Without Xialing to talk to, all the things she hated felt right. Her hunger, her tiredness, her weary eyes that ached from how they were glued to her phone, all of it felt like it belonged to her.

"Hey," Shaun said, hanging his messenger bag onto the back of his chair and picking up his menu. "Has she spoken to you yet?" he asked, folding the cover of the laminated pamphlet to the back and resting it on the table so he could browse and eat the bagels with ease. He picked a poppy seed and spread cream cheese on the inside.

"Nah..." Katy answered offhandedly, still staring at her own menu. Shaun hummed and finished half of the top of his pastry.

"Hmm, maybe-" He took a sip of water. "Maybe, it's because you haven't spoken to her." He said. Katy's face shot up to look at him.

"How did you-?"

"Katy, she's my sister." He said with a blank face. "I know this may be a shock, but we do talk to each other." His voice was traced with a hint of sarcasm. Katy glared at him and put down her menu.

"What did she say?" she asked. Shaun leaned back into his chair and smugly took a bit of his bagel.

"I'm not gonna tell you."

"Shaun-!"

"Katy, you need to just talk to her." Katy opened her mouth to speak. "Let's just run through a worst-case scenario, you ask her about the kiss, then what-?"

"Either A: It was a drunken mistake and I've been stressing about this for nothing and she'll act like it was normal and I'll go crazy from my own hysteria and embarrassment or scenario number B: She forgot about it and I bring it up by asking about it and make it worse- or C: We end up in a relationship and then we don't work out and we can't be friends anymore because that'd be awkward as hell or D: We-" Katy was cut off, just as she ran out of breath.

"Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay-" Shaun stopped her, unable to handle whatever the hell scenario "D" would be. "Do you hear yourself right now?" Katy was silent. "You're spiraling. Just take a deep breath." Katy did as he said. "Alright, now, let's look at this realistically. Best case scenario: You get a girlfriend. Worst case: Things are a little awkward between you two." Katy smiled and picked up a bagel.

"How are you so calm and good with all this?" She asked.

"I'm not the idiot in love." Katy nearly choked on the first bite on her pumpkin seed bagel.

"We're not i-in love!" She protested.

"Yeah I know, I know," Shaun said. "But 'Idiot who likes my sister' doesn't have as nice of a ring to it." Katy side eyed him and continued munching on her food.

"Whatever," She said. "At least I'm not just an idiot."