StarStruck Coffee

The Truth

"I'm Daniel Clarke..."

"Perfect. Here you go that's £24.75"

"I didn't order this though?"

Daniel looked her up and down obviously confused. "I mean I'll take it but I didn't order it?"

Aliyah looked around and sighed, "I don't care as long as I get paid."

"That's fine. Just put it on the side and I'll go grab some money. What pizza is it anyway?"

As Daniel walked into the other room, Aliyah looked around. Compared to Nate's apartment. The floors, were wood panelled, but surprisingly warm. He had a 40' TV, with a full gaming set up on one side of the room. The side walls were floor to ceiling glass, looking over the autumn cityscape.

"Pepperoni deluxe. With extra pepperoni. Whoever ordered this must love pepperoni"

Daniel appeared again with some cash in hand, "Even better I love pepperoni." He opened the box and took a big breath of the warm pizza air. "Oooooh, that's some good shit."

Aliyah coughed and he looked over blushing. "Right, sorry. Here you go. Thank you for the pizza." He handed her the money and waved towards the door.

Aliyah opened the door, and walked across the hall to where she knew Jessica was. She went to knock but a noise behind her made her pause. She turned around and Daniel stood in the doorway, leaning with one arm against the doorframe. "This is a lot of pepperoni, even for me." He looked down the corridor and sighed, "Do you want to join me?"

Aliyah looked back at Nate's door and laughed. "Why not. Can't be worse than the drama in there."

On the other side of the door, Jessica was leaning against the door with her ear squished next to it. "Go on Aliyah!" She cheered. She turned back around to face the others grinning. "Old friend." She said in explanation, as she plopped back down on the arm of the chair next to Nate. They were all looking at her for more explanation but Jessica just shrugged and started scrolling through her feed on her phone.

"Now that all that;" Beth waved towards the door, "is over, let's talk about our next steps. She looked dead at Layla, then at Zach, "There is something going on here. I know it. They know it." She pointed at Nate and Jessica. "And Layla knows it." Zach looked at Nate for a hint of what was going on but he looked down at the floor. He looked at everyone, but nobody even gave him a hint at what Beth was talking about.

"Zach. I like you. I have for a long time. But so does Layla." Beth said at last, cutting through the silence.

In that moment, Zach's world fell apart. First the drama with his sister, now this. He didn't know how to react. Beth was his best friend; and Layla was, well Layla. They both meant so much to him. His head fell into his hands, as he struggled to control his breathing.

Zach's eyes flitted between the two of them, torn on who to talk to first. Before he could say anything Nate spoke, "This has gone on for too long bro. You need to choose. It's not just hurting them anymore, it's affecting everybody."

"We don't want to push you to make a decision but we need to know how you feel." Layla confirmed with a nod towards Beth.

Jessica agreed, "It's not fair on anyone, you're not dense enough to be this oblivious to what's happening."

Zach's world began to spin, "I don't-" His breath quickened, "I can't-"

"Zach. Buddy. You okay?" Nate reached out.

"I-" The spinning got faster.

Zach's ringtone cut through the panic.

"Not her. Not now." Zach stood on shaky legs.

"Zach, are you okay?" Beth went to grab his hand.

His world went black.

AUTHORS NOTE

- sorry for the shorter than average chapter, It's been a while and i'm trying to juggle social lives, a new school and all of this.