Bad luck and second chances (ON HOLD!!)

Chapter 12 - Ryan reveals [part 1]

"I can't do this anymore. I'll be in the hallway or something..." Ryan said. He did not look behind once after leaving the three of us. 

I looked at Alyssa and she gave me a sad look. 

"Well, someone stepped out of the bed from the wrong side...Ha... Ha..." Stella awkwardly laughed. 

Stella and I exchanged various looks. She pointed at Alyssa, telling me that I should say something. But before I could even bring something out that wouldn't even make any sense at that moment, Alyssa spoke. 

"So, you all had a lot of fun without me, huh? What about we have dinner at that cute new place that opened last week?"

"OH MY GOSH. Yes, please! What am I going to wear? Oh, no... I have nothing to wear! Okay, Stells... Chill, everything's okay. This is the perfect excuse to buy some new dresses! Ah! I'm so excited!" Stella squealed.  

Alyssa and I both laughed at her behavior. 

"And...", Alyssa took a moment to draw my attention to her, "this could also be the perfect excuse to ask James to come with you",  she laughed and I froze when I heard what she said. 

Stella showed me her tongue and she and Alyssa gave each other a high five. I just rolled my eyes playfully at them and then showed my tongue as well.

I thought, I can play this game also.

"Alright, I'll ask James to joins us tonight. But, only if you ask Rick...,"I smirked at Stella. Her face was as red as the reddest lipstick she owns. And I swear, there's no lipstick with that amount of pigment.

"Uh... Okay... Yeah, sure. I... I'll ask Rick." Stella couldn't even say his name without smiling like a dork. She bit her lip and looked at her shoes.

Alyssa asked me if I could ask Nathan to come also, but he wouldn't come unless Ria would come too. God, this kid needs to start crushing on someone of his own age.

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Stella had set up a dress code for us all which wasn't that complicated. She said that if she had given us a theme or something, we would be overdressed and that would be in contrast with the place we were going to. And just like that, she had Stella'ed even a situation like this. 

We were supposed to wear the one thing that would catch the most attention of our outfit in black. According to Stella, the black would give us chic look if the inside of the restaurant was fancy and if the interior was retro, we would also fit in the scene just fine. 

All of the girls, myself included, had done our hair in subtle, loose curls. Alyssa and Stella came over to my place to get dressed and get their hair and make-up done. None of us were wearing anything super fancy, except for Ria. She wore a black dress with a few glittery dots on it and a statement necklace which had glitter and shiny things all over.

But, Ria being Ria, likes to stand out. 

We went to the restaurant in two separate cars, as we were going with eight persons. James drove his own car and I sat next to him. And you were not seeing me complain about that. Behind us sat Nathan and Ria. Nathan couldn't keep his eyes of her and she was enjoying all of his attention.

Ryan rode my car obviously and Stella sat next to him as she still was trying to keep her "sassy act" in front of Rick. So, behind them sat Alyssa and Rick. They seemed to get along. Alyssa had never met Rick before, because we weren't friends back then. We came to know her after she came to our school as the new girl that dated one of James' jerk friends, Vince. 

After James parked his car he told me to remain seated. At first, I panicked a little, because I thought something happened outside of the car, but then he opened my door and stood there. Waiting for me to get out of the car.

"Well? What are you waiting for, Nathan. I know that I look mesmerizing right now, but you can continue staring at my appearance inside of the restaurant also! Now, open the damn for me, will you?" Ria said with a slight irritated tone in her voice. 

Both I and James chuckled at jealous act. 

"Stop playing around, let's go inside! I'm starving, you guys!" Ryan pointed at his belly, making us all laugh once again. 

We went inside, where a waitress was waiting for us.

"Good evening, did you make a reservation? Eight persons, am I correct?"

Stella told her yes and asked if we could sit next to a window with the nicest view and best light for any pictures she or the others were going to take. 

The waitress smiled and Ryan winked at her. Again, Alyssa's smile was turned upside down for a bit and then she changed it into a forced, fake smile that only the once that were paying attention could notice. I wondered what was going on between those two. 

We followed the waitress to our table and sat down.  "What do you guys want to drink?" She looked at Alyssa, Ria, Stella and also me. 

"I would like... Your favorite kind of drink." And again, Ryan winked at the waitress.

I looked at Ryan and then at Alyssa, but when she looked back I quickly turned my head to Stella and started to whisper "what the hell is Ryan doing?" Stella shrugged, whispering that what Ryan was doing to Alyssa was just wrong in every possible way. "How sad this is for Lyss, I mean didn't he tell her he loved her unconditionally? My god, I want to punch this guy in the balls with a very pointy fork!" Stella tried to whisper and she tightened her grip around a fork that was lying in front of her. 

The waitress, her name was Natasha according to her name plate, giggled and even started blushing. "I thought the saying went 'ladies first', but I assume that does not count when you're involved?"

"Yeah, Ryan! How about that saying? I thought we both were always the gentlemen around the girls?" Rick gave James, who sat across him on the table, a bro fist and James hoisted his eyebrows a few times, teasing Ryan.

Ryan smirked and I could see that Nathan had stopped staring at his way 'mesmerizing crush' and was now pointing his eyes at Ryan. The kid had always looked up to him, I just hope he doesn't take over Ryan's jerk act.

"Nah, my stomach is making all these noises and I just can't wait to put something in it!" And like it was on cue, his belly growled. Everyone was yet again laughing at Ryan's hunger issue except for me and Stella, we just gave the waitress a small smile which was not entirely sincere. Even Alyssa, laughed. And this time, her laugh did seem sincere, compared to ours...