The Middle | Hemmings + Styles AU

42. sparkling water

We applied for the venue on the spot, but the realtor said it would take a few days for us to get an answer. "We like to review all applicants," she said. I still wondered if Harry's name would find its way into the pile of potential leasers.

Waiting for the phone to ring was like waiting for Christmas morning as a kid: slow and painful. I could hardly concentrate at work and I kept dazing off as Louis spoke to me about baby names. My thoughts were instead stuck on those exposed beams and the brick walls and the industrial staircase.

Even a visit from Doris didn't brighten me up as much as it should have. Everything about the store felt stale and used, like it was just a way to spend my time until we got that inevitable phone call deciding the fate of our new business.

Grunge kept encouraging me to look at other venues, just in case. Instead, I looked up quotes for polished concrete. And looked for custom-made neon signs. At home, I started to re-organise the kitchen and make sure the towels and bedding were neat in the cupboards. My Mum was kind of crazy about towels and bedding. She colour-coordinated everything, and kept the sheets with the low thread count on the bottom shelf.

"I thought you were leaving at four." Louis had popped his head into the storeroom. I quickly closed the internet browser on my phone where I'd been looking at beverage suppliers and information to obtain our liquor licence. "I'm about to close up."

Neither Grunge or I had told Louis about our new business venture. There was no need yet. Nothing would really change for him. Grunge would still come into the store, while I'd be running the show at over at the new business. I hated calling it the new business all the time, but we still couldn't decide on a name. 

Grunge had told me I had the reigns on this one, and could call it whatever I liked. In the notes section of my phone was a list of about twenty. I'd began narrowing it down a little but it was too hard. I was too indecisive.

The time on my phone said it was 5:30 now, and I was supposed to be meeting Luke for drinks and dinner at six. As friends, he'd reminded me, when he'd asked. Like I could have forgotten.

It wasn't lost on me that a few weeks ago, I was being torn in two different directions by my feelings for two different boys, and now it seemed like neither of them were interested in me anymore.

Putting my bruised ego aside, I had to wonder if maybe it was better this way. I mean, if I couldn't choose a business name, how in the world would I have ever chosen a boy?

I quickly gathered up my things and waved goodbye to Louis on the way out. "You all good to lock up?"

He nodded, and I left confident, no longer having that uneasy pit in my stomach that Louis would forget to set the security alarm or something. He'd come a long way. I was proud of him.

-

Luke was already sitting at a table for two when I arrived to the Italian restaurant. He was peering down at the menu - pretending like he didn't already know he was going to order pizza - when I sat in the chair opposite him. "Sorry I'm late."

He looked up. "Louis set off the alarm again?"

"No," I smiled. "I'm just late." I still hadn't told him about my new business with Grunge either. I don't know, it sort of seemed surreal. Magical. Like a wish. If I told someone before it was all set in stone, perhaps it might not come true.

Luke handed me the menu he'd been looking at. His teeth were chewing on his lip ring and that familiar gust of feelings picked up inside the pit of my stomach. I knew we were supposed to be just friends now, but I couldn't switch off my feelings as easily as Luke had.

I quickly glanced over at the menu even though I already knew what I was going to order. When the waiter came over, pen perched to the tiny pad of paper in his hand, Luke looked at me expectantly. "I'll have the cheese pizza please. And a lemonade."

The waiter, who looked about sixteen and sported a sweeping fringe much similar to the one Luke had in some of the pictures hanging up in his house, nodded and turned to Luke. "I'll take the fettuccine Primavera please, and some sparkling water."

The waiter nodded again, noting Luke's order down on the paper and then disappearing off towards the kitchen. I looked at Luke. "Fettuccine Primavera and sparkling water?"

"Thought I'd try something different," Luke shrugged. "I'm getting older, you know. I can't exist on pizza and beer for the rest of my life."

Sure you can, I thought, but decided not to say. Then he asked about Aunty Peg, and I began telling him how she was getting sick of my constant calling and coddling. "At least Mum and Dad will be back soon."

"How soon?"

"The 1st. The day after my birthday, actually." I took a sip of the lemonade that had been brought over while we were talking about Aunty Peg.

"They're going to miss your birthday?"

"It's okay. It's just a birthday." Luke's features had softened into sadder versions of themselves. I brightened my voice a little. "Don't feel bad. I'm an only child, I've had plenty of birthdays being spoiled by my parents."

Luke barely laughed at my joke. His pasta and my pizza came to the table a moment later and I took the brief distraction as a chance to change the subject. "Do you know anything about about the tour?"

"Not really," he answered, eyes watching the way the fettuccine was being wrapped around his fork. "We probably won't know anything for a while, I guess."

"So you've spoken to Grunge about it?"

Luke shrugged, and then started talking about how he and Michael were thinking about moving in together. "Like, I love my Mum but I can't live with her forever. You know? Plus it'd be cool to live with Michael. He's neater than Calum but not as OCD neat as Ashton. And he can cook, like frozen pizza and stuff." He ran his hand through his hair. "I don't even know how to work an oven."

Not long after, I paid for dinner, then Luke and I said goodbye and walked to our separate cars. I went past Aunty Peg's house on the way home, just to check in on her, and then sat on the couch waiting for the phone to ring and trying to figure out exactly what it was that Luke was hiding from me.