30 Hours With You [Completed]

Hour Twenty-Three

Ellis

The last thing I wanted to do was go out to dinner with two of my friends and Thea. I wanted to go out to dinner with just Thea.  I didn't want to deal with Blake's warning eyes and who the hell knows who she's bringing. But I'm sure it's a friend of mine. So maybe it won't be so bad.

And I was wrong. Blake and Cole walk up towards Thea and I. They're late. Thea squeezes my hand and smiles at me and I almost forget why I'm annoyed in the first place.

"Thea this is Cole," Blake says with a smile and then gives me a look that I can't decipher.

"Hey," Thea says to Cole then says to Blake, "be nice." I guess Thea was able to understand the look. We walk into the busy restaurant and I watch Thea take everything in.

She looks from the low ceilings to the intricate decorations that line the walls, then to the crowded bar where the voices seem to echo throughout the restaurant.

We are seated quickly. I sit next to Thea and across from Cole. Cole and I have known each other since elementary school and we live in the same building. But I wouldn't call us friends.

"Are you excited about tomorrow?" Blake asks me.

"Yeah, I guess," I say and Blake smirks at me like she knows exactly why I'm not excited.

"Oh yeah, sorry I missed your party," Cole says. 

"It's okay. He missed his own party," Blake answers, "Ellis and Thea left like 45 minutes after it started."

Cole looks Thea up and down and I want to reach across the table punch him right in the jaw. We aren't friends because he's an asshole. Simply put.

"And you guys are still together?" He asks.

"They've been spending the day together," Blake answers for us. I look over at Thea quickly and notice that she is barely present in the conversation.

I grab her hand and give it a light squeeze under the table. She looks over at me and smiles, "wanna leave?" She asks.

"No, you can't just leave," Blake says.

"Come on Blake. Can't we go somewhere else? I don't want to sit in here and play twenty questions with some guy I don't even know and clearly Ellis doesn't like," Thea's cheeks turn pink when she says what I've basically been thinking this whole time.

I just laugh because I'm leaving soon and I don't give a shit what Cole thinks.

"So you just want to go somewhere else? All of us?" I ask trying not to laugh. Thea looks like she is also holding back her laughter.

"Yes," she nods.

We all get up and follow Thea out the door ignoring the odd looks we get from everyone else.

"What's next?" Thea asks me.

I want to tell her that we need to ditch the two of them and I'll figure out something else for us to do. But I won't do that. I won't start a fight with Blake or piss Cole off more.

"Waffle truck," I say and start walking back towards the park.

"Waffle truck?" Thea asks linking our hands.

"Mhm, I still have to show you how great The Big Apple is," I wink. Thea starts laughing and snorting. A sound that I missed in the short time we were apart.

"Don't say Big Apple. It makes me remember that time you lied to me," she says with narrowed eyes but then starts laughing again.

"Secret time?" I ask softly bringing my lips close to her ear.

She nods.

"I want to smash a waffle in Cole's face and force him to eat poop lemons," I say seriously.

She laughs so loudly that Cole and Blake are asking us what we are laughing about.

"Hm, so I guess we are both pretty sucky friends, huh?"

"Guess so," I say and kiss her quickly.

"Then maybe we are perfect for each other. We can find some house in the forest with no people around."

"I'd be okay with that," I reply.

She looks at me with a small smile and a lightness in her eyes. And I can't help but hope that she is changing her mind about leaving with me.