(ATLANTIS) - haylor au

chapter twenty (2/2)

(taylor)

The next day, right after school, Karlie and I go over to her house. Apparently, she'd forgotten her to-buy list and it's crucial to have it when shopping.

"KARLS! THE STORE IS GONNA CLOSE!!" I laugh as she tries to hurry out the door. I'm honking her car's horn. I'm already sitting there with my seat buckled because according to Karlie it'd just be quicker if she went in alone. 

When we get to the store, I'm merely the second opinion and the person who wheels the cart. Chips on top of chips, some four packets of big marshmallows, and a dozen packs of soda. This is strange because it's the first year she's buying so many cans of soda but I don't ask right away. Karlie's running back and forth the store as I barely keep up. She's grabbing toilet paper, halloween decorations as if she doesn't already own an abundant amount and too many bags of chocolates and candies to put out tomorrow for the trick-or-treaters. 

"You guys are paying too, right?" She asks as we stand in line at the cashier. Her eyebrows are raised as if this'd been decided on before. I nod slowly.

We finally finish loading all the stuff into the back of Karlie's car. I just sit there for a few moments before she gets into the driver's seat. "I'm wiped." I sigh as she gets in. 

Karlie's tapping her fingers on the steering wheel and takes a glance at me. "Let's get some smoothies!" She beams. "It's on me." Insistently, she's shaking my shoulder. "C'mon, Tay."

I turn to her a break into a smile. "I'm not going to refuse free smoothies." With that, Karlie's starting her car and driving to the place we used to hang out every single day of junior year. Now, we're all tired and wiped out after school, not to mention, busy.

When we get there, I get a hit with nostalgia as I look around and all the posters on their wall reminds me of our really embarrassing eighth grade memories. "Damn, I forgot this place had milkshakes." Karlie says, looking at the menu up on the walls. We'd just gotten in and barely found a booth to sit at.

"Same." I reply as my eyes wonder around to see if there's been any changes to the place and also trying to spot out good seats. My search is quickly interrupted when Karlie's violently shaking my shoulder. "What?"

"What do you wanna get?"

"A chocolate milkshake." I reply as I eye an empty booth. "I found some seats!" I tell her before I make my way to the seats.

I stop in my tracks when I notice a brown-haired boy that I know too well. I realise that it's Harry with a girl and there's a weird feeling in my chest. He hasn't seen me yet but I go back to the front where Karlie's still making our orders.

"What? No seats?" She glances over at me with a receipt in her hand. "What's up?" Karlie's eyebrows are furrowed together as she takes another look at my face. I find myself unable to talk for a few seconds and just stare at her. I don't even know what's going on with me because there's nothing wrong with that I just saw. Single people date all the time. Why do I feel so terrible to have just seen that though? 

"Earth to Taylor?" Karlie touches me with my milkshake, making me snap out of my own thoughts. "C'mon, I saw some seats there." She starts making her way and I just follow, holding my own milkshake. 

When we finally sit down, Karlie glances at me with her lips pressed into a straight line. "Are we going to talk about it or not?" She talks softly. 

"About what?" I ask, taking a long sip from my milkshake. She gestures over to Harry's booth which is two booths opposite us. "Oh." is all I can manage out. I don't even know what to say beyond that. It looks like he's on a date and I wish I didn't feel this way about seeing him here but I do. 

"You saw them?" 

"No?" 

"Don't lie to me." 

"Yeah, so?" 

Karlie groans, rolling her eyes at me. "You're sooo," She pauses and takes a sip of her own smoothie. "You're so stubborn. Just say it." There's a devilish smile on her face as she looks at me. I only take a sip of my milkshake. I know she expects me to admit my feelings for Harry. I'm almost certain that I don't have feelings for him. How could that be? 

"Say what?" I ask. 

"That you like him!" She throws her hands up in the air in frustration. "I mean," I can tell she's going into a long passioned rant. "I mean, we can all see it. I know he likes you too. I know you're just afraid, even though you can't admit to it, after the whole Jake thing. It's okay to admit you have feelings for someone else. You don't have to date Harry. But it's okay to just tell yourself, if not us, that you have feelings for Harry." Her voice is low and she reaches out to touch my hand. 

I roll my eyes at her and shake my head. "That Jake thing. I'm fine. We didn't work out and I'm glad for that every day. He wasn't right for me." At least that's what I convince myself every day.

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