Our Love Story

Chapter Three

One of the downsides of working at a coffee shop was all the picky people. If their coffee wasn't made a certain way, they'd get all red-faced, screaming in your face. Or, at least, it mostly happened to me. Like right now, a tall middle-aged man with a balding head, was screaming at me, his finger waving around in front of my face. "I'm sorry, sir, I'll make you a new one right away," I told him, taking the bad coffee from the counter. Internally, I was rolling my eyes and resisting the urge to just quit right then and there.

After the man was gone, huffing all the way out the door, Ava walked in right after him. "Hey, bestie!" she greeted. "You're off now, right?"

I tossed my apron off. "Yup," I told her. Turning to the new guy at the shop, I said, "Good luck, Eric. Tell the boss I left, will you?" He nodded, not saying anything, before going back to work. He wasn't much of a talker, but that didn't bother me.

Ava and I left the shop and headed over to her house. We went up to her room to discuss the plans for Luka's surprise party on Saturday. "So, I already got all the paper plates and plastic cutlery," she told me. She grabbed one of the many plastic bags on the floor beside her closet and pulled out pink Hello Kitty paper plates.

I raised an eyebrow. "Hello Kitty?"

She laughed out loud. "Yes, isn't it awesome!" Stuffing the pack of plates back into the bag, she jumped onto the bed, lying down on her back. "The only things left that we need to get is the drinks, but we can get those the day of."

"So, what are the guys going to do to distract Luka?" I asked.

"They're all just going to go bowling during the day while we set everything up. They'll keep him occupied for about two hours, so that gives us enough time, I hope." She sat up, biting her lip. "Nova?"

"Yeah?" I looked at her. She seemed like she wanted to say something, but wasn't sure about it. "What is it?"

"I think you should invite Everett," she said. Well, I was not expecting that.

I had told her about Everett's return the same day he came back, which was a few days ago. We hadn't spoken much, other than the awkward conversation we had at his house when his family invited ours over for dinner the other night. I thought he would ask me about what happened with Jace, but he didn't and I was glad that he hadn't. It was embarrassing enough that he probably heard our entire exchange.

"Why?" I asked her. "Luka doesn't even know him."

"Well, he just got back home," Ava said, leaning back in her seat. "He probably doesn't have anything to do, so why not, right?" She grinned. "Plus, Luka should meet him! He's one of your close friends, so I think he needs to meet Everett, your childhood friend, at least once. Also, it's been a while since I've seen him."

I pursed my lips before falling down onto my back on her bed. Unlike me, Ava and Everett were actually good friends. How they became to be friends is the fact that in sophomore year of high school, they had cooking class together and were assigned as partners for the whole year. No matter how much I told her how horrible he was, she just laughed and patted my shoulder, saying something about how Everett and I were so funny.

I shrugged. "Maybe I will."

________________________________________________

Leaning against the railing of the porch, I stared at the red door to the house that belonged to Jace's family, my arms crossed and trying to keep myself calm.

Why am I here, you ask?

Earlier this morning, I was still in bed when my phone started buzzing next to my pillow. Grumbling, I grabbed it and it was Ava who was calling. "What?" I said as I picked up.