Accidentally on Purpose

Chapter Thirty-Five

It was Sunday afternoon, Jonah had just finished his shift at the diner.

I was reading some magazine that Nat had left on the counter, making sure that Daisy, who was sat inside the baby stroller next to my chair, wouldn't start crying again. She had cried around twenty minutes ago, when the diner was most packed with people who were coming in for lunch, and I had nearly flipped my shit out of embarrassment and mortification. I'd caught Jonah glancing worriedly at the fact that Daisy's bawling wouldn't stop, but both of his hands were full as there was a long line of middle school girls who were spending their weekend ordering caffeinated drinks as an excuse to flirt with the hot barista. As per usual.

I tried singing all the songs Jonah had told me he would sing to Daisy to get her to stop crying, but she was still crying out loud. I finally resorted to singing random songs to her, and she only did stop crying a couple of minutes ago after I sang "Pocketful of Sunshine".

I was sweaty, breathless, and my throat felt hoarse and dry from singing so much. Plus, I still got weird looks from people around me. Whatever.

A few minutes and about twenty pages of Teen Vogue later, Jonah finally sat down in front of me, sliding two steaming mugs across the table toward me.

It was like a game whenever he brought me a drink after his shift ended. He wouldn't tell what it was, and then he would me taste it and take a guess. There were only so many variations of drinks he could make, though, so he often remade drinks he'd already made for me and still made me guess, just to test my memory.

"Matcha latte again?" I asked when I saw that the drink was green colored. It had a sloppy, yet funny drawing of a pair lips (and what the hell was this supposed to mean?) and I didn't even want to know how he had drawn this.

But he shrugged at me, sipping at his own drink. It was probably some double shot black coffee or something.

I finally took a sip and smiled. "With peppermint syrup," I said. "It's different. Nice. A bit too sweet, though."

He smiled at me, and then it was silence. I twirled my finger around my blonde hair—since my red hair dye was slowly growing out, my white-blonde roots had started to appear, so yesterday, I got it dyed back to blonde. Only this time, it was a slightly darker color than my hair's natural color, the shade falling into a more golden-ish blonde. I had also gotten a haircut, and for the first time since middle school, I actually had straight bangs again, slightly tickling the skin right just above my eyebrows.

I was actually, cough cough, waiting for Jonah to comment on it. You know, just to see if he liked it. Or if he even noticed at all. Sadly, he apparently had nothing to say about it. I tried not to pout as I sipped my drink.

After a few minutes of silence as we both enjoyed our drinks, he finally spoke up. "Are you free this Wednesday?"

I glanced up and shrugged. "I basically have no life so, yeah, I think so. Why?"

He shifted in his seat. "I know you're suspicious about my sister's existence."

I raised my eyebrows at him in amusement. "And?"

"Well... she does exist, and she's having a piano recital this Wednesday," he said shyly. "She's got three tickets; for me and my parents, but my dad is currently out of town and we really don't want to waste the ticket..."

My heart leaped in anticipation, and I took another sip of my drink to hide my smile.

"So my mom asked me to invite you," he finished. "Then we can have dinner afterwards."

I bit my lip and looked down at my lap, still trying not to smile.

"Besides, she's been asking to meet you, and... well... yeah," he stammered, a pink blush staining both of his cheeks. "I know it's a school night, but..." he trailed off, shrugging at me lightly.