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Chapter 17

She looked around wildly for me, but I was already gone.

Tomas spoke up, his voice carrying through the crowd, "I think I need to get going, but I'll see you guys later."

"Where are you going?" Olivia asked.

"I wanna grab a snack before class."

In reality, Tomas had been hoping to breach the subject of Prom with Jake and Hannah. He had promised the girls they could ride with them, but he had to talk to Jake and Hannah before anything was set in stone. Jake would probably agree, he had a thing for Olivia and he had been worried about paying for the limo after Cheryl and her date had backed out.

Laura stepped in between them, "I'll come with. I would die for a bag of chips or a granola bar or something."

"Okay." He didn't sound quite as enthused as Laura.

She grabbed onto him and tugged him down the hall. Olivia finished putting her books away before shutting the locker, wincing at the clang of metal.

"I hate that sound too."

Olivia jumped at the sound of the voice, spinning around to look at Jake. The latter only looked down at her amused, aware of how flustered he made her. She stared up at him silently, waiting for him to tell her why he was bothering her as she clutched her books.

He better be planning on apologizing she thought to herself as she glanced up at him goofy face.

Seeing no other option, she tried to play it cool, "Can I help you with something?"

"Yeah," Jake couldn't help but smile at her attempt to remain angry when there was a small smile fighting to break out, "We both know why I'm here. I really wanted to apologize for running you over, I should have done it way earlier than this. More than that, I wanted to apologize for taking so long to even address what I did."

"Really?" She knew her surprise was ridiculous, but she hadn't expected him to actually apologize. She knew she deserved an apology, there was just a part of her that thought she would never get one. "You're actually apologizing?"

"I'm really apologizing."

She didn't really know how to respond to that, so she simply said, "Wow, I guess that means the ride to Prom is going to be a little less tense."

"The ride to Prom?" His eyes suddenly grew wide and a smile broke out, "You're coming to Prom with us?"

"Yeah, Tomas offered to let us share the limo with the three of you because Laura forgot to book one." She suddenly saw the error in her comment, Tomas probably had to ask them first, "Sorry, I imagine he probably wanted to run it by you guys. He said you probably wouldn't mind because it would mean each person pays less. I hope you guys don't mind."

"Of course not," Jake couldn't stop smiling, "Trust me, I was worried about my share for the limo and now I'm not. Did you guys make plans for after Prom?"

She thought back to Laura's ridiculous list to prepare for Prom. Olivia was in charge of the booze, the food, and putting in for seating, while Laura insisted on getting the Limo, making the post-prom arrangements and purchases tickets. Seeing as Laura had put off buying their tickets to last minute and had almost forgotten to get them a limo, she imagined she had also forgotten post-Prom.

"I'm guessing the answer is no, we haven't made plans yet."

"Well we were planning on staying in a cabin by the beach, Hanna's grandparents bought it a few summers ago and we're getting it for free so long as we clean up afterwards."

"Really?" Between the dress, the limo, and the booze, Olivia knew she was getting a little strapped for cash. "That would be great."

"Think of it as part two of my apology." Jake smiled, "Plus, the house is going to be a lot more fun if it's more than just the three of us playing Yahtzee and getting drunk off of coke-a-cola."

"Yahtzee?" Did he seriously just mention Yahtzee? "Please tell me that's not what we're going to be doing if we go to post-Prom with you guys. I think we might have to pass if that's the case."

"Well if you don't like Yahtzee then we can always play a little Mahjong," Olivia looked at him warily but Jake seemed to love the attention, "I'm just joking, trust me I'm not playing to play mahjong at post-Prom. Mahjong is going to have to wait until I'm hungover." She shot him another look, "Kidding."

"Why am I bothering to listen to you?"

"Come on, like I said before, I'm only joking. I'll promise to be serious if you'll hang out with me after school today." His brows shot up playfully as he dared her to react, "I'll buy you a milkshake."

Olivia made a list of every reason not to go with him, the top of which is that she knew she shouldn't. As the list of reasons she shouldn't go grew longer, so did the list of reasons she should go. The top of which was that she had absolutely nothing better to do with her time and life.

Laura and Tomas were both busy, Laura had to work and Tomas was tutoring his neighbor with History. Like most high school students on the cusp of Prom and graduation, they were strapped for cash and in dire need of replenishment. I myself had a job as busboy, though I quit right before Prom because I found out my boss was stealing tips from me. He was such an asshole, I'm happy to be free of him now.

Begrudgingly, Olivia nodded, "Fine. But this means you owe me a good time and a milkshake, strawberry or I will dump it on your head." She knew that would eventually regret agreeing, but in the moment, his smile was worth it. Her simple acceptance had made his eyes crinkle and brought him a smile that reached from ear to ear. "And this is not a date. You better remember that."

"Of course," Jake couldn't stop smiling. She shot him a dirty look so he said, with as much fake serious as he could muster, "Not a date. Definitely not a date. No kissing, no smooching, no hand holding and certainly no one-milkshake-two-straws romantic bullshit because we are absolutely positively not having a date after school today."

"Shut up or I'll change my mind," She was already starting to regret accepting his invitation.

"We wouldn't want that," A buzz in his pocket took his attention off her.

He whipped out his phone and unlocked it. His eyes shut as his shoulders fell, a sure sign that he was not pleased with whatever he had seen on his phone screen. Before she could ask what was wrong, Jake was sprinting away from her.

Not before yelling back to her, "Our date is still on!"

"It's not a date," Olivia muttered to herself.

She hung around for a few minutes, checking her own phone for messages, before turning away to try and find her friends.

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