Coffee Shop Conversations | ✓

28

tucker:

helloooo amy!!!!!!!! how were the tests?

sent 5:06 pm 

amelia:

cam & boyce are over. if order the chinese, i'll tell you about it in detail;))

sent 5:06 pm

there honestly wasn't that much to tell. thanks to tucker's help that week, i had gotten 100 on both tests. i just wanted an excuse to hang out with my new best friend, but he didn't have to know that. 

we'd been hanging out at tucker's recently and now that the studying was over, i wanted to be friends for real--no studying arrangement or anything like that.

tucker:

sounds like fucking exploitation to me. the chinese place has my number blocked because you were moaning so damn loud when i called on friday. they're never letting me order again and it's literally all your fault.

besides, what makes you think i want to hear your EXCITING TEST STORIES anyways??

sent 5:07 pm

he makes it sound worse than it was. he had called and i decided to play a little prank on him by moaning in the background. it wasn't even that loud, but they hung up on us anyways.

amelia:

whatever, your loss. i was going to imitate mr. timmins' breathing and everything.

sent 5:07 pm

tucker: 

oh shit! i'll be there in 2. don't you dare imitate his hair loss dance without me.

sent 5:07 pm 

"what's got you all jolly?" cam asks, peeking over my shoulder.

"nothing? christmas?" i stutter.

"is that TUCKER?" she screams. "oh my GOD!!! boyce! she's talking to tucker!!!"

"what about me?" good lord. tucker was here.

"nothing," we all blurt at the same time. 

tucker eyes me suspiciously. when my guard is down and i think he's joking, he attacks me with a chinese food gift card and sticks it down my shirt. "there, now you have to order!" he says triumphantly. "because i am so NOT sticking my fingers in your bra. have fun, amy." he saunters into my living room like he owns the place.

boyce and cam blink at me. "wh-"

finally, cam coughs out, "are you guys dating?" like it's a hairball.

"no. he's just a friend. like an old one. that i might have feelings for but it's complicated because i thought i hated him like...a month ago."

boyce pats my shoulder in a gesture i would've freaked out over a month ago. "time. you'll figure it out. although i never would've thought you'd fall for someone like tucker."

boyce never liked me. whatever i thought i knew or thought i saw, i didn't. it was a misinterpretation--which often happens in a silly crush. i don't think i ever even liked him, just the idea of him. 

and so, the three of us walk into the living room, where tucker had already made himself comfortable in my mom's favourite love seat. he always sat there when he used to over. there's even a stain from his mashed potatoes from grade six. "come sit!" he tells me.

"but that's my sp-" boyce begins to complain before cam shoves him into a recliner with a murderous smile.

"so how were your tests, amelia?"

i lauch into a quick description of all the questions (much to boyce and cam's annoyances) and tell them my scores.

even though two-thirds of them don't care, my friends encase me in a group hug and all at once, my life feels full again. i had always had friends in high school, but a piece always felt like it was missing. it was tucker.

boyce is the first to pull away. "guess what i heard?" he says excitedly. the grin on his face stretches off his ears.

"what?"

"graham is going away for life because he's a rapist. he's sick and twisted in the head and i'm so glad i didn't let you talk to him that day," boyce informs me.

tucker and i share a secret smile because we already knew. he convinced me on wednesday to turn in the case, but a bunch of girls had already accused him and they had irrefutable evidence. they didn't even need mine.

"thank goodness," i say.

i'm not just talking about graham.