𝙄𝙣𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙐𝙣𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬𝙣

Chapter 7

The next time me and Bernard were able to talk without any interruptions was at the dinner break. We had an entire hour to talk and get food. And knowing me, I jumped at the chance to get dinner. And some more food. Because that is just what dinner is. A time to get more food.

"I'm going into the concessions line again. Do you want anything?" I asked the elf besides me.

"Hot chocolate refill, please. And -."

"A bag of oreos?" I finished for him.

"Thanks." he said as I left for the concessions line.

So, they're are five concession stands with one of them being strictly for beverages and snacks and another one purely for hot chocolate refills (to be fair it was just a a do it yourself hot chocolate dispenser). But I didn't go to the beverages and snack concession stand. Instead, I went to the one with all of the goodies. All of the food. Man was that a mistake.

But thank heavens for fast surface, but no thank you for a very unfortunate turn of events.

"So, what is it with Mr Curly hair?" Celia Liberman asked me.

I hadn't even known she wad behind me. Wait a second, moment, minute, or whatever. I thought she ran out of money. Unless she's just getting a refill on hot chocolate (or asking other unsuspecting band geeks for foos). But then why didn't she just go get it herself? Wait. She asked a question. A question I hadn't known the answer to when she first told me.

"Excuse me?" I asked her.

"You have been all over him for hours. What's the sitch?" she asked me.

"What do you mean?" I asked her, clearly oblivious to all of this.

"[Y/N], you're sharing your Hogwarts blanket with him! And I've been watching you two canoodle for hours!" Celia told me.

"Wait. What do you mean by 'canoodle'?" I questioned.

"You've been snuggled against him with his arm wrapped around you! How do you not notice that, [Y/N]?" Celia asked me.

Was that true? I hadn't even noticed. I guess I was a little distracted for some strange reason or another.

"Uh... I'm oblivious to what other people do?" I tried to answer her question.

"So, I can do this and you wouldn't do a thing, right?" The auburn haired female said swinging her arm around my shoulders.

"Uh no." I took her arm off me.

Then, she gasped. Wait. What was that for exactly? Why did she gasp? To my knowledge, she only gasps when one of her favorite actors or actresses (from the MCU, Star Wars, or other) is involved, and I'm pretty sure they have more important things to do than come to a high school marching band competition at a college.

"You like him!" She squealed.

"What?! I don't like him. We've only known each other for a week!" I denied.

"That's how long in a romance novel it takes for the two leads to fall in love with one another! I should know. I've read most of them if not all." She told me.

"But I don't." I told her.

I couldn't tell her that the last time I saw him was last week where I met his sister and Curtis after a reindeer named Comet showed up injured and I took care of him before Comet took me to his home: the North Pole. I couldn't do it.  Because I had felt like I had gotten Bernard's trust, and I wasn't going to jeopardize it.

And one way for that to happen if I told her the truth.

"How did you meet him anyway?" asked Celia.

"His boss owns a reindeer ranch up north, and we're trying to do reindeer rides for the Holiday season. And we became friends after my aunt and his boss talked about it." That was a lie.

"Well, I still think you like him. And if you do, I hope you don't blow it. You've already broke once. I, as your only friend, don't want to see you break again." She told me before walking away towards the hot chocolate dispenser.

"What would you like?" The college male said from the other side of the counter.

"Two hot dogs, fries, two refills of hot chocolate,  and two things of oreos." I told him.

"That is fifteen dollars and fifty cents. And you know I agree with your friend there." I handed him my debit card and he swiped it. "I need two hot dogs, an order of fries, and two bags of oreos."

"She's not my friend." I told him.

The male took the two cups (one of which was not my own) and refilled them before handing them to me along with my food. "You had me fooled."

And it was hard carrying everything to the stands where Bernard was waiting for me. I sat down beside him and handed him his hot chocolate and his oreos.

"Thanks. What took so long? Dinner rush?"

"Yeah. It was." I told him and began eating a hot dog.

"Why two hot dogs?" He asked opening up his bag of oreos.

"Because I'm hungry. And one hot dog isn't enough." I said matter of factly.

"If you say so." Bernard said and started eating his oreos in silence.

The silence was horrible and made me feel uncomfortable since I didn't have anyone to talk to. And no. I was not going to start a conversation with Bernard. Because you know. I'm too awkward for that. It'll probably end up with word vomit. So, let's just eat in silence. Why don't we? For now at least.