Someone You Loved ; Caleb Finn

10

While waiting for China to arrive, I ordered coffee and took out my phone, scrolling through my social media. My eyes shifted from my phone to the door every time someone came into the coffee shop before China arrived. "Hi, sorry I took so long to get here," the girl apologized before sitting on the seat across mine. "No, it's fine. Do you want coffee? I didn't know if you did so I just got one for myself," I said. "Oh, I do want some. You don't mind if I order one right now, right? Then we can talk about what we can write and maybe even help each other think of ideas for them," she suggested, to which I agreed to. After China went in line, my eyes shifted from my phone to the door out of habit. Doing a double-take, I noticed Caleb had entered the cafe. He looked around, trying to find an empty seat while I hung my head low, praying he wouldn't recognize me. Thinking he did after he started approaching my table, I stood up and covered my face by pretending to tuck my hair behind my ear, walking towards where China was. "Hey, I'm going to the bathroom," I told her in case she would look for me. I looked at Caleb, who looked at me with a confused look which turned to a surprised look after seeing my face. "Okay, I'll just wait for you at our table," China gave me a small smile. "Lumi?" Caleb started walking towards the two of us. "Do you know him?" China asked, giving the boy a confused look. "Yeah, he's my ex-boyfriend," I said before bolting to the bathroom, making sure to lock the door behind me. "Lumi, please. Let me talk to you," "Occupied," I ignored his words, pressing my palms against my ears so I wouldn't hear him through the door. "Please, I'm sorry! I just wanna talk!" he pleaded. "Leave me alone Caleb, I don't want to talk to you right now!" "Why not?" I heard him ask. "Because you're confusing! You break up with me, then suddenly you're everywhere, trying to talk to me. I just want to move on from you, move on from all of this!" I snapped. Caleb remained silent before I heard his footsteps receding. My phone rang, startling me. I looked at the Caller ID and saw that it was China. "Hello?" I answered, pacing around anxiously. "Lumi, you okay? I saw your ex leave. He didn't do anything, did he?" China asked. "No, he just wanted to talk to me, but I just couldn't face him," I sighed, realizing instead of working on what we would write, I had just been too busy fixing my problems. "I'm sorry, China. I just realized we haven't started at all and I'm probably just wasting your time, I'm coming out of the bathroom, let's just work on our fictional stories," I quickly apologized. "No, it's okay, Lumi. You know, you shouldn't pressure yourself into doing this while you're going through something. You told me through the phone earlier that you needed a friend, so I'll be here for you and help you get through it as a friend would do," China reassured me with a comforting voice. She was good at this kind of thing. "Really? You won't mind if I just.. vent out my frustrations instead of us working on our stories?" China was silent for a moment. "Yeah, of course," I winced in uncertainty. "You sure? It sounded like you hesitated for a moment there," I asked jokingly. "What? No, sorry I didn't mean for it to look that way," she was quick to apologize, babbling until I told her I was kidding. I hung up and finally left the bathroom, looking around cautiously before sitting on the table China and my now cold coffee was at. "So, who was that?" China asked, referring to Caleb. "I already told you, he's my ex," "Yeah, but, what's his name?" I squinted my eyes at her. "Why do you wanna know?" She leaned back. "No reason," China said with an innocent smile. "Okay. Well, his name's Caleb, we broke up only a couple days ago but now he wants to talk to me even though he was the one that broke up with me, not the other way around," I explained, waiting to see China's reaction to the situation. "You're not gonna use this against me, right?" I asked suspiciously. "What?" "You know, you could blackmail me with this and make me do whatever," I shrugged. "No, of course not. I'm not that type of person, I just wanna help you with your problem," she explained in hopes to calm me down. "I promise," she reassured me, raising her right hand. "Alright. Are you sure you don't wanna just work on our stories?" I asked once again. "Yes. Besides, we still have a couple of weeks to complete it," "Are you sure about this?" I asked reluctantly, not wanting to waste her time. "No doubt. We can just meet here at the same time we did today and talk about the project tomorrow unless you have plans?" China answered almost immediately. "Well, I have an afternoon shift at the diner not too far from here, but we can meet at 12 if you're free at that time," she gave me a look. "Let me guess, Bob's Burger Diner and Shake Shack?" she asked. "Yes, how'd you know?" "I don't know, but I've always wanted to try the food there," she sipped her coffee before her nose scrunched up. "Oh, nuts. My coffee's all cold now," "I'm sorry," I apologized, looking at my cup of coffee. "What are you sorry for? It's not your fault. So, you wanna tell me all about it?" China wiggled her eyebrows which made me laugh. This was nice, having someone to talk about my problems. I just hope I won't do anything to screw it all up. China seems like a good friend, the kind of friend everyone wished they had.