The Prep and Moi

Chapter 9 - Whispered Actions and Being Serious

Harshly swallowing down the bite of the crumbly croissant I had eaten before Destiny said her sly statement, it was followed up by a continuous line of coughs after nearly choking on it.

I felt like I was dying. But did Destiny care? Not at all. She simply stared at me, making a grimaced face and hoped for the best.

Temporarily gaining unnecessary attention from most of the other customers in the bakery, my cheeks that were already the colour of a pomegranate, were getting more heated and sweatier.

I really did not like being under a spotlight.

Raising my hand up so it could be seen, I motioned that I was okay with a thumbs up - mainly to my three friends - and sipped my water. Sipping, always better than gulping, my parents say. It allowed any remnants of the food to flow down my throat easily.

Once the lively chatter of the bakery returned, I knew their attention was no longer on me. I mean, I hadn't passed out which must be a positive.

"Are you okay?" Shawn inquired, finally getting a chance to ask. Even if he'd asked me earlier, I wouldn't have heard him over the sharp sounds of my cough banging through my head. At least he asked, unlike his girlfriend. Nor had I expected anything from Ash. "Would you like me to get you some coffee, tea or anything?"

"No, that's okay. Thank you." I refused, offering a sincere smile, even if my constant clearing throat was begging for it.

"Actually," Destiny rapidly interrupted, "Coffee sounds great right now. Does the offer still stand?" She asked Shawn, running her hand over my upper back, finally doing her part for which she signed up for when we first became friends in Year One. "You know, all this coughing has gotten to her head, so, coffee but tea for her, is a must right now." She took the chance to flick the back of my head to which I slapped her leg in response.

"Of course, and for you... anything." Shawn flirtatiously winked at Destiny, making her blush immensely. I grinned like a madman at their interaction and poor Ash's eyes widened like he was caught up in a risky situation.

As Shawn stood up, he also pulled Ash up by the back of his shirt to force him to go along. The adorable pout that followed on Ash's face in protest was something I never expected to see, but eventually, he begrudgingly followed him anyway.

Taking a deep breath in once the boys went to join the queue, I turned to Destiny, face formed into a scowl and let it all out.

"This was all your fault!" I hissed, pushing her on her shoulder.

"What did I do?" She put her hand over the same shoulder, pretending to be hurt.

"You said something choke-worthy! I could've died." I elongated my last words as I put the back of my hand against my warm forehead and dropped my head backwards.

Destiny tutted, rolling her eyes at my overdramatic behaviour. "I only said what I saw."

I composed myself and didn't give her the benefit of a response.

"Come on, Mack," Destiny uttered helplessly. "Just tell me what's going on. Why were you two holding hands?" She cunningly tried to probe for more.

To distract myself from recalling the invigorating feeling of Ash's hand in mine, I reached for a miniscule strawberry jam jar from the centre of the table, waiting to spread it in my half-eaten croissant, but in actuality, it was to mask the twitching of my hand.

As I held the butter knife for the jam coating, I concluded, "There's no reason to it. None."

And that was the truth. There was absolutely nothing between us. I mean, apart from being overdue on having a talk about my comments in the morning, how could there be an underlying meaning to the hand-holding? We barely knew each other.