Third Love's The Charm [PUBLISHED]

Chapter Fourteen: Last Time

When the two of us entered the cafeteria together during lunch, Sasha and Mia were staring at me in disbelief while Pat straight out refused to lift his head up from his food. As I stared longer, the whole table was trying to send subtle glances towards our way, trying to satiate their curiosity without being nosey.

They knew we were gone the whole day. They knew we didn't go to our classes. They knew that we blatantly ignored all of their calls and messages.

What they didn't know was that I was mesmerized by the man standing next to me. I didn't comment at how beautiful he looked when he was in the brink of tears, which was rather weird now that I think of it, but I did stay silent and allowed himself to handle his emotions in a way he thought appropriate.

"Want to go buy food first before we face them?" I heard him ask when he saw the dread in my face.

I immediately nodded and turned to go to the cafeteria line.

It was rather funny that if you first look at us, it was nothing more but an unlikely pair. However, if you know what transpired for the past few hours, then you would say that we were a couple of sad and distressed blobs.

"What am I going to do now, Leon?" I frowned, "I like him but I know it's no longer possible for us to be together."

Because it was clear as day that he fell in love with my best friend at first sight.

Oh universe, are you trying to prove that in any timeline I go to, we truly weren't destined to be with each other?

And I knew that Leon was at a crossroad right now. He wanted to assure me and everything, but he was still Pat's best friend. In the hierarchy of things, he was ranked higher and Leon's priority was to make him happy.

While I did understand, it didn't make it any less painful.

"Just wait for Pat to make the move," he advised, already handing the cafeteria lady the money for both of our meals. I opened my mouth to protest but he held up a hand to stop me before I could do so, "I got it."

I sighed and with my tray of food in my hands, I turned around but momentarily paused at what I saw. Now it just wasn't Sasha and Mia looking at us, it was the whole table. For once, all the rowdy people squished into one group were silent. They threw subtlety right out of the window.

Leon noticed why I was so shellshocked and I knew he was dreading it as well, but he continued to walk towards them. He took an empty seat, didn't even care to acknowledge anybody, then started munching on his food.

While I was still standing there like an idiot.

I saw Mia whisper something into Sasha's ear and she immediately started to pull up an extra chair next to her, patting it while her gaze was fixated on me.

So with my legs feeling like they were about to give out at every step, I managed to walk to them and slowly lower myself on the seat. Mia cleared her throat loudly and I think that was what everybody needed to break the tension and pretend to go back to what they were doing.

"You want to talk about?" I heard her ask in a hushed tone.

I shook my head, my eyes fixated on my tray, "Not now."

She squeezed my knee as a gesture of understanding and allowed me to eat in peace. Do you want to know a sad thing? During that whole spectacle, Pat never lifted his head. Actually, I was hoping he would even in the midst of the silence coming from the rest of the table, but he didn't.

I pinched myself to stop the tears from coming down and slowly but surely forked the food into my mouth.

When the bell rang and we all had to go to our next class, which I shared with Leon and Pat if I may remind you, I was still completely miserable. Sasha and Mia squished me between them on the way there, acting as some sort of shield and gave me the comfort I needed. Sadly, we had to separate after we reached the classroom because our seats were far apart.