Evangeline

5

Jared looked over at the sound of his name being called, and once he spotted us, his brows furrowed. My heart began to race. This was lowkey scary. Why would she call him over? As far as I know, Molly and Jared have never interacted in their whole entire lives. What the heck is she doing? I watched as Jared nodded at us, well, Molly, and then went back to his table, and leaned down to say something to Seeley. The nerves in my stomach were shot to jelly, and when Seeley slowly looked up and made direct eye contact with me, I thought I was going to shit myself. Quickly looking away, I fixed my gaze on a nearby table, which had an old couple seated at it.

I hate it when people make eye contact with me, it's the most nerve-wracking thing ever. I can barely make eye contact with Molly and Thomas, and I've known them for literal years. I don't know what it is, probably something to do with my anxiety. Anyway, it's nothing. I heard close footsteps as the pair approached our table.

Pulling out a chair on Molly's left, Jared sat down roughly and sighed, smirking at the both of us. I stayed silent as Molly greeted him, and watched nervously as Seeley silently pulled out the chair on my left, taking a seat. I glanced quickly up at him, where I found that he was already looking at me, and we made eye contact again. Jolting my eyes away and fixing them on the table in front of me, I panicked. Fuck! I started to nervous sweat. 

"Hey, Molls." Jared said to Molly, as he waved over a random waitress. Molly smiled to herself. What's going on? "Can you bring the food for table 9 over here? We're eating with them." The waitress blushed and nodded, scurrying off back to the kitchen. Turning back to Molly, Jared leaned an elbow on the table, and his chin on that, and gave her a shit-eating grin. I was slightly suspicious. I didn't even know they knew each other! I could feel Seeley's gaze burning a hole into the side of my face, and it was making me so, so nervous. My face was only a slightly burnt pink shade by now. 

"Here's your burger and pasta." The waiter from before appeared out of nowhere, a plate in each hand. He was standing between Seeley and Molly's seats, and his smile faltered slightly when he caught sight of Jared and Seeley, but it returned a second later. Placing Molly's burger down in front of her, he walked behind Seeley and gave me my plate, winking at me as he set it down. I could feel the heat in my face returning at full force immediately. Some water gathered in my eyes, and I quickly blinked it away as the waiter left.

That was so embarrassing. I know I looked like a tomato. Glancing up at everyone else, I found that all three of the guys were looking at me. Molly had a wide grin on her face, and she shot me a thumbs up. Jared just looked bored, before he turned his attention back to folding his napkin into weird shapes. Seeley looked away from me when I glanced at him, and just stared down at the table with slightly furrowed brows. The water from my eyes was completely gone, I think - at least I hope. I hoped nobody saw.

Soon after, the waitress from before came and gave the boys their meals, and we all ate. There was a lot of conversation between Molly and Jared, and I learned that they had grown up together but lost touch when Jared moved. It was like radio silence from Seeley. My pasta was really good, if you cared. I had relaxed well enough, and to be honest, I was becoming pretty comfortable being around Jared and Seeley. Molly mentioned desert and I tensed up again. I don't want to have to encounter that waiter again. He made me so uncomfortable. Seeley definitely noticed that, which was embarrassing. We all decided what we were having, and Molly got the waitress to come over and take our order. We ordered, and I breathed a sigh of relief. That guy really put me on edge.

I got slightly nervous again when our food came, but it was the waitress who served us that brought them out. I had the best chocolate fudge cake with ice cream. I literally inhaled it. We all finished, and stacked our empty plates at the edge of the table. Jared went up to the bar to ask for the separate cheques, leaving the three of us at the table alone. I avoided eye contact with both of them, and played with the edge of the white tablecloth nervously. Minutes went by, and Jared came back to the table.

"They're sending them over with the card machine." He stated, sliding back into his seat. That was fine, this was fine. Molly was going to get this, and next time would be on me. That's how we had always worked. I'm not sure when it started. Molly asked Seeley a few questions about himself, and I listened in eagerly as he answered in a monotone voice.

"So, tell me, what's it like working for your stepdad? Is it decent?" Molly asked, and my breath hitched in my throat. She can't ask him that! That's way too personal! The tips of my ears began to feel hot as I anticipated his reaction. Seeley just shook his head, and Molly smiled.

"Here you are." The waiter from before appeared behind Jared with a grin, and I felt my stomach drop. He placed the card reader on the table, along with two bits of paper that had the costs on them. Jared picked it up and passed it to Seeley, who entered the amount on the reader, and then tapped his card over it. He then passed to me, and the brushing of our fingers made my tongue feel dry. I gave it to Molly, who tapped her card over it, and then handed it back to the waiter. He waited for the two receipts to print from the machine, and then handed them both to Jared. We all said thank you, and then grabbed our things to leave. My stomach was in jitters.

As we stepped outside, and I was searching Molly's shoulder bag for my keys that I had chucked in there, I heard Jared pass Molly our receipt.

"Ah! Check you, Evan - that cute waiter gave you his number." My face dropped. My hands were shaking as she passed me the receipt, and I read the 'for the blonde' under the scrawled number that was written across the top of the paper. My stomach knotted tightly, and I began to feel sick. Glancing up, I saw that Jared was preoccupied by something on his phone, but Seeley was looking at me, reading me - my expression. His brows were furrowed, and I watched as he muttered something to Jared and then went back inside the restaurant, banging the door on the way in.

"Where's he going?" Molly asked curiously, as I chucked the receipt in the nearby bin. Jared shrugged and put his phone away, looking up at her.

"I think he forgot something."