We had left the park an hour ago and were sitting in a 24-hour diner. Everyone was delightfully surprised when we were told that the chaperones would be taking us all to get late night breakfast. Poor employees, they got a bus load of kids at one in the morning.
"I know how difficult it was because you guys kept slipping up," my boyfriend deadpanned.
"Why'd you even tell them in the first place?" I asked.
"I was excited and wanted to talk to someone about it. I couldn't exactly talk to you about it, so they were the next best option."
Javier slid the plate of pancakes between the both of us. I wasn't that hungry because of the amount of sweets Ricky andI consumed throughout the day, so Javier insisted we share a plate of food instead of me not eating real food all together.
"You did that ass backwards." Paxton was chewing on a strip of bacon. "You kissed, said I love you, you live together, andthenyou decided to make it official."
Well, we did a bit more than kiss. When Javi’s eyes met mine suggestively, I knew he was thinking the same.
"Talk about out of order," Bella snorted.
“Ugh, you’re going to be all sappy now, aren’t you?” Ricky groaned.
“You say that as if I didn’t put up with your sappiness when you first got together with Kailey.” I rolled my eyes. Ricky opened his mouth to argue but quickly shut it because he knew I was right.
Our table fell into chatter about nonsense like we normally did. Paxton had his obnoxious takes and Javier egged him on causing us all to fall into laughter as we ate our food. I was still over the moon with excitement and joy. I completely forgot about all of the shit I had been dealing with and was able to relax in the moment with everyone.
Thirsty, I reached for my water on the table. My hand felt a little funny, but I brushed it off as the excited feeling that was still coursing through my body. I chuckled at something Ricky had said as I brought the cup to my lips. Right as I began to tilt my hand back it shook hard enough for the cup to slip right out of my hand.
It fell onto the table and made a clash, taking everyone away from their laughter. All of the water spilled out of it and into both mine and Bella's laps.
My fault for letting my guard down. I was told the withdrawal symptoms could linger and did not keep it in mind.
I cursed under my breath as my cheeks flushed and eyes fell on me. I grabbed a bunch of napkins and pressed them on Bella'slap as I muttered to her a panicked ‘sorry.’ I didn't want to look anywhere else but the napkins because I didn't want to see the pity on my friends' faces.
Bella's hand took hold of my wrist and held it still. "It's okay, it's just a little water."
I met her eyes and I knew she could feel my hand twitching as she held my wrist. "I'm sorry. I can see if I can get a towel from the waitress."
"Don't worry about it, Eli. Water isn't going to kill me," she said with a gentle, forced laugh.
I pulled my wrist away slowly and leaned back into my chair, my gaze focused on my lap. Awkward silence fell over the table and I shrunk under it. No one wanted to say the wrong thing, so they opted for nothing at all.
But what caught my attention was the sound of another cup hitting the table. Ricky's glass was on its side and spilling into his lap. The thing was, he didn't have water in his cup, he had soda. Ricky feigned shock as the bubbly liquid continued to spill onto him.
"Damn, I’m so clumsy." His shoulders slumped. "Now I'm going to be sticky."
Everyone chuckled at my best friend's terrible acting. The waitress noticed the mess on the table and did not look pleased, but Ricky insisted that he would clean it up himself because it was his own clumsy mistake.
"You didn't have to do that," I told him seriously.
"Do what? Those cups are possessed, I swear," he said as convincingly as he could.
We moved on from the cup incident quickly and I felt more than grateful toward Ricky for taking the heat off of me. It turned that rather embarrassing moment into a funny one, and I would have to thank him later. As the others mingled with each other, Javier spoke quietly beside me.
"Are you alright?" He didn't seem overly worried, he was simply checking in. His hand was resting on my knee comfortingly.
I put my hand on top of his. With a content smile, I said, "More than alright."
I truly meant that. Everyone around me did an amazing job at making me feel loved. They showed me that they cared and that I could rely on every single one of them. On top of that, there was one thing in particular that had made this night the best night of my life.
Javier Cortez was my boyfriend.
Thirty-nine
