A Royal Pain In The Texts

11. YOUR CHLOE?

"H-hey, Zane, what are you doing here?" I plastered a bright smile on my face.

"Um... I'm here for the date...?" he replied uncertainly.

"What?!" I exclaimed in horror.

I turned around and narrowed my eyes at Caleb who was standing at the pizza counter. He gave me a nervous wave. Now, it made sense... why my friends wanted to go to the mall all of a sudden.

I glanced towards the table... Noah's table.

Oh my! He was standing up, talking to Mia and Sophia, and looking around. More like searching around. No, it was my imagination. Noah didn't know Caleb, Mia and Soph were my friends and he didn't know that I was here. I was most certainly getting paranoid!

But my friends were traitors, I'm telling you. I wouldn't be surprised if they already told him that I was here. Thank goodness that this was a big ass food court and there was no way for Noah to spot me just by looking around.

I hastily turned around to run but realized Zane was still standing in my way, his hands on my shoulders.

I took a deep breath, "Look Zane, I don't know what Caleb told you--"

"Oh yeah, he told me that you are really nervous," Zane cut me off.

I frowned, "How do you know I am nervous?" Of course, I was freaking nervous! Noah was here and he could see me anytime if I didn't bolt out!

Zane's expression became serious and he maintained eye contact with me, "It's okay, Chloe. I know you like me. I like you too. You don't have to be nervous around me. I'm very easy going-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" I interjected, "I don't like you, Zane. Caleb fed you a bunch of lies--"

I stopped midway when I saw Zane's hurt expression. Like really hurt...

Oh no! I couldn't break his heart like this... it would surely haunt me in my nightmares if he started crying or something.

"Um, look, Zane, you are a nice guy--"

"I thought you liked me too. I thought there was something special between us. I was so hyped for this date. I skipped my sister's piano recital for you, because I thought you would want to give this a shot too," he mumbled solemnly.

Now, I felt bad...

I turned to shoot Caleb a glare but, he had already disappeared from the pizza counter and was now sitting with Noah.

Damn it!

"Look buddy," I started, meeting Zane's eyes, "I'm in kind of a hurry. If you will excuse me--"

My mouth fell open when I saw his eyes watering. What the hell?! So, he was actually going to swim in a pool of tears if I rejected him?

"Omg! Fine!" I exclaimed, "Let's have this date. But stop crying, okay?"

Zane beamed at me, fist bumping the air, then, "Thanks for giving me a chance, Chloe. By the way, I was not crying. Something went in my eye."

What?!

"Come, let's look for a seat," he declared, pulling me with him.

"Wait! If we're going to have this date, we will go somewhere else!" I told him firmly.

There was no point backing out now. I would show Zane on this date that I was not the type of girl he would ever want to like in future.

"Uh, we can't go somewhere else. I already booked a private booth for us," he replied.