𝐥𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐳𝐞 | 𝐧. 𝐡𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐞𝐫

𝟗 | 𝐠𝐚𝐛𝐢

Waking up the morning after hanging out with Nico and almost kissing felt like a figment of my imagination. Last night was the second time we almost kissed but were interrupted. Rubbing my eyes and stretching my arms, I begin to recall the brief kiss I left on his cheek before practically running out of the car and to my building. Oh my God, I don't know what came over me when I did that.

That wasn't the only thing that I kept thinking about. His fingers brushed my face so many times yesterday, that it felt almost intentional, not that I was complaining. It felt like electricity was coursing through his fingers with every touch. I also can't forget about the teddy bear. My head turns to my desk chair, where said teddy bear is sitting nicely. A small smile makes its way to my face remembering the surprise that coursed through me when Nico came up to me while holding it. It was beyond sweet for Nico to get me the bear after probably seeing how disappointed I was to not be able to get it.

Getting up and brushing my teeth, the smell of coffee and pancakes fills my nose. Heading to the kitchen, I spot Celi dancing around the kitchen, music blaring, with a fresh cup of coffee in one hand and a plate of pancakes in the other. "Good morning, Gabs!" She turns away from me, as I take a seat at the counter, and she slides a mug of coffee towards me. "Good morning, Celi. You only blast music when there's a special occasion, so what is it?" She places another place with a few strips of bacon and eggs on the counter before sliding into the seat next to me.

Placing a few pancakes and strips of bacon on my plate, I feel Celi's eyes on me and when I turn to look at her, she's smiling ear to ear in what appears to be excitement. Confusion coats my face since I have no idea why she's acting so strange. "Umm. Celi, why are you looking at me like that?" The question doesn't seem to cause her smile to falter one bit. "My best friend went on a date and I know something happened so now I wanna hear about it." Taking a bite out of a strip of bacon, I'm confused as to why she thinks that one it was a date and two that something big happened. "Celi we just hung out as friends and nothing happened."

I must not be very convincing when I say nothing happened because Celi is quick to detect my denial. "You are a terrible liar, Gabi, now tell me everything that happened." Setting an elbow on the counter she places her chin in the palm of her hand, waiting for me to talk. I told Celi everything, from the moment he picked me up until the moment I kissed his cheek and practically ran out of the car, with a fairly big teddy bear in hand. "Sounds to me like you and Nico like each other, Gabs." Certainty laces her voice, but I'm not as convinced as she is that Nico likes me as anything more than a friend.

"Celi, he does not like me, trust me." She shakes her head not believing that there's a single truth to my words. "Listen Gabs, that's not what the teddy bear, and almost kissing not once, but twice, are saying." We both go silent as I take a minute to think. On one hand, Celi has a point, but on the other, the teddy bear might've been a friendly way of him trying to make me happy. The almost kisses were probably just him trying to clean something off my face, but that still doesn't explain why in the world I kissed his cheek. Oh my God, what if I miss reading the whole situation? I'd be so stupid if I did. Celine continues to insist that she thinks, no she knows that Nico likes me. I can't deny that I like him, but I feel like the feelings are one-sided. "Gabs, look what you wanna think, but I think he likes you and absolutely nothing, and no one could tell me otherwise. Now go get ready, we have a coffee date with Steph and Adley."

"Celi, we just had coffee so why would we be getting more coffee?" Confusion covers my face. Instead of answering, Celine starts pushing me to my room, "So? There's no such thing as too much coffee Gabs. Now go get ready and we'll head out." With one last push into my room and closing the door, I'm left alone to get ready.

~

The sun is bright and surprisingly scorching down on us as we walk up to the little coffee shop on the quieter side of the city. Soft piano music lightly plays through the shop and light chatter and laughter fills the air. Not too far from the counter, Stephanie and Adley are sitting at a cute round table with two empty seats in front of them. They seem to be in a very deep conversation by the time Celine and I get our coffee and come to the table. "Oh my god hey girls! It's been way too long." Stephanie is the first one to get up and hug us, Adley not far behind. "I know, but life's been chaotic for all of us. It's always nice to meet up, even if it's just for a while" We all nod in agreement before taking our seats.