Between Us

Chapter 38

One thing was for sure, I didn't want to be like Saria. Whatever affect Caden was having on me was the same every girl felt for him. And being sheltered, whichever guy was paying me the most attention, I was sure to fall for them.

That wasn't the case with Jordan—I had only seen him and I'd fallen. But this was essentially the same. My gut couldn't be trusted but Leo was a good friend and I only saw him as such, and he was funny. There was nothing wrong with that as far as I could tell.

Meanwhile, Trixie was complaining about the trip being boring the entire time, sticking to either Sai or Caden.

Until we got to the cafe combined with a bar.

She sat next to Paris who sat next to Caden and Leilani. They were opposite Leo, Sai and I. The smells were incredible and I could see Sai's eyes literally flash as she scanned the alcohol bottles.

"Sai," I whispered to her. "You promised." She only rolled her eyes, but she didn't order anything with alcohol in it, making me sigh internally with relief.

Leo nudged me from my right, placing his milkshake in front of me. "Try it. It's killer."

"Killer?" I asked.

"Killer?" repeated Sai as if she was going to vomit. "Kill me for even having to hear that in a sentence. Don't say that ever again."

Leo cackled. "I'm being hip."

"Ew, you sound like a grandpa," I said, covering my ears. The little curve that was tugging at the corner of my lips couldn't be helped, though.

"I'll stop if you take a sip." I did, and nearly moaned out loud with desire. There was chunky pieces of oreos and caramel in there.

"Woah, this is amazing!"

"I know. Killer, am I right?"

"Oh, shush." I put my basic milkshake in front of him. "Now it's your turn."

"You two are like a married couple," said Paris, but she didn't say it in way that made it seem like a compliment. She tilted her head, like she didn't know what to make of what was happening.

Caden and Leilani happened to be whispering about something, Trixie looking through her phone and asking Caden for suggestions of new gigs they could book at.

No one was paying us any attention, least of all Caden. I don't know what about that bothered me. Did I want him to see that I wasn't taking heed of his advice? Well, he said I could do whatever I want. Why should he care if I did exactly that?

My lungs constricted, making it hard to breathe but I pushed it down and found Leo taking a generous sip.

"What flavour is it?" he asked, peering at it as if that could give him his answer.

"Bloody Mary, so its got vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup and strawberry syrup."

He nodded like he was impressed. "Not bad, not bad at all. But I think mine's the winner."

"You're biased."

"And you're jealous."

As we laughed, through the reflection of the window, Caden was staring straight ahead at something. I shifted toward him. He wasn't staring at something.

He was staring at me.

My stomach flipped.

"I think we all know who's jealous," said Caden with a casual sip of his drink. Leilani grabbed at his hand, but he didn't even pay attention to her.