Ch. 10: Unnecessary Drama

We had just put in our order when the bell above the door chimes. I look up and my mood instantly sours. I swear, the 'L' in luck has been replaced with an 'F', just for my benefit. The second Cara and her friends walked in; all I can think about is how I desperately wish the waitress hadn't taken my menu. There is nowhere to hide. I look across the table at Char and can tell I'm not the only one who wants to disappear into the shadows. Nothing good ever comes from an interaction with Cara. The girl gets her kicks out of making me miserable.

I see Cara notice me, and her lips curl up into a mean smirk. Her face quickly drops when she notices Asher sitting across from me. Whispering something quickly to her friends, she quickly checks her appearance before walking over to our table.

"Well, well. What do we have here? I would ask if this was a double date, but since my boyfriend is here, I can only assume he's doing his hours of community service that his coach requires every season." Her words are accompanied with the usual bite, but after everything that happened with Char and Lucas, I don't have the energy to trade insults with Cara White today.

"Cara, we've been over this. I'm not your boyfriend." Asher says. Judging by the annoyed and tired tone to his voice, they have had this talk one too many times before.

"Besides, it's not a date. We are just getting some food together. Why you felt the need to interrupt is beyond me." Noah chimes in, his best attempt at getting her to leave.

"That's exactly why she walked over. Cara has a knack for injecting herself into a place where she is obviously unwelcome!" Char says with an edge to her voice.

"Oh, look who grew a backbone! You here with Noah now? What happened between you and Lucas? Did he finally realize you were too much for him, or are you somehow juggling them both? Guess the innocent act was exactly that. An act." Cara sneers, as her friends laugh at Char's expense. I rub my head, feeling a headache coming along, and Cara's high-pitched voice isn't helping anything. I've been holding my tongue, not wanting to give her the satisfaction of getting a rise out of me, but nobody gets to come for my best friend like that and leave unscathed.

"That's ironic, since you have more grass stains on the back of your cheerleading uniform than any other girl on the team, Cara. What's the saying again? Bitches that live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones?" I ask her, sarcastically. By now, other people nearby have tuned into our public argument and are laughing at my comment. Cara's face turns tomato red, as she turns to Asher.

"Asher!! Baby, are you going to let her talk to me like that?" she yells. Asher looks between us both.

"Yes." One simple word that has the power to destroy a girl like Cara who thinks the world stops and moves with her. "And I'm not your baby, Cara. Again, we hooked up once and afterwords, we both agreed we were better off as friends. I'm not sure what has changed on your end, but my feelings haven't." Asher finishes, as the waitress comes back with our food. She stops a few feet before reaching the table.

"Look Cara, I think it's best for everyone, including yourself, if you just leave. Besides, our food is here, and I'm starving." Noah says, before sipping his water.

"So, if you don't mind." I say with a sickly-sweet grin on my face, pointing towards the door.

Cara screams out in frustration before stomping out of the pizza joint like a child whose mother just told them no.

"Um, can I get you guys anything else?" our waitress, Kenzie asks, setting down our food at the table. We tell her no and thank her quickly.

"Thanks for sticking up for me, Kay." Char says, smiling next to me. I nudge her shoulder jokingly.

"Hey, no need to thank me. I got your back. Always." I reply, smiling at my best friend. We dig into our food, and the table finds a comfortable silence. Char fills me in on the rest of the conversation between her and Lucas, while Noah and Asher talk about sports or something. I wasn't really paying attention. Char has been with Lucas for the last four months, and it has been an emotional rollercoaster. One moment, everything would be fine, and they are so in love, and the next, he's accusing her of cheating or lying to him. We haven't had a girl's night out in forever because he calls her every ten minutes asking who she's with and guilt-tripping her for not spending time with him instead. I think it's safe to say after dropping that extra 180 pounds of dead weight, Char has never looked better. Out of the corner of my eye, I catch Noah glancing over at my best friend every now and then. I smirk to myself and make a mental note to tell Nina about this development later when we're all together. I also notice Asher's glances towards me from across the table, our feet brushing against one another every few moments. I am busy pretending not to notice his stares or the accidental touching when the bell above the door chimes again.

I look towards the door and see Liam walking in with a few of his friends. As he goes to sit down at a booth nearby, I instantly catch his eye. Liam smiles when he notices me, and waves. His smile falls, though, when he sees Asher sitting across from me. I wonder what that is all about.

"Hey Makayla! What's got you smiling over there?" Noah asks, interrupting his conversation with Asher. Char looks over and sees Liam, and bites back a grin. Unfortunately, she can't bite back on her tongue.

"Isn't that Liam? We should invite him over!" Char chimes in, catching Liam's attention and waving him over. I blush furiously, not having been prepared to talk to the cute football player from the other night. Asher immediately tenses up when he walked over. Before I can ask what his problem is, Liam has already made his way to our booth.

"Hey guys!" Liam smiles over at Char and me. Noah and Liam exchange some form of a 'bro' handshake, while Asher mumbles a quick 'hey', focusing his attention on the floor instead. Liam glances over at me and grins. "Hey Makayla! Two times in one day? What, are you following me?" Liam jokes. I scoff and laugh, getting ready to shoot back a response when Asher beats me to the punch.

"We were here first. If anything, you're probably following her." Asher shoots back, glaring at his teammate. Frowning at Asher, I look over at Liam, who also looks taken back.

"Okay, it was just a joke." Liam replies, annoyed at Asher's attitude change. Join the club.

"Don't worry Liam. I didn't think you were stalking me." I attempt a joke to try and diffuse the tension that has begun to cloud over our table. In doing so, I have made Liam more at ease, but Asher more tense. His hand grips the side of the table, glaring down at nothing. Noah nudges his shoulder, and that snaps him out of whatever had him in a pissy mood. Asher takes a swig of his drink, and mumbles a comment to Noah, that was too quiet to hear.

"Well, anyways, I don't want to interrupt," Liam starts to say.

"Too late." I hear Asher mumble under his breath. I shoot a quick glare at him, not sure what crawled up his butt. He notices my stare and just shrugs it off. Luckily, Liam didn't seem to hear or is choosing to ignore it, so he continues.

"Makayla, I was wondering if you would want to go out with me Friday night after the game. We could see a movie or get some food?" he suggests. I hesitate to answer, feeling Asher's eyes burning a hole in the side of my head. Ignoring his stare, I keep my eyes on Liam, who is waiting for my reply.

"Sure, sounds fun!" I finally answer. It's one date, and Liam seems like a nice guy. What could it hurt?

"Okay great! It's a date. I should get back to my friends, but I'll text you," he says. I smile, as he walks off and heads back to his friends. I turn back to the table, and I'm about to speak, when the waitress appears and asks if we want the check.

"Yes please!" Char says. A weird, awkward tension seems to have settled in over the four of us. Even with Char's best efforts to switch topics, while we wait for the check, the uneasiness doesn't leave the booth. Noah and Char are in their own conversation, and Asher pretends I'm not even there.