"Kelsey? Kelsey?" I snapped out of it soon enough.
"Um, no I was fine." I nodded my head a little too fast.
"Oh," He seemed disappointed in a way and I got confused. Did he still like this girl? Why was he even here? Did I still like him? Why was I so nervous around him? Why did he seem so nervous? Was it my imagination just playing tricks on me? All these questions kept running through my head. I felt like I was going to pass out. The room was a big blur. I couldn't see Nica and Aly anymore. Where did they go?
"Kelsey, are you okay?" A strong arm grasped my upper arm.
The world came into focus. "Um, yeah. Sorry. I think I just need to eat. I'm starved."
I could hear Aly's loud voice, unmistakable against the library-like backdrop.
"Yeah, Kelsey, let's go get you some food."
We walked toward the Starbucks located conveniently in Barnes and Noble. I was still in a daze, but kept close to my friends. I had no idea where Andrew went. He was probably behind us. We girls were fast walkers! It was our turn in line. The cashier was a tall man probably in his late twenties. I ordered first.
"Hi, I'll have a Peppermint Mocha, please." It was my favorite holiday treat from Starbucks. It was absolutely awesome. No wonder Kevin Jonas liked Starbucks so much!
Aly and Danica ordered similar drinks and while they were ordering I tried to look around for Andrew. When I caught his eye he was at a table and was looking out the window and seemed to be on the phone. The rain was pouring down again in big long sheets. Some cars in the busy intersection were honking their horns. They were big blurs; the rain was coming down so hard. I let my gaze go back to Andrew. Yeah, he was on the phone. He was having a long conversation. I tried listening but the only words I got from it were: "Yes, I told her…ugh, you said it would work. Oh please…Okay, Okay, I'll try."
He slid his phone shut and then put it in his pocket. He put his arms down on the table crossed and then I took a step forward. Before I knew it, I was standing right above him. He looked up and smiled slightly. I didn't know what to do so I sat down across from him and sipped my coffee with both hands. It was so rich and warm as it went down my throat. I loved it. Too bad we had to wait a whole year to get it again.
"Hey. Who were you talking to?" I just had to ask. I get into peoples' business that way.
"Oh, just a friend." He scratched his head then look at me again with hopeful eyes. "Do you think you want to go to a movie or something?"
"Yeah sure, Aly, Nica, and I were going to go to see Titanic II. You can come with us if you want!"
I could see it in his eyes that he just wanted it to be the two of us, but I couldn't just ditch my best friends like that.
"Um, sure, that's, um, fine I guess."
"Great! Let me go get them." I felt really bad, but I really wanted to see this with my friends because it was Titanic, duh! We had so many jokes that had to do with it, it wasn't even funny. Okay, fine, it was pretty funny.
"Okay so Andrew is going to come with us to the movie."
"Okay, Kel, I know what Andrew is thinking." Oh great, I thought, more Aly boy advice, "he is totally trying to get together with you. It's so obvious…"
I kind of tuned her out after that and looked back to what had happened in the past 15 minutes. A lot had happened.
"Okay, Aly, I get it." We all laughed and walked over to Andrew. Aly kept pushing me toward him as we walked out of the store. Nica kept moving too to try to get me to walk next to him. I was thoroughly annoyed. I gave up trying to fight it so I ended up right next to him. Our arms kept brushing against each other. I every once in a while exchanged a smile with him and his mood seemed to brighten and so did mine.
It was wet outside. Not just a little damp, but wet. The streets were flooded from poor drainage systems and the rain still came down in thick sheets. There was even some thunder and lightning. We started running screaming across the street and even managed to get Andrew to laugh a little bit. My Uggs were filthy and wet. The water was seeping into my socks. When we got to the door of Macy's we were still laughing.