Chapter 7

'So, what are you going to take?'

Nellie looked up from her menu, and thought a bit before answering.

'I think I'm just going to take some pasta.'

She knew that there had been much nicer things to choose from, but when the waiter had given her the menu, she had gasped upon seeing the prices. She didn't know how Michael could afford such a fancy restaurant. But albeit the cost of the restaurant, the night so far was going great. When he had met her at her desk, he had first and foremost complimented her on her appearance, making her blush, before offering her his arm and leading her towards his car. He had been the perfect gentleman, and she had felt very flattered. She didn't recognise the restaurant when they walked towards it after Michael had parked his car, but she wasn't surprised when they entered the restaurant and saw the fancy decor: she could never have afforded to eat in such a place. The maitre d' had led them towards a round table for two next to a window, before giving them their menus.

To be honest, she wasn't used to such formal outings and felt very uncomfortable.

'You don't have to choose the cheapest thing on the menu.' Michael chuckled 'It's ok, take whatever you want, I don't mind.'

'No, don't worry. I like pasta.' She smiled. She wasn't lying, she loved pasta. It always reminded her of the day when Shanna, who at the time had decided she wanted to become a chef, decided she would make a fancy dinner for her and Blake, without the assistance of her parents. But it failed miserably, and when Shanna's mum saw the mess in the kitchen, she made them clean it up, and cooked them pasta. Mrs Hayes always did the best pasta, and from then on, when her and Blake went to Shanna's house, they would always eat pasta.

'Hey you ok?' Nellie quickly snapped out of her reverie.

'Yeah. I was just thinking of something.' Why was she thinking of that? She had noticed that recently she had been remembering more and more things from the time of 'The Three Musketeers'. Probably because Blake and Shanna were back in her life. She quickly dismissed the thought, and talked with Michael.

They were in the middle of talking about the how unreliable the coffee machine in the staff room was when the waiter came and took their orders. Nellie left Michael to it and looked out of the window to distract herself. From the window she could see the road they had taken to come here, and on that road, she saw a car that looked familiar disturbing traffic, not driving as the lights turned green. She was sure she had seen that car before.

'Hey, isn't that Edwards' car?' Michael had finished talking to the waiter and was now looking in the general direction of Nellie's gaze. 'Something must be bugging him. He's been looking down lately, I wonder what it is.'

'His girlfriend dumped him.' The words had flown out her mouth before she could stop them. She couldn't believe she had just said that. She wasn't supposed to tell anyone. She remembered how explicitly he had told her not to tell anyone from work, because he knew how quickly the word would spread around. She had wondered why he was so bothered about the people in the office finding out he was single, but had decided not to bug him about it.

Michael chuckled at Nellie's shocked expression before replying 'Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. But I'm sure he'll find a new girl in no time. All the single girls at work have been pining for him since he entered the building. Has he always been such a hearthrob?'

Now she knew why Blake had forbidden her to tell anyone. She smiled at the thought of professional office women throwing themselves at him before answering Michael's question.

'Well, when I first met him, he was this really small, shy, weedy guy with glasses. That's why I went up to him, and why we became friends at first. He was the sweetest. He had such a kind heart, he didn't see the bad in anyone. We became best friends. But then, in when we were 13, He suddenly had this growth spurt. In only a couple of months, he had gone from the smallest guy in the class to a beanstalk. And then, he got contacts, because his family likes to cycle a lot, as they were more practical, and then he slowly started to wear them all the time. So by the end of that year, He pretty much looked like any other dorky 13 year old, with a wacky hairstyle. That was already a bit of a strange transition for me and Shanna, because now, some girls had started noticing him, so they would always come up to us and ask if they could hang out, just so that they got to see Blake. But then it got worse: during that summer, Blake's grandparents invited him to come to visit them in Texas. It was our first summer apart since we met, and it felt really strange. But it got even stranger when he came back, I didn't even recognise him. Because his grandfather had been an army man, he deemed that Blake was not fit enough to be his grandson. So he put Blake on this fitness regimen the whole of summer. And to top it off, his grandma gave his hair a trim.' She sighed before continuing. 'So he came back, looking like a guy fit for an Armani shoot. When school started again, all the girls flocked towards him, but he ignored them, and claimed that Shanna and I were the only girls for him. Even though outside he was a new, updated version of Blake, on the inside, he was still the sweet-natured guy I met when we were 11. But then... then there was High School. You know the rest.'

She hadn't expected to tell him that much. She hadn't told this to anyone other than Shanna before. Memories of the three of them were flashing through her mind. They were trampolining, trying to see who could do the most tricks...Blake falling into a poisoned ivy bush when they went camping, and Shanna and her just standing there, looking at him and laughing...The multiples pranks her and Blake played on Shanna, because she got so easily scared...That day when they went to the lake near her house and came back home with their clothes completly drenched...Their secret hideout in Blake's treehouse where they spent hours readind, or just simply talking.

And then, she felt Michael's hand squeezing hers as the tears started streaming down her face, trying to comfort her.

A.N.: Ok, so I just wanted to show the transition from nice Blake to jerk Blake. Hope you like it :) Also Thank you so much for reading this! i have over a 1,000 views :D it maybe not much to you, but to me thats like , a whole village! And thank you so much for the reviews :D tell me what you think :) oh and I'm sorry if I got the ages/american school system stuff wrong. :D