"She said I liked Cornelia.." Caleb hissed the words, to the brunette who still looked angry. "I was going to, but she said I liked Cornelia!"
"Who cares!" Cornelia, and Will couldn't have been a few feet ahead, but the laughing seemed to be drowning them out, as Irma pushed out her biggest pout. "Did you really cry when you said goodbye to Hay Lin?"
Caleb stopped then, and Irma knew that the conversation's general 'privacy' was over. She also knew that she should've brought this up, before Will, whereas the brunette had officially used it more as a lure.. Caleb had taken the bait, and left the rod hanging. "Hay Lin, I did not cry."
Hay Lin was invisable to Irma, at that current moment, but at the invitation of her name being spoken, she broke between the shoulder-to-shoulder of Cornelia and Will (shoulder to neck technically, but who was she to deny Will an extra few inches.. Cornelia was tall..ish..); grinning wildly from the moment she'd finished calling her grandma to educate her of Caleb's homecoming. It was just as well that the girl was here, or Caleb would come home, at least to several thousand balloons ready to suffocate him, by entirely filling and surrounding the restaurant. Balloons were Hay Lin's specialty. "I didn't say you cried.. Well.. Maybe a little, but I, uh, said they were manly tears!"
"But I didn't cry."
"Didn't you?" Irma had to laugh, as Caleb frowned seriously at Hay Lin - clearly not yet quite aware of how drunk Hay Lin was on happiness right now. The bastard ought to be ecstatic to know how missed he was. He'd made Hay Lin sad. Actual sad. Irma grinned as she thought - she had known the reckless twit for years and if she was hit by a bus at this very moment, Hay Lin would probably remark how close it would have been to hitting Caleb.. "My bad - I forget who cried and who didn't.. Maybe that was me.. Heh heh.."
"Don't worry Hay Lin," Irma cocked an eyebrow with as much sarcasm as she'd put into her words, while Caleb looked at her blindly - he was definitly not ready to leave if he didn't already know what she was going to say. "We all know that Caleb is a big wuss, who giggles and twitters on about boys with you when no-one is looking, and he definitly cried, but just pinky-swore you with a cherry on top not to tell anyone."
"Nuh-uh. Caleb doesn't 'do' pinky swears. He's a dip-a-thetic."
"It's dyspathetic."
"Oh.. And that issssss...?" Irma snorted, as Caleb pretended not to hear the little girl's unfinished sentence; mostly because Hay Lin was still trying to roll the 's' to make him answer her. It was quite a disappointment when Taranee finally sighed and turned around; leaving only Cornelia and Will in their own world - apparently they'd become close enough to have more important things to talk about than long, boring words.. Irma 'couldn't' see why...
"He was being sarcastic Hay Lin - it's like allergic."
"Oh. You're allergic?" Irma felt an urge to slap someone - primely herself, in the forhead, because Hay Lin had believed that. "Like dancing then?"