Always a Friend

Chapter 5

The rest of the day was quiet. I got looks from guys, but nothing I'd call promising. I kinda liked being stared at a few times by guys that wouldn't have bothered giving me a second glance before. Now, I just had to figure out how to get one of them to ask me out on a date so that I could find a date for the upcoming dance.

"Gemma, want to go with us to get coffee?" Sarah asked, walking up to my locker. Her long, raven-black, springy curls bounced with each step she took.

"Who's all going?" I asked, pulling my books out of my locker that I needed tonight for homework.

"Me, Chloe, Ava, and I think Caleb might be going too." She rolled her eyes.

"Did she roll her eyes?" Ava asked.

"No." I closed my locker door. I wasn't about to throw my friend under the bus like that because I felt the same way she did about Caleb coming with us. He always had to have Ava's undivided attention but never gave her his attention when his friends were around. It was always a double standard with him.

"I'm surprised because she made it quite clear that she didn't want him to go." Ava raised an eyebrow.

"I just don't like how he treats you, Ava," Sarah said, pressing her lips together. "He's a douche."

"Who's a douche?" Ashton asked, walking up.

"You." I smiled.

"Ha ha." He laughed sarcastically. "No, really. Who's the douche?"

"If you must know...Caleb. Feel better now?"

"Ouch. But, yeah. So long as it wasn't me. Later, Gem." He took off walking down the hall toward the entrance.

I rolled my eyes in annoyance over him.

"Were you just talking to my boyfriend?" Claudia asked, walking up to me.

"Don't you mean ex-boyfriend?" I raised an eyebrow, glancing over at Sarah and Ava.

"We're getting back together." She flipped her hair behind her shoulder.

"Uh...Does Ashton know this?"

"He will. I don't want him being associated with the likes of you." She snubbed her nose, then pushed past me, her red hair swaying as she walked down the hall. Normally, any kind of interaction with Claudia had me anxious, but this time it pissed me off. Where did she get off telling Ashton who he could be friends with in the first place? And what the hell did she mean by the likes of me? I looked down at my outfit as if the answer was going to come flying up at me.

"What was that about?" Sarah asked, scrunching up her face as Claudia turned the corner. "God, she's a bitch. I don't know what Ashton saw in her."

"Well, according to her, they're getting back together." I started walking down the hall, motioning Sarah and Ava to follow me. I just wanted to get out of the school before someone else decided to walk up to me and start shit.

"You've got to be kidding?" Sarah and Ava both said.

"That's what Claudia told me. Whether it's true or not, who knows." I continued walking to the front of the school. I don't know why I was in a hurry to get to the parking lot because Claudia was there, by Ashton's car, with her hands all over him. He wasn't exactly fighting her off, but he wasn't giving in to her, either. It seemed like I wasn't the only one confused by what was going on with them. Kids strolled by slowly, gawking and whispering as if they were trying to figure out what was going on. Ashton and Claudia were notorious for their rollercoaster relationship. One minute, they were all over each other; the next, they were fighting. I wanted to pretend they weren't there, but it was kinda hard seeing I was parked close to Ashton's car. I sighed, rolling my eyes, and took off across the parking lot toward the spectacle that was drawing more attention by the second.

"What is it with you and my boyfriend?" Claudia snapped.

I took a deep breath and turned to the left. "I'm walking to my car. You don't own the parking lot."

"Wait a minute...Boyfriend?" Ashton grabbed her hands and moved to the side, away from her. "We're not back together."

"Not yet. You know you want me back." Claudia moved closer to him.

"Want you back? Who said I wanted you back?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Whatever." She waved her hand at him, then turned her focus to me. "Stay away from him. He would never be seen with someone like you." She turned and kissed Ashton. "You'll want me back." She walked away.

"Wow...Interesting situation you've got there." I turned and kept walking to my car, which was another row over. I didn't want to hear anything out of this mouth at the moment. I just wanted to get in my car and go get coffee with my friends and Caleb. Honestly, I wasn't crazy about him going, but Ava was one of my best friends, and he was her boyfriend.

                                                                                     *****

We all arrived at Sweet Escape within a few minutes of each other. I was the first one to get there, then Sarah, and of course, Ava and Caleb were the last ones. Sarah wanted to go in without them, but I insisted that we wait for them to arrive, even though we both knew they would be five minutes late. Ava got out of the car feeding us some bullshit story about how they got caught in traffic when we knew they had a makeout sesh somewhere before they got here. I didn't like being lied to; all she had to do was tell us the truth. We stopped off somewhere to make out for a few minutes. Instead, she'd come up with some bullshit lie. After she was done telling us her lie, Sarah and I started walking toward the front of Sweet Escape, leaving Ava and Caleb to linger behind us. As we walked in, I was telling Sarah about the waffle Mom brought home for me yesterday from here. She told me to stop because now she wanted one.

"Hey, Gemma."

"Hey, Jude. I didn't know you worked here." I walked up to the counter.

"Yeah, I started a couple of weeks ago. Do you know what you'd like to order?" He stepped in front of the register, smiling. I never noticed how light his grey eyes were until now with his dark brown hair. I knew I was staring, but I couldn't pull my eyes away from his.

"Gemma, you going to order? Gemma..."

"Ouch." I grabbed my arm from Sarah's pinch. "What?" I glared over at her.

She leaned closer to me. "You're staring. Are you going to order?"

"Oh...Sorry. I'll take a Cherry Mocha latte with Oatmilk, iced."

She nudged me out of the way, ordered her drink, then smiled and said I was paying. I got out my debit card and inserted it at the bottom of the machine. Jude said he'd bring the drinks out to us once they were done. As we started to walk away, embarrassment swept over me. Sarah was too busy giggling for me to talk to her. Ava and Caleb were still ordering their drinks while I wanted to dig a hole and hide in it. 

Author's Notes:

Looks like something might be happening between Gemma and Jude. What do you all think? Let me know! 

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