𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 - Ericdoa ⭑

15

~ 3RD PERSON POV ~

    Lei parks and the group gets out of the car. The restaurant was popular but luckily, it wasn't crowded. They all were easily able to find a seat and once they sat down they began looking at the menu while talking. Lei and Eric sat next to each other while Raquel sat in front of her, and Ash in front of Eric.

    A waiter dressed in a white button up with black leggings and black shoes, completed with a sage green apron, approached the table and asked everyone what they'd like to drink. Ash ordered lemonade, and Raquel quickly ordered the same, Lei ordered juice, and Eric ordered water. 

    Lei looked at her friends and noticed Ash looked a little annoyed. Raquel was full of energy and kept laughing at the jokes we made, making sure to laugh at his extra hard. When she laughed she would lean to her left and often accidentally bumped Ash's shoulder, which made him furrow his eyebrows and bite back a sigh. He cleared his throat and shifted his chair away from her a little, looking at Lei and catching her glance.

    He was slightly annoyed to be seated next to Raquel, she was nice but, he didn't know her and didn't like being touched by her, obviously. Ash felt bad and didn't want to be mean but for some reason he'd feel much better if he had sat next to Lei instead, and he was aware of that. He wasn't going to ruin the day for his friends though, and he wasn't going to ruin it for himself either, so he ignored her and jumped back into the conversation while everyone waited for the waiter to come take their orders.

    Throughout their meal Lei kept noticing Ash looking at her, and Ash noticed her doing the same. Lei didn't know why his attention had shifted to her so suddenly. Is there something on my face...?  but Ash felt differently. He thought that maybe she wanted to sit next to him too...

    As Raquel ate her pink frosted donut and wished she got real food instead of something sweet, she noticed their looks too.. and so did Eric. What's going on?  They thought in unison. Eric thought what happened last night had made some things clear about the admiration and comfort he had felt in her, but maybe he was second place. Raquel thought she ruined her only chance, because who was she to get in the way of whatever her 'best friend' and Ash had going on? Ash thought that maybe Lei was after him, he knew it was supposed to be him, not Eric. Lei.. well she thought things were going good. She didn't know why Ash was looking at her but she thought the meal had made them all good friends. Until Eric was quiet, and another glance at Ash made her realized he was looking, very concernedly, at Raquel. 

    She turned her head to look at her and she was crying? Raquel was crying in the middle of the restaurant. Nobody else had noticed, her tiny sniffles couldn't be heard by anyone except her friends. The four immediately got up and ushered her out, Eric leaving enough money to cover the bill and a tip on the table in a hurry. The group all packed into the car, Eric in the driver's seat and Lei in the back hugging the crying girl closely. "Raquel, what happened?" She whispered. Ash faced the front window and looked at his lap, close to unbothered. Eric watched in a mix of annoyance from earlier and empathy for his new friend. Lei noticed his attitude towards her but had no idea what she'd done.

    "Can we just go home?" She said. The four of them all agreed that was probably the best idea right now. So Ash and Raquel went back to their places, and Eric went back to Lei's to gather his things. He seemed in a rush to leave but they were supposed to spend the rest of the day together before he left. "What's wrong?" Lei asked as he was putting his shoes on. "What do you mean?" He said without looking at her. Realistically, he knew that this was kind of dumb, and that he was becoming attached way too fast, but he couldn't help the jealousy he felt, and he had no one to take it out on other than Lei.

    "Eric, why are you leaving?" She said as she walked up to him. "Don't think I didn't notice, what did I do?" She said. He looked down to avoid eye contact but he wasn't sad. "You like him." "Who?" She replied, not knowing. She didn't have feelings towards anyone except the boy now accusing her of liking someone else. "Ash." He said, finally looking up, his unwavering eye contact intimidated Lei, even though she was sure he would never do anything to hurt her, or anyone else, she just felt like she was on death penalty and he was her executioner..or the electric chair. She took her bag off his shoulder and placed his on the floor before holding he perviously occupied hand. "I promise, I don't have feelings for Ash."

    He removed his hand and maintained eye contact. "I saw how you were looking at him.." He almost whispered. Lei took a step back and firmly spoke. "I wasn't looking at him any kind of way, I didn't know why he was staring at me." She debated her words. "I only like one boy and I swear, it's not Ash." She said confidently. He was flooded with a mix of emotions. Relief, embarrassment, confusion, then a flash of jealousy and curiosity. "Who?" He asked. She smiled and stepped closer to him again, before hugging him and picking up his bags. She walked back to the guest room and tossed the bags back onto the bed before muttering "You're so dumb, baby." Completely sure he hadn't heard her. She turned back around to be met with said curly haired boy, startling her, and causing her to jump. "Baby?"