The Boyfriend Project

Chapter 3

The day's final bell rang, and I was beyond happy that I had survived the first day. The minute my foot hit the parking lot pavement, Mom motioned me to her SUV.

"How was your first day?" She asked.

"Eh," I said, looking back at the school, waiting for Blakely to come out.

"That good, huh? So, where are you and Blakely going again?"

"Some new coffee place called Lilli's. She said they were supposed to have this killer cherry mocha latte. So, we are going to go there and see how it is. Sorry about you having to come to get Sam," I said, turning back around to face her.

"It's okay. You need some time out with your friends. Besides, you won't have much time to go out with them in a few days except on the weekends." She smiled.

There was no arguing with her because I knew what she said was true. The first few days were always for review to help everyone refresh their memories from being off for summer break. Then, the teachers piled on the homework, and most everything was due the next day in the past. I had a feeling senior year wasn't going to be much different from the previous years.

"Hi, Mrs. Brock," Blakely said, walking up. "Are you ready to go, Chelsi? I'm dying to try the latte."

"Yeah. Bye, Mom. I will see you later. Love you," I said, turning to walk with Blakely to our vehicles.

"Bye, girls."

                                                                                       ****

We talked about what we were going to try at Lilli's once we got there. Blakely told me to follow her since she had a general idea of where it was located. I still get lost around Santa Monica even though we've lived here for almost eight years now. I won't drive down the busier streets of the city. Blakely knew not to take me down the busier streets, which meant it shouldn't be far away. She was a little bit more adventurous than I was about driving to places we didn't know that well. We both eased out of the parking lot, and I followed close behind her, not allowing room for another car to get in between us.

I was starting to panic when I noticed we had been driving for almost fifteen minutes, and she showed no signs of slowing down to turn off any side roads. She must have sensed my fear because my phone started ringing from the console between the seats.

"We are almost there, Chelsi. Don't worry." She laughed.

"How did you know?" I asked, looking straight ahead at her car.

"I could see the panic on your face back at the stoplight. You know I would never take you downtown or on any of the congested streets. You have such little faith in me sometimes. Turn right up here at the next intersection and then go down a couple of blocks, and it will be on the right."

Once we parked and exited our vehicles, I looked over my car's roof, apologizing to Blakely. She was right about me always freaking out and not giving her enough credit. She smiled over at me. Then, she told me I could make it up to her by buying her an iced latte and one of their pastries.

We walked around to the front, weaving between patio tables to get to the front door. The door jingled as we stepped inside. Across the wooden floor was a big counter that stretched from one wall to over halfway to the other wall. There were tables lined along both sides of the walls, with bigger black tables in the middle. The walls were painted a light grey with white trim and paintings, and a brief description and price. Behind the counter was a stove, a couple of big stainless steel ovens, and a drink cooler filled with juice, milk, and some sodas.