Long Rides

I gasped and snapped my eyes open, panting for air. I looked around and groaned as I rolled to my side, but fell down to the floor of our van. I sat back on the seat and wiped the sweat on my forehead with the sleeve of my hoodie.

That dream again.

Remember the prank call dream? It’s still happening.

Every day the voice in the other line is getting clearer. But every time I wake up, I can’t remember what the voice had said, no matter how hard I try.

Here I was again, in my van, sweating and panting because of the damn dream.

The door in the passenger seat was opened and I slightly jumped. Arne poked his head inside.

“Oi, get up. We’re going to eat lunch.”

And he left. I glanced at the clock and it said 12.10. Hm.

I took my coat from the seat and put it on after my hoodie and went outside the van. Vincent locked the van from a distance by the van key.

We met up the guys and went inside to Mother’s Cook, where they had parked the van and bus. We took over a few tables because of the amount of people.

I played with my sidekick for a while, texting one of my old friends as I was waiting for my food. I was texting Zooey. She used to hang out with the four of us, but then she moved to Australia for high school. We called her Z and she sometimes told us that she was actually Zooey Deschanel. It was a good laugh.

So where are you now? – Z she asked.

I don’t really know :p I just woke up a few minutes ago. – A.G.

Heh, still a heavy sleeper, aren’t you? – Z

If that’s what you think, then yes. – A.G.

Hm. I know I shouldn’t be asking this… but are you over it already? – Z

I furrowed my eyebrows. What ‘it’?

You know… with Ben—

By that time, I had immediately erased the message without reading the rest.

Ben Reeds.

One of my worst real nightmares.

Wait, he’s the worst nightmare thatexists had existed in my life.

The waiter snapped me out of my thought as she placed down a plate of hot dog in front of me. I thanked him for that, and started eating. I swore I saw the waiter winked flirtatiously at me before he left, and I think my friends that were in the same table with me were glaring at him. Actually it was all guys in the table. Verion and Ali were somewhere else.

“God, I know Athe’s good looking and all, but that kind of guy doesn’t deserve her!” Kyle protested. For the first time in 2 weeks of dating, Kyle and Verion weren’t together.

“What kind of guy is he?” Zack asked from next to me.

“…Cheap? I mean he flirts with random girls, I can tell.”

We all looked to the waiter, and Kyle was right. The waiter was flirting with Ali and the guys in Ali’s table were giving him looks. Ali seemed to be uncomfortable.

“So what kind of guy that deserves Athe?” Marc asked.

“Someone tall. Strong. Plays drums or percussion. Stylish. Skates…”

“Spotted: Kyle William Burns has a crush on Atheria Retroaldi Greeme instead of his girlfriend who is also her best friend,” Jack said, mimicking the narrator of Gossip Girl and we laughed. It’s funny if Jack does it.

“Oh yes! I am actually madly in love with Athe – I’d give my life to protect her,” Kyle joked.

“I’m sorry Kyle I actually prefer to fuck one of your best friends,” I replied, also joking.

The others chimed an ‘ooh’.

“Speaking of fuck,” Jack responded, “I wonder how far do you and Verion has gone.” He wiggled his eyebrows and Kyle’s face went red.

“Jack, you perverted son!” Rian exclaimed. “That’s why your mom is always gone and you never find her!” [a/n: Buzznet, anyone?]

We all burst into laughter, until someone tapped my shoulder. I turned around and found Alex.

“Can we talk?” he asked. “Alone?” he immediately added when he saw Jack’s curious face. Jack immediately put on his 5 year old face.

“Yeah…” I said and stood up. We went outside the diner.

“Why the long face?” I asked.

“I decided… to back up.”

“Back up from what?”

“I mean, stop hoping from you. I know you rejected me before – and you stated it clearly – but I was still hoping from you. Hoping that you might change your mind. But your best friends told me you’ve had a big thing going on before” – My expression changed but he immediately said, “But they didn’t tell me what that is – so I decided to surrender.”

“It’ll mean nothing if you still like me, Alex,” I said.

“I know, that’s why I want to try to forget about you.”

I pursed my lips and looked down to the ground. I felt him taking steps closer to me, so I looked up.

“Athe,” he said, “If you really want me to stop hoping from you, kiss me.”