You Got Me Going Crazy

"Joe, what are you doing here?" I said as I reluctantly released him from our hug.

"What, just because I'm famous I'm not allowed to come to Starbucks like a normal person?" he laughed.

"Of course not," I said, sarcasm dripping from my voice. "Well, I'm going to order our drinks now." I turned to Emma and saw that she was in a pretty intense staring contest type thing with Nick. "Ems!" I said at the same time that Joe called Nick's.

They both looked in our direction and said "What?" simultaneously.

“Emma, you might just want to order something to drink. That is why we came here, isn’t it?”

She blushed, whispered a barely audible “Yeah, sorry,” and walked up to the counter with me.

I heard Joe say “Come on, Nick, Kevin. We’ll leave the girls alone for a bit,” as he walked over to one of the numerous empty tables. He turned around for a second to wink and mouth “I’ll talk to him.” I nodded in response.

I headed toward the counter and said what I wanted, an iced caramel macchiato, and then turned to my friend at that point and just stared at her. Emma sat studying the menu board and finally chose a drink. “What?” she said when she turned to walk to the other counter.

“Did you plan this?”

“What?” Emma was shocked that I could say something like that. “Why would I plan this? I didn’t even know they would come to our Starbucks. Can you just be happy that you get to see your new lover again today?”

I shook my head and propped my elbow on the counter next to the straws. “He’s not my lover. We barely even know each other. And besides, if he’s visiting family, we have no idea how long he’ll be staying so it wouldn’t be right to get involved in something that I’m not sure will even last.”

Emma rolled her eyes. “Keep telling yourself that, chica. I saw how you acted when you saw she was here,” she said as the barista announced that Nick’s drink was done. She held her breath and followed him with her eyes as he walked up, grabbed his drink, and smiled at her as he stood waiting for the rest of the beverages. I swear, she looked like she was about to faint right then and there.

The procession of completed drinks with the same one it started with, only belonging to Emma instead of Nick. “Would you like to join us?” Kevin said. “We got the big booth so we can all fit.”

Emma was still incapable of speaking so I answered for the both of us. “Sure. It leaves more room for other people if anybody else shows up.”

We followed the three dark haired boys to their booth (which really was the largest in the store) and sat down. “Izzy has to sit by me,” Joe said, pulling me into his side. I giggled as I fell on top of him. Emma gave me a knowing look. I stuck my tongue out at her. “Is there something we should let you finish?” Joe said.

I looked at Emma and she shook her head. “No. We don’t.”

“Alright then.” We sat in the empty shop for a good twenty minutes sipping our drinks and striking up random conversation when I realized that I just had melting ice left in my cup. The boys and Ems saw the same thing with theirs. “It looks like we should probably get going,” Nick said with a somewhat disappointed look on his face. “Maybe we could see you again….”

“We can,” Kevin said. We all looked at him, slightly confused. “We have a concert tomorrow night. Maybe you two would like to go?”

“But your show has been sold out for months now,” Emma said. Of course she would know.

“Don’t worry,” Joe said, putting his arm around my shoulder. “You guys know that band so you have an in. And maybe if you are nice to them they might just get you backstage.”

My friend smiled bigger than I had seen her smile since a half hour earlier. “We’d love to,” I said.