Hush, Hush

“How do you know John?” Chelsea asked me over a cup of mocha latte. I had a bottle of water that I gulped every so often for something to do. We were sitting near Jax’s, a popular café, in one of the many small wooden square tables they had arranged randomly outside the shop.

“Who?”

“John? Brown locks over there.” she said, pointing to where Brownie stood in the far corner, exchanging words with Brian. He had his hand in his backside pocket and I noticed how he leaned more on his left foot. Brian stood tall as if showing the world his height. He didn’t need to though; he was clearly taller than John, despite the way he was standing.

“Oh, him.” I said. I turned around to face Chelsea, relieved to finally put a name to that face. “I met him today.”

“You met him…today?” she asked surprised, crossing one leg over the other and gently pulling on the skirt that rode a bit too high up her knee. I subconsciously tugged at my shirt, running one hand through my hair to get it out of my face.

“Um, yeah.” I answered incredulously, wondering why it was so hard to get. I’ve only been here three days. I was with Chelsea the whole first day, we stayed home the whole second day and what do you know! The third day is the only one left.

Unless I met him tomorrow which didn’t even happen yet… I thought, rolling my eyes inside.

“Oh, nothing.” she dismissed with her cup, taking a sip before continuing. “You seem awfully close for people who just met s’all.” She teased me with her big brown eyes, circling the lip of her cup but otherwise remained motionless. I tried to remain impassive but an urge to say something bubbled inside of me.

You wouldn’t be sounding so teasing if you knew Brian and I were awfully close a couple of hours ago.

“Mhmm. I helped him out and he helped me. Mutual benefit.” I clarified, looking away from her face in case she could see into my soul and hear that last thought. I was hoping Chelsea would take that as answer enough but like I said before, I didn’t know Chelsea well enough to judge what she would do and right I was for not doing so because she obviously wasn’t quite ready to drop it.

“You know what else a ‘mutual benefit’ is?” she asked, her voice lowering by an octave. It somehow made her words graver and I feared the next words out of her mouth.

“What?” I asked because something told me she’d tell me even if I remained silent.

“Sexua—“

“Chels, my girl.” John said, coming up from behind her. He placed one hand on her right shoulder and used the other to snatch her mocha latte. Chelsea, already used to this, moved it to the edge of the table where his grabby hands couldn’t reach. I watched as a pout appeared on his lips and suppressed a laugh.

“Chloe,” he called out, as if he was aware of the inner bubbles of laughter that were threatening to get out of me. “I hope Chels here wasn’t bombarding you with her never-ending cries of “Brian this. Brian that” because I’m going to have to remove you from her presence if she did. It wouldn’t be doing you any good, trust me.” he sneered cheekily, giving Chelsea a stink eye. She frowned slightly and I got the feeling her pretty little face couldn’t muster up a grimace even if she tried.

“Oh, no.” I replied easily, waving my hand to dismiss his accusations. “We were just…” I looked at Chelsea and she gave me a shrug.

“It’s none of your business, John.”

“Sooner or later.” I heard him mutter before Brian came into view. I swallowed my discomfort with my water and focused on John’s face to avoid looking at Brian. I could tell his eyes were focused on me but I didn’t look to make sure. Awkward eye contact was something I never wanted to experience.

“What?” John asked and I widened my eyes. “Something on my face?” he wiped at his mouth and when his hands came back clean, his eyebrows furrowed even more. He looked back at me questioningly but this time, I was looking at the table. There was an engraving of two initials: SG & WR. I kept myself busy trying to come up with plausible names to fit, what I assumed, were a couple’s names. But I could feel a new pair of eyes on me with every combination I came up with.

“So, John,” I heard Brian ask and cautiously looked up. “How do you know Chloe?”

It didn’t pass my notice how Chelsea was sending him signals with her eyes almost as though forcing him to ask. I didn’t get why she expected a different answer. I didn’t know John. Wasn’t not knowing his name proof enough?

“Oh, we just met.” he said, effectively wiping away the suspicious look on Chelsea’s face. I gave her an “I told you so” face – or at least, what I thought was an “I told you so” face, getting a small guilty smile back. “She helped me pick something out for—ah, um, yeah.” John cut his sentence off as something dawned on him and it was my turn to look at him questioningly.

“Pick something out for what?” Chelsea pressed but John’s lips were tightly sealed. She looked over to me when he shook his head determinedly and I felt trapped. What was I supposed to say?

“Don’t look at me.”

“You obviously know what he’s hiding. Tell us!”

I looked at John and his brown eyes screamed for me to stay quiet.

I always heard of puppy-eyes but I never witnessed one before. I guess John took that virginity now. He stared at me with round, sad eyes that I couldn’t bear to let him down. I just couldn’t.

“I honestly don’t know.” I replied, which was somewhat true. I didn’t know why he was keeping it from them, I didn’t know who it was for and I didn’t know what to tell them. All I knew was what “something” (or somethings) was and a hint as to who it was for. But I wasn’t about to mention those.

“Just met my ass.” I heard Chelsea mumble under her breath before sipping her cup empty.

“Shall we get going?” John asked Brian in a subdued voice right after he dragged him back to the corner. I curiously leaned as far back in my chair as I could to catch his words. “It’s almost time.”

Almost time for what? I thought, the need to find out growing.

“Chloe?” Chelsea’s face was suddenly in front of mine and I gasped, my chair falling out from beneath me. I fell hard on my butt and my water bottle, like I had expected it to, spilled its contents all over my t-shirt. I cursed and sighed, knowing that complaining about my clumsiness wouldn’t make it go away.

“You okay?” I didn’t know it was John’s hand I grasped onto until he spoke.

“Yeah, I’m good.” I replied, dusting off my jeans.

“You took a pretty nasty fall.” Brian commented and I ignored it, simply like the fact that I fell in public.

“I’m fine.” I repeated, picking my chair back up. Chelsea pulled me aside a few feet away from the boys and apologetically patted my arm.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.” I could tell she was holding back a chuckle. I wondered quietly if I looked like she did just then because that would mean my efforts to suppress it were pointless.

“I didn’t mean to fall, either.” I joked and we both let the laughter we were holding out.

“So.”

“I told you I don’t know, Chelsea.”

“What?” she asked, innocently staring at me with her big eyes. “I didn’t say anything!”

“You were going to. I could tell.”

“Oh, you don’t know me that well.” she reminded me, playfully pulling on a lock of my hair.

“Right, since I met you only three days ago.” I put emphasis on the time and Chelsea caught my insinuation.

“Nicely played.” she commended, mentally give me the thumbs up. I knew she wasn’t going to let it go and I didn’t know how long I could withhold without mentioning the tidbit of information I had to satisfy her query. I didn’t want to think it but I was grateful that Brian chose that moment to ‘steal her away’ (as John put it five minutes later.)

&&

“How do you know them?” I pondered out loud, as the silence between John and I lengthened. I could tell he was in that curly, brown-haired head of his because he had the same concentrated expression my father did when he was making calculations. And also, eh wasn't bombarding me with ridiculous accusations or inquiries. We were standing near the entrance again and I could see the crowd as it got impossibly larger by the minute.

“What?” he asked, jolting out of his thoughts.

"How do you know Chelsea and Brian?” I was reluctantly to speak his name and John noted my slight hesitation. I kept my eyes on the crowd though, afraid he would somehow deduce my sudden hatred for his friend.

“I know Chelsea through Brian.”

I waited but the rest of his answer never came.

“And?”

“And what?” he asked, playing dumb. I had a feeling he just wanted me to say his name again.

“How do you know Brian?”

“That, my friend, is a tale for another night.” And with that, he walked through the mass of people, leaving me to fend for myself as I awkwardly stood near the door.

First, I blinked, not sure if he really just ditched me. Then, when I couldn't see his curly hair or his lanky body anymore, it slowly sunk it. I realized I didn’t have anyone I knew with me. Not that I knew the people I was with that well, considering we met less than half a week ago. But the lonesome feeling settled in and for the first time since I left home, I felt alone.