Jade

Freya had conveniently placed herself right at the back of café. A very busy café, might I add. It wasn't hard to spot her, she stood out plain and clear compared to everyone else. I felt like it had something to do with the worried look covering her features, or maybe it was just the way her skin looked like porcelain against her sleek, black hair. She sat there awkwardly, twiddling her thumbs, checking her phone, glancing out of the window and it was amusing to stand and watch. I smirked and waited until Freya spotted me and then with wide eyes, she beckoned me over.

Standing, she greeted me with a hug and then sat back down. "Next time we make any arrangements to meet up, I'm going to give you a time that's at least two hours earlier than I'd planned because you're absolutely hopeless. Jade, you realise you're actually never on time right?"

"Shut up." I groaned.

I ignored the look of distaste Freya shot my way. If she had just experience a fraction of what I had, she would not be treating me like I was incapable of being on time. Admittedly, I was running late before the... Alex... situation, but there was no need for her snappy accusations about my time keeping skills. If this was an emergency, which it was not, I'd have been on time.

She continued to glare at me and all I could do was innocently stare back. It was then, looking away from her intense gaze, that I noticed the full cup of coffee in front of me and let out a sigh of relief. It was still warm and was exactly just what I needed. If Freya wasn't being so snappy about how late I'd turned up, I'd have probably thanked her. But alas, she was being snappy and therefore - no thanking was given.

Only when I sipped the coffee did Freya's glare falter, but her eyes started crazily darting around the room, glancing at every crook and cranny. "So where is this mystery phone stealer?" Freya grinned cheekily, her eyebrows raising and then falling in a suggestive manner.

I myself glared at her. Finishing my mouthful, I placed my cup down onto the table and huffed, childishly folding my arms over my chest because just thinking about Alex made me feel slightly angry. It was his fault I was extremely late, yet I'd had to sit and take the blame. "Do not even drag this up." I mumbled throwing her comment into an imaginary bin. He wasn't mysterious and we did not need to know where he is. "He was weird Freya, weird beyond belief. I've never met a boy like it. The creep even had the audacity to put his number into my phone before handing it back to me. He then proceeded with harassing me, by asking me out on a date. Can you believe that?"

"With your attitude, it is quite hard to believe." Freya winked. She then seemed to drift off into her own land for a few seconds, leaving me and my coffee for some much needed alone time. Until she started speaking again. "I bet he was alright to look at, his voice sounded nice from what I could hear."

I placed my mug back onto the table and stared at her, void of emotion. Admittedly yes he was easy on the eyes, but that was besides the point.

"Oh he was?" Sometimes, it amazed how I could show no emotion what-so-ever and Freya could still work out exactly what I was thinking, give or take a few thought-up words. "Describe him!" She demanded.

Rolling my eyes, I picked my drink back up. One thing about Freya was that she was boy mad, but when it came down to boys, she could never hold a boyfriend or a relationship down because she had the attention span of a gnat... or she forgot she had a boyfriend. All you have to do is mention anything with a penis around Freya and she wants, what she calls, details. Once, she decided to ask Robin what toothpaste her boyfriend used - that did not go down well. In a nutshell; Freya has had lots of boyfriends (mainly younger than her) and asks creepy, unnecessary questions.

"Freya can you please calm down." I sighed closing my eyes to picture Alex for a moment. "I mean, he wasn't too bad to look at, no. He was just a little weird, well forward. I don't know about you, because you're weird and forward too, sorry Freya it's true, but there's something off putting about a guy that takes your phone in return for your name and then pesters to take you on a date."

"I don't care!" Freya dismissed instantly. "Cut the chit-chat and describe him too me." She leaned forwards onto her hands, her eyes wide and intrigued; emphasising my previous statement of her being boy obsessed. It was sometimes beyond a joke.

"Fine, God you're so dramatic." I sighed because honestly there is no winning with Freya, ever.

No matter how much I'd try to change a subject, or bring up a valid point in a dispute with her she'd dismiss it and carry on as if I never said anything. I would never win an argument with her. Not because I was rubbish, just because she goes on and on and on and on.

"He had nice brown eyes if that stands for anything, quite tall..." I trailed off, realising how small I must have looked standing near him, dammit. I looked up confused as to why Freya wasn't nattering away, asking for more information and found her snickering. "What?" Did I have food on my face? Or was the fact he had brown eyes and was quite tall - both facts - really that amusing the the ditzy girl in front of me. Simple things please simple minds, they say.

"Really tall." Freya mimicked.

Ah! So this is about my height. Brilliant.

"I mean this in the nicest way possible Jay, honestly I do, but everyone is taller than you, you're not exactly supermodel height lets be honest, but it's cool that you embrace it, Midge"

"Piss off!" I said in response and she snickered.

Throughout High School I had to put up with being referred to as "Midge" by the majority of my friends. The nickname about my height soon caught on, near-enough everyone was calling me Midge. Even a few of my teachers joined in on the joke and it all got a little bit too much for me when first years laughed at my expense. I was well known in High School, but just for being small. I hated it, it's not like I was unusually small... there were many more people that lived life at a less than average height, why the hell was I the one that had to deal with the nicknames?

Freya was still snickering away when I glared at her. "Do you want this description or not?"

Her eyes went wide and she nodded her hair. "That was rude of me, sorry Midge." I groaned as she giggled, getting one last laugh at my expense. "Right... what colour was hair?"

"I don't know." I answered honestly, she glared at me not accepting my answer. "He was wearing a hat!" I defended. "Ur, what else? He had this really nice smile..." My eyes went wide as I realised what I'd just allowed to slip away from my mouth. His smile, damn.

Freya's eyes trained onto mine as she expectedly waited for me to continue, amusement lacing her features. I shrugged, my eyes moving away from hers and around the room to avoid the look Freya currently giving me, she had already begun to assume things. Just what I needed.

When I continued to glance around the world and avoided her attempts of getting me to look at her, she squealed, clapping her hands together. I winced and glanced a the few customers in the café, each of them too wincing as they looked at the over-excited girl situated at the back of the room. Was her aim to be a seal?

"Well, I'm going to be honest here Jade. He sounds like a right laugh and the fact you like his smile means he's actually smiled at you and that is something to be proud of, because well... you are you. You are gonna text him right?"

"No I am not going to text him, he's a creep remember?" I sighed when Freya pouted.

She didn't look to happy with me at that moment - being boy crazed and all - anything with a penis was a catch in her world. I was a fisherman, letting my fish go before I'd even weighed it in her eyes.

Absent-mindedly I started running my finger around the rim of my now empty cup, contemplating whether or not to get another. But before that, we needed to move the subject away from creepy boy and onto her before she got too involved.

"So anyway. What about you, how have you been?" The subject was not going to be changing.

"I just can't believe you!"

"What, what have I done now?"

"This guy could be... like... your soul-soul mate or something. This could be some twisted fate and you're just willing to give up at the first hurdle. He smiled at you for Christ sake-!"

"Lots of people smile at me everyday." I counter-argued.

Freya ignored me and continued her rant. "I thought you had more of a backbone than that. You're meant to be the one in this group that takes the risks. Plus, can you shut up about him being weird? You really can not say anything about him being weird when you were obsessed with Jack Peters - yeah." She smugly smiled. "I haven't forgot that. Bloody hell Jade the boy had ear wax practically pouring out of his ears and a constant runny nose, yet you were convinced you were meant to be. Now that, is what you call weird. So you're weird, he's weird... wow I see a perfect match."

My cheeks were feeling a little warm and I swear the owner of the café had cracked up the heat. Granted, Jack Peters had really dirty ears and maybe his nose ran a lot for no reason... but he was a nice person. He was funny, he was kind and generous. He really made an effort to be a good friend and at the end of the day he had always managed to make me smile. I began to believe I was in love with him. That was until half way through grade eight, when he broke my heart by kissing another girl right in front me. So maybe, just maybe I stalked the poor sod and his girlfriend for a few months, plotting how to split them up so I could make a move. But that was beside the point. Freya and I, we had a pact! A pact in which we both swore under no circumstances would we ever bring up that truly dreadful period of my life and she had just betrayed me by laying it all out in public. How dare she.

"You can't bring that up!" "I think I just did." I spluttered at her laid back response, unable to formulate words at that given moment. I let my hands do the talking; they flailed around in front of me, waving the words my tongue had bit back until I could finally speak again. "You know how much that upset me Freya!"

She shrugged, flipping her hair over her shoulder.

Huffing, I lent back in my seat and childishly folded my arms over my chest. "I cannot believe you just brought that up."

"I was just trying to show you babe, that you're weird too."

I snarled at her. I can confirm that I am 110% normal, nobody had ever called me weird before in my life. Everything I did was normal. My life was completely normal.

"Now give me your phone, I promised I'd text my Mom once I was back in Towson and thanks to you, mines completely dead." She pouted, fluttering her eyelashes and I rolled my eyes. She had me in the palm of her hands - and it was my fault her phone was dead - so I reached into my pocket, fished out my phone and tossed it into Freya's readied hands.

"Did you really have to bring up Jack Peters?" I wailed after a few mere seconds of silence, yes it was still bothering me.

Freya, who now was texting away with my phone up in front of her face, peaked over the top of the cell and rolled her eyes before continuing her message.

"You are so unreasonably fair." I grunted.

It's not even like I could even get her back with something because, unlike me, Freya had fancied reasonably normal people during school.

"Shut up moaning, what's done is done. Tell me more about weird boy, his name was Alex yeah?"

"Yes."

"See, Alex sounds like a pretty normal name. Your name isn't that normal around here."

With her attempting to call me weird again, my leg launched itself towards her own underneath the table. But of course I missed Freya's leg and instead ended up kicking the metal pole that was keeping the table standing. I yelped and she laughed.

"Just drop the weird thing!" I demanded, soothing my now sore foot, damn. "That's what I thought."

Freya's reply was smug as she passed my phone back to me. And by passed, I mean she placed it face down on the table and slid it towards me whilst making an unneeded sound effect. Sometimes I wondered why we lived in the same dimension and why she was my friend. "Thanks babe."

"You're welcome." I responded dryly.

She cursed at me under her breath, claiming I was a "sarcastic bitch." and I repeated what she'd said, mimicking her 'slightly more northern' accent. Freya was from somewhere just between Maryland and New Jersey. She never gave me the exact area, or address. She had moved to Towson back when we were both in grade eight and whenever anyone asked her, she asked them why it mattered and claimed that the past was the past, why bring it up again? So it was forgotten.

Freya was just about to reply properly to my awful attempt of her accent when my phone vibrating across the table. Instead, of speaking she smirked smugly and then leaned back in her seat, pursing her lips casually as she waited for me to pick up my phone and read the text. But surely it was for her? It would have just been her Mother after all. Confused by her sudden attitude change and the smugness radiating from her body, I narrowed my eyes and glared at her. I reached out for my phone, but not once did I remove my eyes from her own.

"Are you going to read that?" Freya challenged.

"Yes." I retorted sharply.

I then turned her attention away from Freya and unlocked my phone. The message tab was already open from when she had sent her text, so when I pressed the middle button my phone automatically opened the message I'd just received. What! That absolute lunatic. I could have killed her, she just- what- why!

From; Alex
- Of all people you were the last I was expecting a text from;) Meet me same place as today 2pm. Xx

"How could you?!" I roared. "Now he has my number and he's convinced I'm going on a date with him, you absolute maniac, you tricked me. I have nothing but hatred for you, you used your own Mother against me. Your poor Mother, you horrible girl." I rambled, my words spilling out with shock but Freya just sat and laughed to herself.

Genuinely worried, I clicked onto my sent messages and saw that Freya truly had sent Alex a text. She was a lying idiot. In the message she had expressed that I was ‘sorry' for my mood, that it was because I was ‘in a rush' and that I would be ‘happy' to go on a date. All of which were complete lies, besides the fact I was going to be late. At no point did I ever want to have to see Alex again, he was just a part of my day I was going to go and forget. Never did I want to go on a date with him. Heck, I hadn't been on a date for two years and I wasn't going to start going on them now.

"C'mon, you'd have done exactly the same if you were me." Freya chuckled, amused with my reaction. She shouldn't have been amused, my anger was directed towards her.

"I'd have respected what you wanted." I denied. "I wouldn't have invaded your phone and text him - despite how many times you'd said no."

She scoffed.

"Well I hope for your sake that this goes well otherwise we are not going to be friends for much longer, idiot."

"You don't mean that." Freya dismissed. "You love me too much to get rid of me." She pouted her heart-shaped lips and started blowing kisses across the table to me.

Anger bubbled inside of my body and I picked up a packet of sugar, only to seconds later launch it at her head, the stupid sod. Freya shrieked, her hands flapping around her face to avoid being hit. It was quite funny to witness and made me temporarily forget about the text as I continued to launch packets of whatever at her head.

"Pack that in and text him back!" When I finally ran out of things to throw at her, she arched her brows at me and nodded to my phone.

I huffed and folded her arms across her chest, refusing to do so - hell no, I didn't agree to this. I wasn't going to text him back, sorry.

"Fine, be that way." Freya shrugged.

She leaned across the table and swiped my phone out of my hand before I could even shout abuse at her, or stop her. I watched in on horror as she typed away, making no attempt to stop her because by doing so I'd have just made a fool out of myself.

"Is it so bad to expect a text from me? How very rude, wink face, ... and two is fine, kiss kiss."

"I really hate you." My head fell against the table.

I lifted it and let it drop against the wood, repeating the action until she placed her hand on the top of my head and pressed it there so I couldn't continue.

"Let me breathe then, idiot!" I snapped and she moved her hand, allowing me to sit myself back up and rub my now sore head. I shouldn't have done that.

"Jade, he is a fast replier." She grinned ignoring me. She really was in her own bubble of enjoyment here, non-existent my social life amusing her more than it should have. "Oh, he's so cute! Right, he said ‘After the reception I received from you earlier, I was expecting you to just forget me so two pm then yes?' And then there's another two kisses; babe you are in there." Freya squeaked, I let my head fall again and bang against the table. She didn't attempt to stop me. "I really want to see him. Do you think if I discretely follow you around tomorrow he'll notice?"

"No you can't follow me around. Also, who said I'm even going to go? You're just giving the boy false hope."

Freya shrugged, typing something out on my phone.

"What are you saying?" I queried.

"I gave him your address."

"Freya!" I cried out. "For god sake, when will you learn? He could be anything, a murderer, a rapist. He might come and get me tomorrow and drag me to his basement and then let me rot because I refuse to co-operate." My head fell to the table once more, producing a bang.

"There, there." Freya comforted, patting the top of her head.

"Do you really think Robin is going to appreciate this?" The table muffled my voice, but the freezing of Freya's hand on my head made me aware she understood.

Freya and Robin used to be the best of friends but after... something... they didn't see eye-to-eye any more.

"If she doesn't then your roommate is still a bitch." Freya huffed. "But you need to go on a date and this guy is keen, so for once trust me and go for it." She put my phone back down on the table and I heard her chair scrape back as she then stood up when I didn't respond or lift my head.

"You are a nightmare!" I glanced at her as she scowled down at me. She huffed when I let my head fall back onto the table, turning around to go and get herself another drink from the counter.

Notes