A Story to Tell Your Friends

“You look awful,” Sam told me. I glared at him from my desk, drinking the last of my third cup of coffee that morning. I hadn’t gotten home until nearly eleven, and then Tammy had forced me to stay up late telling her all about my night. She was too nervous for her first day to sleep anyway, which I’d known would be the case from the beginning. All in all, I didn’t get to bed until nearly 2am, then had to get up early to catch to bus to work since, being the genius I was, I’d left my car here last night.
“I need to watch out for guitarists more often.” Sam raised his eyebrows at me, egging me on to explain. “Jack Barakat cornered me outside work last night and I ended up in a bar with him and Alex Gaskarth.”
“Drinking on a school night? And with musicians no less. You rebel.” I laughed lightly, knowing he was joking. It was nearly midday and we’d been working hard most of the day, Sam coming in from a meeting about twenty minutes ago and seeing me for the first time. My phone flashed up on the desk in front of me, telling me I had a text from an unknown number.
What coffee do you drink?
Anything without roofies in it. Who is this?
I had an inkling who it could be, though which of the two was up for debate.
It’s Lisa – I haven’t caved yet, promise. But Alex and Jack are stopping by the office so I thought I’d come by and see you. With coffee of course.
I need a caramel latte the size of my face.
“Is that lover boy now?”
“No, it’s Lisa.” Sam titled his head, confused. I forgot he didn’t follow them. Talking to Tammy about them is easy – she already knows everything she could ever want to know. “Alex Gaskarth’s wife.”
“Name dropping already? You’re very show business today.” My phone buzzed again, Lisa telling me she’d be here in twenty minutes. Perfect timing, I was about ready for lunch anyway.
“I’ll name drop her into oblivion if she continues to promise me coffee.”
“You need it.” I scoffed, knowing he was right, but throwing my pen at him anyway.
“You’re my favourite person,” I told Lisa as she strolled in with my coffee. “I didn’t get to sleep until late and Jack made me forget I’d driven to work yesterday.” She laughed, pulling up a chair and sitting next to me with her coffee.
“He generally forgets logistics, don’t worry.” I introduced her to the rest of the team, barely remembering everyone’s names but somehow stumbling through it anyway. “When’s your lunch?” She asked, after making small talk with everyone and allowing them to get back to work. I typed a couple of emails out while they were all getting to know each other, sipping my coffee and starting to feel a little more alert.
“Uh, any time from now really. I can take it whenever.”
“Well,” she smarted, mischievous twinkle in her eye. “Alex text saying they’ll be done in ten.”
“And?”
“And we’re both dying for you to come out with everyone. Especially Jack.” I rolled my eyes. Jack’s friendships still had an entire middle school drama theme.
“Is this a set up?”
“No! It’s just… Jack needs a little pushing. He’s been single a while and he doesn’t make a massive effort with girls he thinks are cute. So, Alex gets the information, and I do the gentle nudging.”
“That sounds an awful lot like a set up.” I shifted uncomfortably, responding to another email while I mulled it over. I didn’t know the guy. He seemed nice, but I didn’t know if I wanted to get in the middle of the drama. Besides, I already knew they were off with Blink for a while (yes, I already had tickets for the LA show. The teenager in me cried when I got them). Did I want to start something that I knew wouldn’t last going in?
“Please.” Lisa pouted a little and I sighed. “I know you’re considering it, and I also know you like him at least a little, considering how you guys were going on last night.” She was right, he was nice and cute, but that still didn’t void my other concerns.
“Sam, I’m going on lunch,” I told him, sighing a little and acting like he hadn’t heard everything. Lisa grinned. “I’ll be back in about an hour, okay?” He nodded. I grabbed my phone and what remained of my coffee, turning to look at Lisa.
“Let’s go meet the guys.”
“Clara!” Alex feigned surprise as he saw me turning around the corner with Lisa and I saw Jack glare at him a little. I guess this was just as see through to him as it was to me.
“She’s coming with us to lunch,” Lisa smiled. I noticed Zack and Rian coming round the corner also. “No one has a problem with that, right?” No one objected and I said hi to the rest of the guys, feeling more than just a little awkward. I probably should have objected a little more strongly than I had, but really, what was the worst that could happen? Jack either wouldn’t like me and I wouldn’t see him again unless I worked promo for them at some point, or we’d hang out for a couple of weeks, text a bit while he was away and fizzle out by the time he was back in LA. Worst case scenario, I can still say I had a nice couple of days.
“Hey, sorry about this. Alex and Lisa can be a little intense,” Jack said to me quietly, as the pair of us slipped to the back of the group.
“I don’t mind. She brought me coffee,” I joked. “But, seriously, I feel awkward more for you. Tell me if they’re pushing it too much and I’ll stay away for a few days.”
“I’ve minded more every other time,” he grinned.
“You’re such a sweet-talker,” I laughed.
“So, did you get in much trouble last night?”
“Crazy amounts. I had to stay up until 2am filling her in on everything because she couldn’t sleep. It was a nightmare.” I rolled my eyes, acting like I cared.
“I was serious when I said she should come out with us all next time.”
“Oh, don’t worry, I’ve told her that. She’s trying to get rid of all her fan girl-ing in preparation for it so none of you think she’s crazy. Don’t worry, she’s crazy anyway.” Jack chuckled, thankfully taking it as a joke. Tammy was crazy, and she loved these guys, but she wasn’t a crazy fan girl who would do anything just to touch one of these guys. She knew the limits of personal space… sort of.
“Sounds like it’ll be an interesting night.” I laughed. Out of all the girls he could have chosen to invite on a night out with him, Tammy probably wasn’t his best bet. She probably wouldn’t speak until she’d drank too much, then she’d talk too much. It was typical Tammy. Jack cocked his head.
“Out of all of my friends, maybe you might want to start with someone a little less psychotic.”
“The best ones are always psychotic. Besides, you’ve met the craziest of my friends, so it’s only fair.” I smiled, feeling a little less like I was intruding on their lives. I mean, I was just a girl they met in Walmart discussing beach towels. I had to admit, it felt great to have made a couple of new friends already. Ignore who they were and that they wouldn’t be here forever, it felt good to know that I could get myself out there and make friends. I’d lived in the same neighbourhood most of my life, and all my friends in college had either been dorm mates or class mates, people who I’d been thrown on a little bit. This was the real world now, and I’d managed to find some new friends.
I followed the guys inside a little café, carrying on small talk with everyone, though mostly Jack. I noticed a few of the guys glancing at us occasionally, as we generally stayed at the back of the group with each other. I pretended I hadn’t noticed them, of course, and carried on with my conversation, but I was beginning to feel a little, I don’t know, pressured? I think they all had high hopes for this and I didn’t want anyone to think it was any more than it was. My stomach flipped when I saw him, and he always had a smile waiting for me when he saw me, but other than that, all that was happening was a guy and girl from opposite sides of the country talking to each other. Hell, I hadn’t even given him my phone number yet, and I’d only started following him on Instagram and Twitter this morning. And God only knows he had enough followers on there.
I found myself strategically placed between Lisa and Jack at the table, Lisa absorbed in conversation with Alex, despite my attempts to lighten the feeling of panic in my chest by talking to her a little instead of talking to Jack for the entire hour I had for lunch. I was by no means quiet, chatting with Jack and laughing at the jokes I understood between the guys, eating my sandwich in between, so much so I couldn’t imagine anyone could see the anxiety I was feeling. Here I was, thrown in the middle of a group of people who’d known each other over 10 years, all with their own inside jokes, who all seemed to have expectations of me already? I could feel my old High School anxiety clawing at my throat, the pressure of performing mounting in my chest. The more I thought about the sidelong glances, the tighter my chest felt.
I glanced at my watch.
It was closing on 1:15. I knew I had to be back at the office for 1:30. Despite the fact it would only take me 5 minutes to walk back to the office, I knew how plausible it would be for me to make my excuses and leave now.
“Not that I’m not enjoying your company, but I’d best get back to the office,” I stated, standing up and finishing the last of my tea. I’d decided on a slightly less caffeinated drink for lunch, considering how much coffee I’d drank already. “It was nice seeing you all again. Hopefully I’ll catch you all another day.” Zack and Rian nodded and smiled. Lisa jumped up to give me a hug, Alex waving me off and saying goodbye. I turned to say goodbye to Jack, only to be confronted with his chest in my face. It seemed to be a habit of his.
“I’ll walk you back,” he suggested, shrugging and shoving his hands in the front pockets of his jeans.
“Y-you don’t have to,” I stuttered out. I was kind of looking forward to a little time to breathe before I made it back to the office, but I didn’t want to seem rude.
“I’ve got nowhere better to be.” He smiled at me sheepishly and I couldn’t help but smile. I nodded, saying goodbye to everyone else again and making my way out of the store, taking a deep breath as I did. “I told you Alex and Lisa are intense.” I looked up at him, confused.
“I don’t know what you mean,” I told him, as we started back toward work.
“Come on, it was obvious. Even Zack and Rian were joining in. I know you saw all their sly little glances. They spent half of lunch staring at the two of us talking and the rest of it trying to make it seem like they weren’t listening to us.”
“So I wasn’t being paranoid.” I breathed a sigh of relief as Jack confirmed my suspicions. Just being away from everyone else, I already felt a little better. A little more relaxed.
“No, you weren’t being paranoid. It’s been a while since I’ve had a girlfriend. They just want me to be happy, I guess.”
“I can feel the pressure. They’re really hoping this is going to turn into a whirlwind love affair, aren’t they?” Jack laughed, nodding. It felt a little easier, just me and Jack, neither of us expecting the other to declare their love any second, which is exactly what I think everyone else was expecting.
“You haven’t heard the last of this, and neither have I. Lisa will be on the phone to you tonight asking exactly what we said and I did, and Alex will be bugging me for her as soon as he sees me later.” I could feel Jack relaxing a little more, starting to make more light hearted remarks than he had before.
“It’s tough when your friends are all the relationship type, right? Like they expect you to be in a couple so they don’t feel bad leaving you out on date night.”
“Yeah, you can see the pity in their eyes when they’re going out and your plans are to sit in your underwear playing video games.” I snorted, imagining the picture, something I was quite familiar with back home.
“With cheesy Doritos and a pizza on the way,” I added. Jack’s eyes brightened a little, nodding.
“Yes! Exactly. Like that isn’t a perfectly acceptable way to spend your evening.”
“Try telling my parents that. Apparently trying to 100% The Witcher on your brother’s PlayStation is not something a 24-year-old girl should be doing on a Saturday night.”
“Did you do it?”
“No. My scumbag brother moved out and took it with him before I could finish it. I was so close.” I scowled and Jack laughed at me.
“Well, you’re welcome to play my video games any time you want.”
“I’ll hold you to that. I’m having withdrawals.” While I wasn’t one of those ‘gamer girls’ a lot of girls my age liked to pretend to be to impress boys, I had to admit I was prone to getting hooked on open-world RPGs and playing them until I got cramps and forgot what day of the week it was. It wasn’t pretty. Tammy had more than once walked in on a Wednesday afternoon to me surrounded by empty bottles and wrappers and dragged me out of the house to be social because she’d had worrying texts from my parents.
“So, here we are,” Jack said, stopping still. I looked up, realising we’d made it back to my office before I had even realised. The tension in my chest had a released and I didn’t feel the need to hyperventilate in the toilet for 10 minutes before I went back. I didn’t reply, digging into my bag to find a pen.
“Here, gimme your hand.” Jack held his hand out compliantly, not questioning me. I scrawled my number on his hand and smiled. “Now you can stop bugging Lisa. And I expect an invitation to use your PlayStation before the week is out!”

Notes

You're going to notice quite a few Witcher 3 jokes in this over the next few chapters.
I was playing it for a few hours a day while writing the next few chapters. I'm not sorry.