46 Meeting Alexa

Relieved that RoboCat seemed to have forgiven her for trying to figure out who he was, Emily finally drifted off to sleep. When she woke up she saw the clock and freaked out because she was supposed to be meeting Justin and his crush for lunch in less than an hour.

She frantically put on makeup and straightened her curls before picking out a flowery cardigan and calling it good. Her doorbell rang as she was putting on her boots.

"Emily, it's Pizza Boy!" Amy called from the front door.

Justin's face was pink as he stammered out a hello. Once they were out the door he asked, "Pizza Boy?"

Now it was Emily's turn to be embarrassed. "Because of the apology pizzas."

"Ah."

The car ride to the macaroni place was mostly silent. Based on how his hands gripped the steering wheel, he was definitely nervous. Did he really not want her to meet his crush? Or was he nervous about seeing his crush, period?

"I won't embarrass you, I promise," Emily said. "I can be discreet. We're just a group of people getting macaroni to celebrate the end of the semester."

Justin gave her a small smile. "I'm not worried about that but thanks."

Emily was about to ask him what he was worried about when they pulled into the parking lot and saw a beautiful turquoise-haired girl get out of a nearby car. Her smoky eye makeup was flawless and she wore a thin black sweater with tan geometric shapes on it with skinny jeans and combat boots. Her fingers were covered in mismatched rings.

So this was the kind of girl Justin liked. Why did Emily get the feeling she had seen her somewhere other than the arts building?

The girl smirked at them. "Hey, Justin. This must be your friend." It might have been all in Emily's head but she thought the girl put a strange emphasis on the word 'friend.'

"Alexa, this is Emily. Emily, Alexa," Justin introduced with a wave of his hand. "Come on, it's cold out here, we should go in."

They didn't speak again until they were seated. "This all looks so good," Alexa murmured as she perused the menu. "I kind of want one of everything."

Justin sighed. "Of course you do."

She smiled sweetly at him. "Remember your promise."

Emily was thoroughly confused. "Did I miss something here?"

"My time is very valuable these days," Alexa said airily. "To get me to come, this guy promised to treat me to whatever I wanted!"

Emily frowned. He was such a pushover! Girls were always taking advantage of him! First his cousin, now his crush. A pang of sadness shot through her heart. Justin was too nice for his own good. He deserved better than this.

"I might even get two of the buffalo wing flavored ones," Alexa continued. "I can save the leftovers and not have to cook for a week."

"You honestly want to eat nothing but macaroni and cheese for a week?" Justin asked dryly.

"Honey, I'm an artist. I've lived on nothing but coffee and a single pack of bagels for a week before. This is an upgrade."

She patted her companion's hand and continued looking through the menu. Justin narrowed his eyes but didn't say anything else.

Sure enough, when it was time to order Alexa got one of everything. Twenty different types of mac and cheese!

Emily was appalled. She hadn't even known that many types existed before coming here. All she ordered was fried mac and cheese balls as an appetizer and pulled pork mac and cheese sliders as her entrée. Justin got macaroni and cheese pot pie.

When Alexa's dishes started coming in one by one there wasn't enough room on the table. She asked the waiter to box up certain ones after only taking a single test bite. Emily couldn't say why but anger started bubbling up in her chest watching the other girl innocently taste the different dishes and make commentary on them like she was some sort of food critic as Justin mutely nodded along to whatever she said.

"I'm going to the bathroom, I'll be back," she announced and strode away from the table.

Unclenching her fists, she grasped the edge of the counter holding rows of sinks and stared at herself in the mirror. Her face was flushed with anger so she splashed water on herself to calm down.

Why was she so upset by this? Sure, Alexa was walking all over Justin, but since he liked her he probably didn't mind. So why did she?

Why did it matter that the girl he cared about seemed like a spoiled brat? Emily had watched his reactions throughout the meal so far. While waiting for the food to arrive they had chatted about how finals had gone and Emily and Alexa did small talk relating to their majors and the arts department as a whole.

Justin seemed jumpy the entire time. What Emily wanted to know was why.

Did he not have enough money to pay for the obscene amount of macaroni his crush had ordered? Did he realize he was being taken advantage of? What exactly was going on?