Chapter 7

My entire week is spent at work and school, and with my mind constantly busy, I don't have the time to feel bad about myself or think about the past. Throughout the entire week, I've only seen Jaxon once when he gave me a tour around the place and then left me to my other co-workers. When I asked them about Jaxon, they just shrugged and said that he comes and goes when he wants to, and that was it, after that I never heard his name again. I pick up a tray with a cup of tea and cookies in it and set it next to a customer who hides his face in a book. I turn around and am about to leave when he speaks up.

"Umm...sorry but I think this is the wrong order." I turn around and am surprised to see a boy around my age with sparkling blue eyes and close cropped light brown hair. He has got to be one of the most attractive man I've ever seen. He must have mistaken my awestruck face to be confusion as he continues, "I ordered coffee and a croissant, not black tea and cookies." Breaking out of my trance, I look down at the receipt in my hand and slowly question,

"Ummm...you're not Christen Sza..bo?" He laughs at my poor pronounciation of the last name and I can't help but admire the view as his white teeth flash at me.

"I am Christen Szabo, but I believe that you messed up my order." I hastily try to apologize but he dismisses it and says, "Its okay, why don't you make up for it by going on a date with me?"My mind freezes as I try to process the fact that this really hot dude is asking me out.

"But I don't know you, stranger danger!" I blurt out accidently and then clap my hand over my mouth in embarrasement. Uh god! Why am I so awkward right now? I expect Christen to laugh and take it back but instead he stands and smiles.

"Then go on a date with me and you'll get to know me. What do you say?" He extends his hand and continues, "Hi, my name is Christen Szabo, whats your name?" After a pause, I press my hand in his.

"My name is Cynthea, Cynthea Romero. Its nice to meet you." I stare at his flawless face and smile. We stand there smiling at each other for a couple minutes before I realize where I am and let go of his hand. I turn around and start going back to the employees section but then he calls out my name. I turn my head slightly and raise my eyebrows. "150 Crown St tonight at 9 pm." I go behind the cash register where my co-worker, Eliza was eyeing us from.

"Whats the next order?" I ask but Eliza has other things on her mind and she smirks and wiggles her eyebrows at me before directing a look at Christen who's still looking at me. I try to make my face impassive and shrug.

"What? I was just giving him his order." Somehow I've said the wrong thing because Eliza's smirk turns into a full grin and she hums unconvincingly. "You know what, whatever, you can think whatever you want, it was nothing." Eliza turns to face me, her grin doesn't falter as she quietly says,

"That fact that you denied it without even hearing what I had to say was a big sign. Girl, you would be dumb to not find him good looking, that dude has everything, all the nice features, and from the fact that he comes here to read every week shows that he also has the brains. And, his eyes are on you and you only so thats a big plus, you don't even have to try." As I take in her words, I realize that she's right. As she passes me to grab a tea bag, she whispers, "Go get him!" and I find myself smiling like a maniac. When Eliza sees my face, her face lights up in curiousity and she adds, "I need to hear everything!"Over the week, I've realized that Eliza has a personality like Jenn's and you can't help but tell her everything. She turns to the other cashier, Brandon and tells him to switch with me. Since she's second in command after Jaxon, Brandon listens and takes my place as I take his place as cashier but since nobody is at the counter, I lean next to Eliza as she makes coffee.

"He asked me out-"Before I can continue, Eliza has grabbed my shoulders and is bombarding me with questions. I let out a light laugh and put my hands up in surrender. "Woah Woah. Calm down." Eliza immediately calms down and continues pouring the coffee into a cup. As I look at her, I realize that she's literally become my best friend in this last week, she's the one I've been telling everything about. "So...its tonight at 9pm. It all happened because you messed up the order, and he said that as payment I have to go on a date with him." Eliza is ecstatic as she half yells,

"Tonight? Oh my god what are you going to wear? Okay, I'm coming to your house after our shift ends and helping you dress up." When I try to protest, she puts her index finger against my lip and shakes her head. "Don't you dare try to protest. I can see just by looking at you that this is your first date, and I don't need you messing it up." I narrow my eyes and try thinking of a lie to deny that this is not my first date but can't think of any and Eliza turns around to go greet a customer.

---

"So, do you have any dresses?" Eliza asks as she parks at the curb by my house. I shrug and reply vaguely,

"I don't know, maybe? I don't usually where dresses but I'm pretty sure Mom has some." I push open the passsenger door and step out. As Eliza walks around the car and comes to stand in front of me, she bursts,

"What? You don't have dresses? Oh my god! What are we going to do? I should have taken you to my house to get ready!" As I listen to Eliza rant, I don't notice the familiar black car parked in my driveway. As I open the door to my house, I let out a laugh and say,

"Calm down, Eliza. Its going to be fine! Trust me, he didn't seem like the guy who cares about the way I dress." There's literally steam coming out of Eliza's ear as she quietly shrieks,

"Calm Down! Hellooo, this is a huge crisis!" A laugh makes its way up my throat again but get lodged at the top when I see Hayley standing by the kitchen with a look of hurt on her face as she looks between Eliza and I. When Eliza sees Hayley standing there, she sobers up and extends her hand towards Hayley,

"Hi I'm Eliza Jake, I'm a lot saner than I look right now." Before Hayley can reply, Eliza turns to me and slaps my arm with a glare, "You never told me you had a sister!" Ignoring Eliza, I turn to Hayley and exclaim,

"Hayley! I didn't know you were coming!"I try to go in for a hug but Hayley pushes my arm away and walks past me to the front door. I turn around and watch Hayleys back reach the door and call out her name.

"You're clearly busy, I'll come back some other time."She slightly turns her head looks at me over her, but its enough to see the shine in her eyes and I realize that she's on the verge of tears. She opens the door and turns her back to me but before she can leave, I run over to her and grab her hand.

"What's wrong, Hayley?" I ask in concern.

"Still haven't put it together, have you?" When I stare at her in confusion, she shakes her head and starts turning back around. I lightly touch the back of her hand and start questioning what she means, but she cuts me off and rips her hand out of my grasp. Theres hurt written all over her face and for the first time, I see the most collected person I've met raise her voice an inch as she explodes. "It's the 15th today!"

"The 15th?" I repeat under my breath as I try to remember the significance of the number. I see Hayleys shoulders fall in disappointment before she quietly adds,

"You don't remember. I guess it was really just Jenn, she was the one who kept us together. You clearly had no plans to keep this friendship after she died. I have tried so hard to keep this friendship and everytime I called you, you never picked up. I guess I know why, I should have listened to Blake."I open my mouth in protest but it closes when the realization hits me. It's the 15th! Today was the late night meetup with Blake and Hayley. As I look up to reply, I watch the door swing shut behind Hayley. A couple minutes later, I hear her car engine as it speeds down the road. I feel a tentative touch at the small of my back and spin around to see Eliza with an apologetic face. Her hand reaches up to wipe something from under my eyes and thats when I realize that a tear had slipped my eye.

"Come one, let's go get your face washed," She says softly. I push past her towards the stairs and as I start climbing them, I mutter,

"I don't want to go, I'm going to cancel it." Eliza follows me into my room and closes the door behind her. I sit sown at the edge of my bed and set my head into my hands. I hear Eliza sit down on my desk chair and we sit in silence for a few minutes. The silence gives me a moment to think and just as I am about to pull out my phone to call Christen, I realize that I didn't even get his number. I curse loudly and stand up. At my sudden outburst, Eliza looks up from her lap.

"What's wrong?"She asks as she gets up too. My feet lead me to my walk in closet and I start flipping through my clothes to decide on what to wear. Eliza runs in after me and grabs my hand. "Calm down. What is going on? I thought you didn't want to go?"

"I...I don't have his phone number, I have to go. I can't just not show up to my first ever date!"I reply and I see her eyes light up as she pushes past me and pulls out the only dress in my closet.

"This! This is the only dress you have?" Eliza's eyebrows are raised as she gapes at me. The dress she's holding up is the dress I bought before going to the club. There's still the huge wine spill in the middle and as I look closer, I see a smudge of chocolate or something at the top. Honestly, now that I'm actually getting a good look at it, I realize that its the most hideous dress I've seen. I can't believe I even bought it. Its a disgustingly bright pink colour and it just passes below my butt. Looking at it from this angle, I notice that its also kind of see through and the neck is a huge V-neck. I roll my eyes and grab the dress from her.

"Listen, can I just wear like jeans and a shirt or something?"Eliza narrows her eyes before sighing.

"Fine! But we're going to go shopping later and I will buy you some nice dresses, okay?" I nod my head in agreement and watch Eliza rummage through my clothes. At last, she pulls out a pair of dark blue skinny jeans and a white blouse with lace shoulders and sleeves which she pieces together with a brown braided belt. I push her out of the closet before slipping on the clothes. I exit the closet to see Eliza plugging in my curler. She motions me over and I do so without protest. While she does my hair, she tells me to put on some light makeup. My eyes wander to the clock by my bedside and I notice that I'm already running late. I quickly dab on some concealer, eyeliner, mascara and lipstick. Eliza pins my hair back with a tiny clip and then disappears into the closet for a while. I stare at the closet door in confusion before standing up and grabbing my phone. I walk over to my door and just as I am about to open my room door, Eliza comes running out of the closet with a pair of white stilettos in one hand and a cute brown cossbody purse in her other hand.

"Wait! Don't forget these!" She cries out. I'm about to protest about the heels but then change my mind as I know that its going to be pointless, plus she's already done so much, I should appreciate it. I nod my head and squeak out a 'thanks' before bending down to put on the heels. I sling the purse around my shoulder after putting my phone and wallet in it and turn around to face Eliza. She purses her lips in concentration as she review my look. "Hmmm...It looks good, but it'd look better with a dress." Rolling my eyes, I start towards the door before I pause as I remember something. I turn around and beckon Eliza to follow me. She follows me as I take her into my moms closet. I flick the light switch which illumiates Moms entire closet and makes the dresses sparkle. "Oh. My. God!" Eliza shrieks before running to one of Moms dresses and she looks at the back of the dress. Her eyes are wide as she turns back to me. "Romero's! Oh my god, I'm so dumb! I should have pieced it together! Your parents own Romero's!" I chuckle under my breath and she follows me as I start descending the stairs. I look at the clock in family room and notice that its already 9.

"Bye!" I call out and a few seconds later, Mom walks out of the dining room.

"Where are you going?"She questions but before I can answer, ELiza blurts it out. Mom's face morphes into a look of shock before happiness overrides it. "Aww! My baby is all grown up. She's going on her first date! Have fun!" I smile at Mom before getting into Eliza's car. As she drives to the given address, I don't feel excited like I should have been, all I feel is regret for not remembering that it was the 15th.