Chapter 18

Eleanor smiled shyly, "Joey Carlson."

Taylor was about to take another spoon of her soup, when she stopped after hearing Eleanor's confession. She put her spoon back on the bowl and slowly shifts her gaze to Eleanor.

"Since when?" Taylor asks Eleanor. She felt like her heart had been thrown into a whirlpool, spinning endlessly.

"Honestly, I've started liking him since middle school," Eleanor says. "But I guess, last night I was really sure of my feelings."

"What do you mean?" Taylor ask.

Again, Eleanor forms a shy smile. She then takes a sip of her coffee.

"We kissed," Eleanor says.

Silence fills the air as Taylor's lips are sealed by Eleanor's statement. She felt her heart suddenly messed up, but what made her wonder more is why did she need to feel this way? She told herself that she and Joey are better off as friends. It was for the good of the relationship for the three of them. Yet, if Joey really only wanted to be friends with both of them, why did he kissed Eleanor behind her back?

Eleanor sighs, "I don't want to hide anything from you. That's why, I'm telling you this."

Taylor went speechless. She literally didn't know how to react to her sister's statement. Other than that, her heart is now experiencing mixed feelings of guilt and somehow sadness. With Eleanor having the courage to open up to her about her feelings towards Joey and what they did last night, made her feel guilty that she had been the one hiding her feelings from her own sister. To add more, she had been the one who is confuse about what she truly want, and that her mind and heart couldn't seem to agree on her true desire.

As Eleanor continues to smile while eating her breakfast, her phone suddenly rings again. But this time, it's an unknown number calling. Curious, Eleanor picks up the phone.

"Hello!"

"Hey, Eleanor. You're awake."

"And who the hell is this?" Eleanor asks the person on the other line in her usual sassy tone.

"Fred Anderson. Tim's cousin from last night, remember?"

"Ohh, Fred. Hello," Eleanor says, her curiousity finally answered when Fred told her about him.

"I assumed you would say that. Tim was right. You really are sassy," Fred says in a flirty manner.

Eleanor rolled her eyes at the vision of Tim going through her head. He had to came to her mind on a fine morning.

"Yeah right. And you probably got my number from him?" Eleanor asks Fred.

"Of course. Anyway, I need to check out some of college work," Fred says. "But hey, we should hangout after."

"Umm...ok," Eleanor says, a bit confused that he asked her out so fast, but just went with whatever he was saying. She thought it wouldn't hurt to go out as friends. Besides, she thought that Fred doesn't seem as annoying as Tim.

"Cool. Well, talk to you later. Bye, El," Fred says.

"Bye, Fred," Eleanor says before hanging up the phone.

Upon hanging up the phone, Eleanor continue to finish her breakfast. Meanwhile, Taylor could no longer have her breakfast with a peaceful mind after hearing Eleanor's statement. Questions about her future if Eleanor and Joey starts dating starts surfacing in her head, making her wonder would it affect anything they have between the three of them.

If Eleanor and Joey like each other, that wouldn't affect our relationship, right? Taylor thought.

A few hours later...

3:05 PM...

At The Choco-Chip Parlour...

Eleanor's POV...

I walk inside the seemingly cute-looking choco-chip parlour. Basically they didn't name it "The Choco-Chip Parlour" for nothing. This place literally sells the best chocolate chip cookies in town, complete with their various menus of everything related to chocolate chip such as baked goods and drinks. One of the most famous hangout spots among teens on the block, so it wasn't a surprise when Fred actually told me to hangout with him here.

I start to search the crowded parlour for any signs of the tall boy. Other than his light brown hair, I remember his eyes to be a mixture of hazel and sapphire. At least, that's what I saw last night. I hope I wasn't wrong, but if I was, I would blame Tim's cocktail for my mistake.

As I continue to search through the crowd, a tall figure sitting at the corner of the room caught my eyes. I walk pass the crowd and approach the guy, only to see that it's Fred.

"Hey, sorry I'm late," I say. Deep down I felt uncomfortable for arriving 5 minutes late.

"Don't sweat it," Fred says in a chill tone. Luckily, he didn't seem to mins about my late arrival.

"So how long have you been waiting?" I ask him as I pull out the chair to take a seat.

"About 5 minutes," Fred says. His sharp gaze sparkles again as our eyes meet. I continue to study he seems like sapphire-hazel eyes. Yeah, I wasn't wrong I noticed that his eyes really looked both like sapphire and hazel.

"Still wondering about my eyes?" he asks in a rather playful tone.

"Yeah," I say casually. Which was true. His eyes still got me wondering about its colour.

"Even some of my friends are still clueless about its colour," Fred says, before he continues to look at the menu on the table.

"I see," I say. I then begin to look through the menu as well. I thought about just getting a choco-chip shake, since I'm not really hungry.

It didn't took long for the waiter to come approach us. He took out a small a paper from his pocket, ready to take out orders.

"So what can get I you to two?" the waiter ask.

"I'll have the Americano coffee," Fred says in a casual tone.

"One Americano. And how about you, Miss?"

"I'll have the choco-chip shake," I say in a casual tone.

"One choco-chip shake. Anything elss?"

"Oh, and a bowl of chocolate chip cookies will do," Fred says.

"A bowl of chocolate chip cookies. Ok then, please wait for your orders," the waiter says before rushing back to the kitchen.

Fred shifted his head away from the waiter and back to look at me. We eventually got into some light conversation, just talking about our daily lifes. I learned that he was originally from Minnesota, but went to LA for college. To my surprise, he attends USC, which I actually thought about getting in if possible. He was also surprise to know that I wish to go to USC.

"Well, I guess we'll be in the same building eventually," he says, sounding a bit flirty.

"Haha, yeah. If possible," I answer. Realizing that this guy actually seems cool, I have a feeling we could get along pretty well.

To be continue...