Ava's POV

"Why are we standing outside?" I asked Sara. "Seriously like crap, I'm hungry and it looks like it could rain again at any moment."

"Calm down girl. Don't worry, we're going to get a free meal. Trust me."

I couldn't help myself from laughing. "How are we going to get a free meal. Is this place secretly a food kitchen?"

She ignored my comment as an elderly man walked into the building. Her phone buzzed a few seconds later. "OK, we can go in now."

We walked in as the man at the front desk greeted us leading Sara to ask for a table for two. It turned out we were the thousandth customer that evening which meant we were getting a free meal just like Sara predicted. And because of that, we didn't have to wait to be seated at a table. We found ourselves sitting at a table and both ended up ordering the Spiced Mexican Soup with Limon. As we waited for our order, Sara looked at me with a large grin as if she wanted to mock me or something. Her smiled really stood out this particular night.

"What?" I asked.

She took a sip of her water. "Nothing. Just wondering how your skin got so tanned."

A snort came from my nose with my eyes rolling. "Crap, you weren't wondering that at all. Look at your skin? How'd you get so tanned?"

"I guess it comes from going to the lake in the last couple of weeks. You should know. You've been there."

"Either way, you look so much better than me."

Leaning forward on her chair, her face showed some thought, leading her to take a breath. You know what I've been wondering? Why do you sometimes start off your sentences with the word 'crap'?

That question completely caught me off guard. "Crap, I don't do that. Crap, I just did it. Crap. Sorry. Crap. I have to stop." Such an embarrassing moment.

She howled in laughter. "Oh, Ava. What are we going to do with you?" She found it in herself to calm down. "Have you ever considered starting your sentences with the word poop? Poop, I'm going to be late. Poop, I have to take a poop."

"Eh, take a crap sounds better."

"I guess so." Another sip of her water was taken. "Got to pay our respects to John Crapper for coining the phrase."

"You know he didn't actually invent the toilet?" I blurted. "That was actually Sir John Harrington. Although, it didn't exactly look like our modern-day toilet." Without realizing it, my mouth was just blabbing on. "Alexander Cummings actually had the patent on the toilet. About sixty years later, John Crapper made innovations to the toilet and going to the bathroom. In reality, we should be saying I need to take a Harrington." It wasn't until that last sentence that I realized I needed to shut up.

Sara didn't seem to mind though. "You certainly are the history expert. They should just hire you to teach history and fire our crappy history teachers."

...

After enjoying our meal that evening, we found ourselves standing next to a fancy garden fountain with water coming out of three different spots.

"What do you say Sara, you down for swimming in the fountain?"

She laughed. "No, but my quarter is." She pulled out her quarter. "Have any wishes you want to make?"

She handed me the quarter. My hand trembled as it reached for the quarter and my heart began racing. As my hand took the quarter, I could feel the warmth of Sara's Skin. Her eyes stood out like a diamond in the moonlight. Taking the quarter, I looked at the fountain. There were a million things I could think of, but there was one that I desperately wanted to make.

"What are you wishing for?"

Sweat took over my head with that question. Yes, I wanted to tell what the wish was. I could've put the wish to reality right there on the spot. Dropping the quarter, I turned around and looked at her. With a deep breath my heart running fast, I opened my mouth about to say something.

"Ava?" asked a familiar voice which turned out to be Liam with his date.

I felt a sense of relief from what I was about to do. "Liam!" I gave him a hug. "This your new date?" Seriously, why was he with this girl? Was she a rebound?

"Ava and Sara, meet Leah. Leah, this is Ava and Sara." They all shook hands. "Ava is best friends with Giselle who's Jaxon's Sister," I told her.

"It's nice to meet you both. Sisters? Friends?"

"Just friends" I immediately responded.

"Anyone down for froyo?" asked Sara.

...

Conveniently, a froyo store was right around the corner which required a little walking. We all sat at the table outside with our vanilla-flavored frozen yogurt.

"How long have you two been dating?" asked Sara.

"We actually met at Starbucks pretty recently" replied Liam in a neutral tone. This is our first date."

Crap, things seemed a little awkward. Maybe having the four of us together wasn't a great idea. Something weird was going on between these two. Thankfully Leah seemed pretty chirpy and was able to move the conversation along. Sara seemed pretty interested in what she did for a living and the traveling adventures she had been on. My brain, however, seemed to be in different places as my eyes occasionally glanced over at Liam giving me a couple of weird looks. He was the only one to notice that my phone was out. Giselle would know about this within the next few moments.

...

Liam's POV

Yeah, it was a nice date and all, but I was grateful to be home. Work was going to suck tomorrow. There was some pain in my neck as I found myself sitting on the couch eating the Cookies and Cream Ice Cream I found in the freezer. Sitting on the couch felt somewhat weird and out of place. I soon found myself sitting on the roof with my ice cream.

"How was your date tonight?" Giselle appeared with a smile on her face. "Keeping secrets on me now?"

"Ava told you didn't she?"

She opened her hand wanting me to give her my spoon. Doing so, she got some ice cream. "She did. Apparently you ran into each other?"

"I met her at Starbucks. She was there reading the paper and I found myself watching an episode of Grey's Anatomy on Netflix so I could go on a date with her."

"Wow, look you at you."

"Don't get too excited." I had my spoon back. "It was a weird date." A pause took over. "Here I am writing a book for a failing publishing company with a bunch of has-been authors. Meanwhile, Leah has a well-paying and steady career, lots of money, plenty of vacation time, and friends. Might as well call her Mary Sue."

"Maybe you need a Mary Sue in your life. No offense, but Heather was a bitch."

Taking a deep breath, I responded. "But Leah will always be better than me. Always successful. Always smart. And my book... You know she's actually the granddaughter of Howard Line?"

Losing my appetite for ice cream, I gave her the rest. "No joke? She's actually Line's Granddaughter?" My head nodded saying yes. "Could be worse I guess. I actually stalked Ricky tonight. He was as on a date with his girlfriend."

It was hard not to laugh at what I just heard. "That is worse. Man, you're screwed."

Her finger found itself poking my arm. "Oh shut up. You're just as screwed up as I am."

Giselle burned through the rest of the ice cream in a short time which resulted in a burp. She ended up throwing the container off the roof.

"Ever hear of a trash can?" I joked.

Her body found itself laying on the roof. "Jaxon will pick it up in the morning."

I found myself laying next to her on the roof. Within time, we both dozed off with neither of us thankfully falling off.

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Next Chapter: Liam gets made fun of. Giselle takes a tour of a community college

What do you think Ava wished for?

Should Liam give Leah a chance?