Chapter 92 | A blast from the past

Isabella:

It took another day of bed rest before Lucas and I fully recovered from our cold.

Fortunately for us (note the sarcasm), we had gotten better just as school had opened up again.

The first day back had been exhaustive as always, it had felt as if the student body had barely even taken a step into the school building before the teachers had begun nagging us about all the exams that were coming up shortly. As expected, the school day had dragged on but it was finally over.

I wouldn't be heading to my home, to my bed just yet however, as with school open, it also meant that the mentoring programme Lucas, Mia and I had signed up for was starting up again too.

Our session today would begin at 4:30, but it had barely even been 3:30 when we had left school so the three of us had decided to take a visit to Millie's to kill some time before then.

Lucas and I were seated at a corner booth at the diner, near to the jukebox that was blasting an old 50s tune through the muffled speakers. Mia was seated nearby at another booth, locking face with Sammy who she had dragged here with us.

"Oh God, shut up, this cookie dough has undoubtedly just cured my eating disorder," I moan through a mouthful of biscoff cookie dough, probably spraying crumbs everywhere across the table. I swear my eyes roll to the back of my head the moment the sweet flavours of the desert burst onto my taste buds. That is fucking delectable. God bless Betty. This particular item was new on the menu and she had demanded that I try it the moment I had stepped into the diner. Words honestly can't describe how much I love that woman.

Lucas raises an amused eyebrow, smiling into his milkshake. "Let me get a bite," he says, trying to snatch up my spoon.

I yank away my plate and the spoon clangs back onto the table loudly. "No! Get your own!"

"O-okay..." he raises both palms up in surrender, eyes widened, the amused expression on his face growing at my reaction but he does indeed, retreat his hands back to his side of the table where they belong.

Lucas turns back to his own desert and takes another leisurely sip of his (bland) chocolate milkshake before gazing back up at me again. In the time it takes for him to do this, I have devoured the rest of the cookie dough.

Yeahhhh, I think Betty laced my food with an addictive.

"Sooo..." he grins with a mischievous eyebrow as I try to scoop up every last crumb on my plate. "It's my birthday soon, what have you got me?"

"That's a secret," I mirror his expression.

Lucas pouts. "Don't I get a clue at least?"

"Nope," I shake my head. I try to keep my face schooled as I think about what I have planned for him but I can't help the slight smile that tries to peek out.

"Ah." Lucas points at my lips. "You're smiling," he states before his eyes light up. "You've got something sentimental ready up your sleeve haven't you?"

I scrunch up my nose. How he can basically read my thoughts I will never understand.

"I'm not revealing anything, sorry," I lift my shoulders in a shrug.

He tries to persuade me with puppy dog eyes. "Give me the littlest of clues then."

I shake my head. "Nope. Now stop trying to pry."

"Please?" He leans his cheek onto the palm of his hand that's resting on the table.

I copy his stance. "Nope," I return, enunciating the 'p'.

Lucas groans frustratedly and slumps back down in his seat. "Ugh. No fair."

My lips quirk up into a grin. "You'll just have to wait and see amor." I shake my head amusedly.

What I had planned for Lucas, I hoped he would love. This birthday plan had been in the making for the past week now, ever since that dinner with Lucas' parents. Lucas had told me that night that he hadn't had a meaningful birthday in a long, long time and that confession had just about broken me; that is why I was determined to make this coming birthday as meaningful as I possibly could. I wanted it to be his best birthday yet.

"You know I have no patience," he grumbles.

Smiling, I shake my head and begin rubbing at my mouth. "Okay, change of subject," I grin, "do I have crumbs on my face?"

Lucas slumps back forward. "Yes," he points at the corner of his lips, nodding and I mirror the place on my face.

I rub the spot. "Did I get it?"

"No."

I rub at a different place. "Now?"

Lucas shakes his head. "No. Let me." He leans across the table and tries to thumb away the crumbs before pausing, his eyes scanning my face.

"All gone?" I ask.

Lucas shakes his head once again. "I think I missed a spot." His thumb pulls against my bottom lip, his eyes dilating the tiniest bit. "Mhm, you got a little here," I see a small smile twitch on his lips before his mouth descends on mine.

The kiss is light, with his tongue only slightly peeking out to caress my lips before he pulls back again.

"There," he makes a satisfied noise, "no crumbs."

"Great." I nod eagerly, blinking. "But maybe you should check again?"

A small laugh pushes through his lips but he cups my cheek gently and gives me another soft kiss. Lucas keeps it PG-13 seeing as we're in public but I'm still flushed all over, my blood thrumming through my veins when he pulls back again.

Whew. I need to fan myself.

Lucas however, seems to hold a completely different reaction to our kiss.

My heart rate further spikes incredibly high when Lucas moves away and lets out a shriek, almost toppling over his milkshake glass in the process as he slams back down onto his seat.

My soul almost jumps out of my body as my eyes flick back onto him and then around us to find out why he's screaming.

His shriek is then shortly followed by my shriek when I spot the reason for his said, shrieking.

We both shriek because sitting beside me is Ivy. IVY.

Where the fuck did she materialise from?!?

"Izzy," Lucas turns to me, his mouth dropped open, his chest heaving up and down from the aftermath of his shock, "I don't think my fever is gone completely because how is SHE here? This must be an awful fever dream. Correction, fever nightmare."

I stare pointedly at Lucas before turning back at Ivy to see if she's real and not just a figment of my imagination. My eyes scroll down her frame; taking in her strawberry blonde hair that's pulled back into a french braid, her face free of makeup and her lilac colour coordinated outfit. Ivy fights back a roll of her eyes as I do this and does so with immense pressure because it makes it appear like her eye is twitching creepily. Funnily, this confirms that yup, this is real Ivy sitting beside me alright.

"I was trying to catch you guys at school today but I literally couldn't fucking find one of you at all," Ivy says, clasping her palms infront of her, ignoring both of our shocked demeanours. When Betty comes rushing towards us a second later, eyes wide with worry, she throws Betty a tight smile. "Sorry for their weird and embarrassing public behaviour," she apologises on behalf of us, pointing a finger between Lucas and I.

Betty nods, her eyes furrowing. "You guys okay?" She directs the question to the two of us. I see her eyes quickly assessing us to see if we're hurt or anything.

I shake my head, snapping myself out of the daze and clear my throat. "Yeah," I return. "Sorry for screaming Betty. We're okay."

"Alright then...if you say so." Betty eyes Lucas and I once more warily before retreating back to the front.

I then turn back to Ivy slowly and clear my throat again. "Um...so why exactly were you looking for us?" I tuck my hair behind my ear, still confused. Lucas still sits in his place looking frazzled.

Ivy lets out a huff of breath. "Well..I was mostly looking for you." She confesses, rolling her lips into her mouth. "I wanted to say thank you."

"Thank you?" I repeat, my confusion heightening.

"Mhm, yeah," Ivy nods, fixing the hem of her skirt, looking down as she speaks. "Trent um, got formally expelled during break."

"Ah," I reply, realisation hitting me.

Trent, the asshole who'd been harassing Ivy, Luna and turns out, several other girls at school, had been a hot topic at our school since his suspension last December. After Ivy had told the teachers of what he was doing to her and Luna, a couple other girls came forward speaking about his assholery towards them too. It ultimately led to him and his friends being suspended until the new years. His mother however, had been on the school board that was deciding whether he were to be expelled for his behaviour so it had taken almost 4 months for the hearing to go through and for him to finally leave the school.

"Yeah," her freckled cheeks pinch red. "So thank you for helping me. I bet he would've continued bothering Luna and I if you hadn't told me to report him."

"It's okay." I trace my finger around the edge of the plate. "It's just annoying though, how long it took so long for him to actually get reprimanded for his behaviour."

"I know," Ivy scrunches up her nose in distaste before growing quiet. There's a pause, like she's stuck on a thought before she begins speaking again.

Her mouth opens and then closes before she swallows and continues talking but in a much softer voice this time. "I, uh, also wanted to say...sorry...to you." Ivy's eyes lift to meet mine, taking in the look of surprise crossing my expression. "You helped me when I was an utter bitch to you."

I roll my lips into my mouth and nod slowly.

"After that I felt super bad for the way I acted towards you all those times before," Ivy continues, the tops of her ears tinging red. "Like when I was dating him," she gestures with her chin towards Lucas. "Yeah, also um, I'm really sorry too Lucas, for the way I acted with you, I wasn't a very good girlfriend."

Lucas presses his lips together. "We weren't good to each other."

Ivy nods her head in agreement before turning back to me. "Anyways, I genuinely am sorry Isabella, for projecting all of my insecurities onto you, that wasn't fair of me to do so. It wasn't fair of me to be rude to you when you did nothing to me."

The corner of my lips quirk up into a small smile. "You're forgiven as long as you're never bitchy like that to anyone else again."

"Yeah, I won't be," Ivy tucks an escaped strand of hair behind her ear and nods eagerly. "Not to toot my own horn or anything but I feel like I've been through major growth. I for once stopped to realise that being a bitch is actually really boring."

"Oh," my eyebrows raise as I nod. "Nice."

"I know," Ivy laughs, slapping her palms onto the table top and shakes her head like she can't believe what she's saying. "I am a changed woman."

"Well that's really great for you," I reply honestly, my smile increasing.

"Thank you," Ivy smiles too, grabbing her bag from the floor and slowly standing back up. "Anyways, that's all I um wanted to say." She pauses, a shy look crossing her face again. "No hard feelings?"

I nod. "No hard feelings."

Ivy then glances over at Lucas and I, her cheeks tinged pink. "You guys actually make a really cute couple, maybe it was a good thing I cheated on Lucas if it got you two together." Laughter pushes past her lips. "Am I right?"

Lucas blinks at her, slightly unamused.

Ivy clears her throat, her laughter halting awkwardly. "Right, sorry, too early?"

"Too early." Lucas agrees.

"Ehem. Right well," she juts her thumb over her shoulder, "I better get going, Luna's waiting for me in the car. See you guys at school."

Lucas tips his chin up in acknowledgment as I wave a goodbye. We both watch Ivy leave the diner, the bell jingling behind her before turning back to each other.

"Well that was unexpected." He raises an eyebrow.

I nod, still kinda processing the entire conversation Ivy and I had just had. "How do you think she approached us and sat down without either of us noticing?"

Lucas tilts his head to the side, smirking. "Well, Izzy, we were kinda too preoccupied with each other's mouths to notice anything going on in our surroundings."

"Ah. Right. That's true..."

Lucas laughs and begins sliding out of his side of the booth. "Anyways, we better get going, it's gonna take 5 years to get Mia to let go of Sammy and we can't be late." He points at the two of them in the booth beside us, lost in their own horny world.

I glance over to catch sight of Mia wrapped tightly against her boyfriend. "Oh God yeah, this is gonna take some time."

━

AUTHORS NOTE:

i haven't written about ivy in so long i forgot how her character is supposed to act like so apologies if she feels so different here LOL

also i cannot believe we hit 3milly :,) how did i go from voting chapters from my old wattpad accounts to boost the book to 4 votes all the way to 100k votes :') that is making me dead ass emotional like srsly why is this book the proudest of myself i've ever been ever!?!
anyways, i'm so so grateful ily all so fuckin much.

lots and lots and lots of love - mai x