Michelle was getting used to seeing Caledon after school every day. After observing their friends’ behavior, they came to the conclusion that it was necessary to find each other after the final dismissal bell.

  “Really?” she’d said somewhat unenthusiastically when he’d first proposed the idea.

  It had sounded like a hassle.

  “Really,” he had replied with a resolute gleam in his eye. “If we always meet up first, we’ll avoid being left out. Look at them. They always go to each other first, so they always show up in pairs. That’s why we always end up being the third wheel in our groups.”

  Due to feeling particurly salty that day, her response had been equally salty. “In pairs—are they socks? Would it kill them to walk with someone else, like their best friend, once in a while?”

  “Obviously, it would doom them to a suffering worse than death,” he’d said, startling her with the vehemence in his voice.

  Sensing that he had gone through some extreme frustration toward this end, Michelle had patted him kindly on the head. She would comfort him like she would comfort her sad future golden retriever.

  “I understand,” she’d said, her tone grave. “Don’t worry. That’s what you have me for. Let’s meet up first thing after school from now on.”

  The resulting smile she’d gotten from him was blinding.

  “You’re so reliable. I'm gd I can count on you."

  She'd rapped the top of her chest with the side of her fist twice. "That's what friends are for."

  "You mean girlfriends."

  "Oh, yeah, that too."

  Today, she went looking for him right after css as well. They met each other halfway in a hallway that connected her st cssroom of the day to his own.

  He greeted her with a question. "You have a shift at the café today, don't you?"

  The unexpected revetion that he was paying attention to the names on the work roster even on the days he didn't work made her eyebrows rise. She never paid attention to it unless she wanted to see who she'd be working with during her shift.

  "Yeah. Are you meeting your friends?"

  He shook his head. "They're busy today. I'm just going to go home. But I can give you a ride there—I drove my mom’s car to school today."

  At the offer, her mood lifted. "Really? That'd be great!”

  Although most amenities in their suburb, including the café, were within walking distance, Michelle was always happy to accept ride offers from her friends since she walked pretty much everywhere all the time.

  “Sure.” Caledon grabbed her hand as they continued walking. “I don’t have anything else to do anyway, and it’s such a short drive.”

  Michelle couldn’t help the smug smile that spread across her face when they walked past people she knew. After they waved at her, they seemed to do a double take at their linked fingers. They would look up at Caledon’s face then look down at their joined hands, and then back at his face again.

  While she’d all but publicized the fact that she now had a boyfriend to her friends and fellow drama club members, as well as strolled through school hand-in-hand with Caledon on several occasions, there still remained other acquaintances to whom she hadn’t had the chance to brag about her change in retionship status.

  “You look like you’re in a good mood,” her boyfriend commented.

  “It’s nothing,” she answered breezily. “Did you start using those coasters at home yet?”

  She was referring to the ones he had crocheted under her guidance back at Hailey’s house a few days ago.

  “I did,” he said. “It’s nice to use something I made. My mom was so happy that she said she wants to meet you.”

  Her ugh came out in a snort. “Just because you started using coasters?”

  “To be honest …”

  At the trailing off of his words, Michelle gnced over at him. He was grimacing as if he didn’t know how to say something.

  “She was very amused after I told her how we got together. That’s why she wants to meet you.”

  It didn’t bother or upset Michelle. Nothing fazed her anymore. Nobody around them understood their retionship.

  “So, like how my parents have been judging me since st weekend?”

  His face was scrunched up in thought. “Not exactly. Didn’t your parents keep telling you it was a stupid idea? Mine just said they’d like to meet the girl who would go along with an idea like that. Now that I’m saying that aloud, I suppose they are judging us … but in an entertained way.”

  She sighed.

  “Better than mine, I guess. They haven’t stopped giving me judgy looks since st week.”

  She would be eating dinner at the table with her parents, and they would eye her weirdly out of nowhere as if she had just done something bizarre when all she had been doing was enjoying her meal.

  “My dad’s taking me fishing next weekend,” he said. “My friends will be there, but I think their girlfriends are going too. Do you mind joining us? We’ll drive you.”

  A little perplexed by his question, she squinted at him. “Sure. That’s why we’re dating, right? Why wouldn’t I?”

  He shrugged sheepishly. “Well, like I said, my dad’s interested in meeting you. I don’t want it to be weird for you.”

  She waved him off. “I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about it.”

  “You really are reliable.” He was smiling at her now.

  They arrived at the parking lot, and Caledon led the way to his mother’s car. Once they were settled in, with Michelle in the passenger seat and Caledon in the driver’s, Caledon put on some music.

  “Is this your own pylist?” Michelle asked, gncing at the small screen dispying the song name. She recognized it as one that was in the pylist he had shared with her at Hailey’s. After she’d gone home, she’d pyed it again while unwinding in her room—she’d enjoyed it that much.

  “Yeah, my mom only listens to the radio, so she lets me put my own pylists in.”

  “Nice.”

  She really did like his taste in music. Not long after he’d pulled out of the parking lot and started driving towards the café, Caledon began whistling along to the songs that were pying.

  None of her best friends or their boyfriends did that, hence Michelle was amazed when she found herself enjoying his little tunes. The whistles were sharp but not shrill, and they matched the pitch of the various parts of the songs satisfactorily. Pieced together, the whistling sounded like a diminutive, adorable version of the original songs.

  It was fun to listen to, especially with Caledon looking straight ahead at the road with a look of concentration, seemingly unaware of his own whistles escaping from him.

  “Your whistling’s cute,” she commented, leaning her head back against the headrest of her seat.

  He made a noise of surprise, gncing at her for a split second before turning his attention back to the road.

  “Really? Oh, thanks. You’re the first person who’s ever said that.”

  “Why? What do people normally say?”

  He shrugged. “They don’t usually say anything, but some of them think it’s noisy. I try not to do it in front of others, but I must have been too used to doing it in the car.”

  “Well, I like it. Feel free to whistle in front of me anytime.”

  He chuckled.

  “Okay, if you insist.”

  They had a brief conversation about the upcoming fishing trip and what to expect—it seemed while his friends and their girlfriends toned down on the physical public dispys of affection in front of his father, they still stuck to each other like glue—before Caledon dropped her off in front of the café.

  “Thanks for the ride,” Michelle said, waving at him as she hopped out of the car. “See you tomorrow.”

  “See ya.”

  She watched him drive off, grateful for the unexpected ride. It was becoming more enjoyable to be in his company.

  Once Michelle headed into her workpce, she put on her apron and clocked in, greeting her twenty-four-year-old full-time coworker Kara who was already there. Kara gave her a quick smile as she worked on the tte a customer had just ordered from her at the cash register.

  “How was school?”

  “It was fine.” Michelle took out a butter croissant from the gss dispy case to heat it up for the order. “Nothing interesting ever happens at school. What about you?"

  Kara's voice was cheery as she steamed the milk. "Well, I'm clocking off in a couple more hours once Nick comes in, so it's a great day."

  Nick was another fellow part-time employee who mostly worked in the evenings until they closed up shop at ten. He was a sophomore in the same school and was in the basketball club, so they hardly crossed paths except for at work.

  "Why so happy?” Michelle teased. “Do you have a date with your boyfriend ter?"

  Kara’s boyfriend came to pick her up from work for their dates every now and then. Michelle liked him. He was friendly and seemed to be very kind to Kara, and the furthest he ever went with public dispys of affection was holding Kara’s hand. This was a couple she didn’t mind being in the presence of.

  Sighing dreamily, Kara poured the steamed milk into the espresso. “Yes. He’s taking me to a nice restaurant tonight. He says it’s a surprise, though. I brought a change of clothes so I’ll be ready.”

  After the customer came and retrieved his order, Michelle chatted with Kara in between customers and orders. Ray and Parker had its busy periods, and today was one of those days. People came and went, a few of them hunkered down at the wooden tables to work on their ptops or read a book, and several orders came in through the delivery apps.

  Some time ter, right as Kara clocked off and Nick clocked in, the windchimes over the café gss doors sounded. Michelle looked up from the milk she was frothing. Barnaby stepped through the doors of the café with the gloomiest face she’d seen on him.

  This was new.

  She’d never met Barnaby here while she was at work before.

  “Hey, isn’t that the guy in your drama club?” Nick asked, nodding at Barnaby whose shoulders were hunched as he plodded forward. “I didn’t even know he could look this sad.”

  That was a testament to how bright and cheery Barnaby was at school. Even when he was down, he often expressed it in a dramatic, almost comedic manner.

  “Me neither,” Michelle said, her mind running through all the possible reasons that could’ve caused this.

  Hopefully, nothing bad had happened to Landon.

  Since Michelle was busy, Nick went up to take his order.

  “Hi,” he said, his voice ft and stripped of emotion. “I’d like five slices of that cheesecake there.”

  “Sure,” Nick answered. “For here or to go?”

  “Here.”

  Michelle’s eyes nearly popped out into the cappuccino she was preparing. That was all the cheesecake slices that were left in the dispy case he would be eating.

  LotteStarburst