Laia wanted to tell the asshat that he shouldn't have returned to the ice cream parlor and instead should've just gone to a different establishment if he was to return with his girlfriend.
And he even had the audacity to return to the table that he shared with Laia, even pulling another chair towards the table for Amethyst who upon seeing Laia immediately waved at the short-haired girl.
She was also quick to sit down on the chair that Samuel pulled near. "Hi! I didn't expect to see you here,"
Laia tries her best to remain expressionless and as if she wasn't there because of the same boy who just appeared with Amethyst. "I was interested in the artworks inside and decided to get some ice cream instead of just standing outside like a weirdo looking at the paintings,"
Amethyst chuckles. "You're very funny, Laia," She then points to the ice cream that Laia just finished. "Do you want another scoop? My treat--"
"It's alright," Laia shakes her head. The asshole staring at her was starting to aggravate her. "I still have things to do anyway,"
"Oh," Amethyst pouts and turns to Samuel who remained silent the whole time. "How about you, babe? What do you want?"
Samuel doesn't respond.
"Babe?"
Laia steps on the boy's foot under the table which successfully made him come back to his senses, turning to his girlfriend (or whatever they were) immediately. "Yeah? You were saying?"
Amethyst raises a skeptical eyebrow at her boyfriend (or again, whatever they were) and rolls her eyes. "What are you thinking so deeply about that Laia had to step on your foot below the table?"
Oh. She did notice.
Samuel pinches the girl's cheek. "I was just thinking of how beautiful you are,"
"I already know that," Amethyst rolled her eyes again and pushed the boy away before turning to Laia with a sheepish smile. "He's very cheesy, isn't he?"
"Yeah,"
Laia wanted to leave.
"Anyway," Amethyst beckons a waitress over and it just had to be the same waitress who attended to them earlier. The waitress visibly paled and even looked at Laia with confusion. "Can I get a parfait, please?"
"Uh, sure," The waitress was still looking at Laia with a questioning look but the girl was adamant on avoiding her gaze. "How about you sir?"
The moment he looked at the waitress, Samuel was also quick to realize that she was the same waitress who took their orders earlier and he sheepishly smiles. "A parfait as well,"
"Would you like the same parfait as you ordered earlier? It still hasn't melted," The waitress says with an innocent smile but Laia knew it meant the opposite. "Sir?"
Laia restrained herself from laughing at how awkward must it be for Samuel. Amethyst raises an eyebrow at the boy beside her. "You already ordered earlier?"
"Uh,"
He turns to Laia who averted her gaze.
As if she would help him in the situation that he brought himself to.
This is for being a dick out of nowhere, Laia thinks.
"Sir?"
"Uh," Samuel nods. "Yeah, just get the one I ordered earlier,"
The waitress leaves after nodding to Laia who in turn subtly nods back while trying to hide her grin behind her hand.
"Why didn't you just tell me that you already ordered before I came here?"
"Ame, don't start,"
"Why? I won't be angry, though? I'm just wondering why there is a need to hide it from me that you had obviously eaten here with Laia a few minutes before I arrived,"
The other girl's words made Laia look at the asshole in disbelief.
So the whole reason why he even made the challenge earlier was for Laia to accompany him to this ice cream parlor while he secretly waited for Amethyst the entire time?
Was he finally tired of Laia's company earlier that's why he ran outside out of nowhere without even explaining anything to Laia?
Laia deflated but tried her best to not show her disappointment. She'd rather choke on her own spit than have the asshole realize that his actions affected Laia dearly.
Amethyst was still looking at her boyfriend with skepticism since he didn't respond.
And yet he only did after the waitress came back with the same parfait from earlier and placed it in front of the boy with more force than necessary. "Your parfait,"
"Thanks,"
The waitress left immediately after that and did not even bother handing her customers some tissues after some of the parfait's contents fell on the table.
"What's with their customer service?" Amethyst was obviously puzzled at how the waitress treated her boyfriend.
"Amethyst," He turns to her with a stern look which immediately made her retaliate with a glare of her own. Samuel sighs. "Let's just talk about it later, okay?"
He even had the audacity to glance at Laia who raises an eyebrow at him.
Was he implying that he will be explaining everything one-sidedly to Amethyst after Laia leaves?
No way.
"He invited me to eat here earlier," Laia says. "He offered to treat me to some ice cream after I got a higher score on our examinations,"
"Laia--"
"He didn't tell me that he had plans with you later on and that was the reason why everyone is sending him deathly stares because every customer here and the staff thinks that he's cheating on me,"
Amethyst tilts her head to the side to look at her boyfriend. "Why didn't you just tell me beforehand?"
"Ame--"
"Now everyone here thinks that I ruined your date," She stands from her seat, catching the glances of some nearby customers who were obviously eavesdropping on the conversation between the three. "Call me when I'm no longer your second option,"
She even mimics a person calling someone on their phone before leaving, her heels clicking against the marble tiles of the ice cream parlor.
"Why the fuck did you have to say everything?" Samuel turns to Laia who scoffs at the boy's words and audacity.
"Are you seriously blaming me?"
"Who else?"
Laia couldn't restrain a dry laugh. "Are you being serious right now?"
The boy ran his fingers through his hair, frustrated. "I don't want unnecessary drama with my girlfriend--"
"Then why did you bring her in the same place where you and I were just a few minutes ago before you, I don't know, left out of nowhere without saying anything?"
"I didn't know you would still be here," Samuel shook his head. "Apparently, you couldn't even finish a single scoop of ice cream within five minutes,"
"How was I supposed to know that you would return with your girlfriend?"
"And I even left money for you to pay immediately," He rolled his eyes. "And yet you were still here, looking like a desperate girl waiting for more money--"
Laia's brows furrowed as the painful words continued to come out of the boy's mouth almost endlessly. Her chest tightened and she bit her lip harshly to stop the impending tears which would probably only make the asshole laugh or mock her openly.
And here she thought that they had finally moved past their former relationship and were starting to be good friends.
"If you're only going to blame and humiliate me for the rest of our time together," Laia stood up from her chair and pushed it back to its original position. "then I would be taking my leave because I will not allow myself to listen to you any longer,"
Without sparing the boy a single glance to gauge his reaction to what she said, Laia left without another word.
For a few minutes, she walked around the mall without any sort of destination in mind. She just wanted to get away from the same boy who made her morning and yet ruined her afternoon.
Just as she was about to walk down the stairs, rain poured.
Great. The asshole didn't just ruin Laia's afternoon. In the end, he also contributed to ruining Laia's evening since she didn't bring an umbrella with her thinking that today would be a perfect day not to.
"Idiot," Laia berates herself as she sat down on an empty seat outside a fast-food chain. She stares at the rain that continued to pour outside as if it was mocking her. "Great, how the hell am I supposed to go home now,"
"Laia?"
The girl looked up and her eyes widened at the sight of a familiar tall boy with red hair holding a coke float in their right hand. "Aiden?"
Aiden was quick to frown when he was finally close enough to the girl, even going as far as to crouch down to the girl's level once he noticed her forlorn expression. He completely shifted his attention from his coke float to focus on the girl in front of him. "Are you okay?"
Laia stiffened and reaches for her phone quickly to see if she looked like she just cried. Unfortunately, she did. "Ugh, don't mind me,"
"I won't force you to talk," Aiden says in a kind voice that makes Laia want to run away. "But do know that keeping everything inside would only worsen the pain,"
The girl remained quiet for a while and the boy in front of her patiently watched her without saying anything. He was being true to his words earlier.
"There's someone," Laia grimaces at the way she stuttered the moment she thought of the asshole. "They invited me to eat out with them and suddenly they left and returned with a date,"
Aiden's eyebrow raised but he didn't say anything. Laia took it as her chance to continue. "When his date found out that he was supposed to eat with me earlier she left," Thinking of the situation earlier made Laia's chest tighten involuntarily. "After she left he started blaming everything on me,"
"I left afterward because I didn't want to listen to him anymore,"
"What did they say?"
Laia almost laughed at how Aiden still referred to the asshole as "they" even if she had already slipped and referred to Samuel as a "he". "I don't know, I didn't look back,"
Aiden stood up from his crouching position and offered Laia his hand. "Do you want a distraction?"
The girl glances at the pouring rain outside. "Where?"
The boy smiles in return, almost mysteriously in fact.. "You'll see."