chapter fourteen

~ N O W ~

Clamping my hands over my ears as a loud noise momentarily deafens me, I soon realise that I should instead be clamping my hands over Sarah's mouth – the perpetrator who suddenly started to squeal.

"Sarah!" I squeak, embarrassed but also highly amused as I watch her bounce up and down on her seat, her hands pulling my own away from her mouth before she squeezes them tightly out of girly excitement.

"Oh my Buddha! That is so effing adorable!" She squeals, a wide grin stretching over her face it almost rivalled the Cheshire cat from Alice in Wonderland.

By this point I could no longer hide my amusement considering how much of a child she looked like, bobbing in her seat like that with wide eyes and an even wider grin as she clamps tightly onto my poor hands.

"Seriously, Mia, that shit is like something straight out of a movie or a book or whatever – albeit a little strange, but still equally as cute and cheesy!"

I laugh a little and lower my head, trying to hide the deep blush she'd caused, "I suppose so," I agree glancing up to meet her all-knowing and amused gaze. "I mean, it was pretty sweet."

And so were the things that followed, I thought smugly.

"Pretty sweet?" Sarah echoes in bewilderment, "Mia, honestly, you have struck gold! How many guys do you know and/or hear about that would say 'I want to make sweet love to you'?" She exclaims causing my cheeks to heat up immeasurably and for my hands to slap over my face in embarrassment, trying to shield myself from the prying and disapproving eyes that suddenly shot toward us – once again.

"Did you really have to shout that?" I hiss once my cheeks had cooled down enough so that I no longer resembled a tomato.

She shot me an innocent grin despite the cheekiness that shone in her big brown eyes, "of course; I was proving a point."

I roll my eyes but had to force down a smile nonetheless, wondering – for the hundredth time – how I had possibly ended up with the world's most embarrassing, shameless but funniest best friend.

"And the King has finally brought his Queen her coffee!" A voice suddenly exclaims right before a takeaway coffee cup lands in front of me and another lands in front of Sarah who had yet to stop grinning like a homicidal psychopath.

"See, it would've worked if only mine wasn’t hot chocolate," I smirk up at Storm who slid into the booth, an arm hung casually behind me.

"Who said I was talking about you?" He raises an eyebrow, taking a sip of his coffee just as Sarah took a sip of her own.

My eyebrows shoot up as I fake hurt and shift away from him and his warmth, touching my heart dramatically whilst I was at it. "Fine, I see how it is you bum."

"I'm not a bum," Storm fake pouts shifting towards me as if trying to make it up to me.

"He's bae – he got us our drinks after waiting in line for almost an hour." Sarah nods, watching over our fake fight with complete amusement. 

"Yeah, you heard her – I'm bae," he grins knowing how much that word annoyed me which only made me roll my eyes, mid-sip of my hot chocolate.

"No, you're an annoying little sh-"

"Language, Mia. Wouldn't want the children and elderly to hear you, now would you?" Sarah asks, enjoying this way too much as I shot her a glare before smacking Storm on the thigh lightly for laughing at me.

"You guys are so mean to me," I pout, looking first at a smiling Sarah before turning to finally look at a smirking Storm whose eyes shone gold with amusement.

"You love us," he grins finally before leaning in to give me a quick peck, "we're only messing with you."

I lick my lower lip to hide a smile only to taste the bitter tang of coffee, my nose scrunching as soon as the taste touches my tongue. "Ew, now I can taste coffee," I whine sticking my tongue out in disgust only to have them both, once again, laugh at me simultaneously.

I sigh and pout like 5-year-old child before slouching and leaning back into Storm, sipping carefully from my hot chocolate as I glare outside the café window to my left.

Dropping his arm from the seat to wrap it around my shoulders and pull me closer toward him, Storm presses his lips to my temple gently and then chuckles. "C'mon Mia, don't pout like that; you'll put wrinkles on that pretty face of yours," he says sending me an angelic and playful grin that immediately had my mock bad mood evaporating.

I roll my eyes and look at Sarah who was now leaning forward with her chin on her hands, "Yeah, Mia," she teases, "now finish the story already and get on to the part where you guys finally get it-OW!" Leaning down slightly to rub her leg she sends me a glare considering I had kicked her before she could say another word.

"I'll get there," I tell her sweetly, an equally sweet smile on my face as I put the takeaway cup back on the table to trace the top with my fingers.

"Get to where?" Storm asks glancing at Sarah before meeting my gaze with curiosity. 

"To the end of the story," I say trying to avoid saying it out loud, looking away to send Sarah a warning look which causes her to shut her mouth immediately and then pout.

"Are you two still talking about me?" He asks with amusement, a satisfied smirk now on his face as he glances at Sarah for confirmation, who in turn nods and grins back with way too much enthusiasm.

I roll my eyes for the millionth time today before jabbing him in the ribs slightly, causing him to laugh slightly and drop the stupid smirk as he rubs the side of his abdomen. "It's not just about you, you self-absorbed donkey," I shook my head sitting up again so we were no longer touching as I opened my takeaway cup to put a bit more sugar into it.

Storm looks at Sarah with a mock-sad look, "did you just see and hear that? The way my girlfriend treats me 24/7? Calls me names and hits me as if I'm some stray dog?" He asks dramatically causing me to laugh a little and roll my eyes yet again.

Sarah mock frowns in return and leans forward to place a hand on top of his before adopting a fake pity tone, "oh, you poor thing, you don't deserve to be treated like that. And a donkey? What kind of girl calls her boyfriend—?"

"Oh for goodness sake, why do I even deal with either of you?" I mutter in exasperation causing them both to suddenly crack up laughing and pull their hands back from each other. "And, by the way, I do not hit and insult you 24/7 because that requires us being together 24/7, which we do not do."

Storm grins at me, the kind of genuine and lopsided grin that would have any girl swooning and turned into a blushing, stuttering mess but had no effect on me... when I wasn't looking... which is exactly I was doing since I knew I would become just that – a blushing and stuttering mess even to this day. "That's okay, bae, I don't mind it when you hit and insult me anyway because I know for a fact that deep down you love and worship me," he says cockily, but showing honesty and only slight insecurity once I finally decided to meet his gaze.

I couldn't help but kiss him then.

"You're such an egotistical loser, you know that?" I query once I finally pull away after hearing Sarah make fake-gagging noises.

"Only for you," Storm smirks.

"Okayyyy!" Sarah trails off loudly, suddenly sliding out of the booth while simultaneously gathering her stuff, "as adorable as you two are, I came here for a story, and a story is what I'm going to get." She slings her bag over her shoulder before grabbing my hand and all but yanking me up, causing Storm to all but fall out of his seat too. "And that won’t happen while you're here – no offense of course."

"None taken," Storm chuckles as we had no choice but to follow Sarah outside. Once we got out I turned to him in apology, feeling terrible that I had dragged him here and had him wait for almost an hour for our coffee before practically having to ditch him once he got it for me.

"It's fine," he smiles before I even got a word out, already knowing what I was going to say before I said it, "don't worry about it. I saw a couple of my mates in there anyway, so I'll just chill with them for a bit. Just meet me here or give me a ring and I'll drive you home once you two are done... talking about me," He sends me a wink before leaning down to kiss me only to have me pull away, still feeling a little bad.

"But-"

"No but's, Mia; honestly it's okay. Now go before Sarah rips us both another asshole, what with the way she's looking at us," he grins causing me to glance back only to find that yes, Sarah was indeed already across the road and glaring at us both.

I sigh and meet his gaze again, "okay, I'll try not to take too long; can't have that girl in there getting her claws into you, now can we?" I question, referring to the girl with big boobs who had been trying to flirt with him in line for the past hour.

"Wait, what girl?" Storm asks in confusion, but I was already walking away with a smirk after giving him a quick kiss and a wave goodbye, ignoring his shouts asking about what the hell I was talking about.

God he was so clueless sometimes.