Playing the players

Chapter 6

We arrived at the restaurant in ten minutes. Justin parks the car effortlessly and all of us get out and head inside.

“Looks cozy.” Jace says as he looks around inside and I look at him in surprise. This is the first time I heard him complimenting something. I find him a negative person mostly, or is it just me he is negative towards...?

“We usually come here with Amy a lot on weekends.” I tell them and Amy nods with a smile.

“I like this place too, the food is really good and affordable,” Logan says.

“Then let’s go in.” Justin said, and we walked into the restaurant, which was quite full of people , but we managed to find a free booth by the window. The waitress takes our order while shamelessly flirting with the guys. I don’t mind her, just order a cheese burger with fries and a strawberry shake.

We make small talk and Justin tells us about his school and what I have missed in the last few months, since I last went home for holidays. Jace is surprisingly nice and hasn’t insulted me yet, but maybe because my brother is here.

“Guys, Logan asked me to be his girlfriend and I said yes.” Amy says excitedly and we all look at her.

“That’s great, congratulation.” I tell her with a smile and Justin and Jace congratulate them as well. We click our glasses and drink for the couple. I already expected it, but I am very happy for them. They look good together. Our food arrives as well and we start eating while the guys talk about football. Logan tells us about Jace joining the football team at school and my brother tells them about his team back in Los Angeles.

“I need to go to the bathroom, I will be back.” I tell them when I finish my food, because my face and hands are messy from the burger. I headed to the washroom to clean myself. When I finish, I open the door of the washroom to walk back to the others and accidentally walk into someone.

“Oh… sorry, I didn’t look where I was going.” I told the person and looked up to see a handsome guy, maybe a few years older than me, who just smirked at me.

“Don’t worry about it, doll. You can run into me anytime.” He says seductively and I roll my eyes mentally. I look up and down at him and I must admit, he is really a good looking guy. His shelves are rolled up on his arms and I see a tattoo on his forearm. I know right away what it symbolises. They are small roses and, if I know it correctly, then guys have this kind of tattoo who like to count the ladies they have been with. There are at least 30-40 roses on his arm. That means he likes to sleep around and even keeps a tab on them.

“No thanks.” I told him and started to walk past him but he blocked my way.

“I was just joking, at least tell me your name, beautiful.” He says with a smirk.

“Don’t waste your time on me, I am not up for one-night stands..” I told him with a hard expression.

“Who said I was? I really like you and I want to get to know you.” He says. ‘Yeah, right.’

“Yeah, I can see you are that kind of a guy.” I told him sarcastically and pointed to his tattoo.

“Oh.. that’s an old tattoo, I was young and stupid, but I want to cover it with something else in the future.” He says, but I can clearly see two of the roses on the top are freshly made.

“So you say.. you want to get to know me and maybe even date me?” I asked him while I folded my arms in the front of my chest.

“Exactly, you are gorgeous. Will you go on a date with me?” He asks sweetly.

“Okay, why not? I am with my friends now, but maybe tomorrow?” I asked him with a smile.

“Tomorrow is good, give me your number and I will call you later for the details.” He said and we changed numbers. His name is Cody and he is 25.

“I will wait for your call then, but let me warn you, I usually don’t have s*x with anyone before the tenth date.” I tell him and his eyes widen in surprise , but then he masks it fast and presses a kiss onto my cheek.

“It’s fine, I am not in a hurry. See you tomorrow beautiful.” He says and walks into the bathroom while I head back to our table.

“What took you so long? I was about to go after you.” Justin says worriedly, but relaxes as he sees my smile.

“Sorry, I was talking to a guy. I guess I found myself a date.” I said with a wink at Justin and he burst out laughing.

“Really? Who is it?” Amy asks, and I look towards the washrooms to see the guy walking out.

“That guy.” I tell her and Cody winks at me before they leave the restaurant with his friend who was waiting for him by the door. I winked back at him and turned back to the guys.

“Are you serious? You just broke up with Nick.” Jace says in disbelief and I shrug my shoulders.

“That was …what… three weeks ago..?” I told him, more like asking “…anyway, did you see the guy? He is the definition of hot.” I told him and his eyes narrowed. Justin and Amy know me and they know that I don’t really want to date the guy, he is just my new victim, because he is a c*cky, lying b*stard. A male wh*re who counts the girls he slept with, disgusting.

“Whatever.” He says and sips his coke, but I can tell he wants to say more ,but he doesn’t because of Justin.

“Let’s go to see that movie.” Amy says as everyone finishes their food.

“What do you guys want to watch?” Justin asked as we were on our way to the cinema.

“We will choose when we get there.” I tell them and they agree. Justin parks the car and we walk in. We chose a movie that was going to start soon, so we didn’t need to wait and take our seats. Amy sits down first, then Logan, Jace, me and Justin.

“I wanted to see this movie for a long time,” Amy says excitedly.

“Yeah, me too.” Logan says when Justin‘s phone starts ringing.

“Oh sorry. What is it Josh?” Justin answers his phone.

“What? I am on my way.” He says and hangs up.

“I am sorry, sis. Josh and the guys did something stupid again and they are at the police station. I need to bail them out.” He says apologetically.

“It’s fine, just go. We will do something tomorrow.” I told him. I am sad because he needs to leave, but I don’t want him to feel guilty about it.

“I will call you later, I love you.” He says and kisses my cheek. “Bye guys.” He says and runs off.

“I don’t really understand how a girl like you can have a good guy for a brother like Justin.” Jace says, and I roll my eyes. Justin left, along with the nice Jace. I guess he couldn’t wait any longer to insult me.

“A girl like me?” I asked him with narrowed eyes. Amy and Logan are flirting with each other, so they don’t really pay attention to us. Jace turns to me with a hard expression.

“Yeah, a sl*t, a spoiled brat who gets everything she wants in her whole life, not caring if she hurts someone in the process.” He says sternly.

“So that’s what you think about me, huh?” I asked him while I tried to hide how much his words hurt me.

“That’s what I see,” he says with a shrug.

“Well… I don’t give a f*ck about your opinion, since you don’t know sh*t about me or my family. Who do you think you are to judge me?” I asked him but I didn’t wait for him to answer and decided to walk out to buy some popcorn before the film started. That would give me time to calm down a bit.

‘That stupid b*stard needed to open his mouth again , he didn’t even wait for my brother to walk out of the room.’ I thought to myself as I walked to the popcorn stand while taking deep breathes to calm myself down.

After my break up with Collin, I had panic attacks often because of the heartbreak. A few times I was crying so hard, I couldn’t breathe. Since then, when something upsets me to the level I am sobbing, I get a panic attack, so I need to be careful and calm myself down as soon as I feel like choking.