Adventures In Murder Chasing (Funeral Crashing #3) (2 page)

I ended the call and took a deep breath. Whoa. I had almost said the words I love you. Whoa. Double whoa. What was wrong with me? We had only been dating a few weeks and it was way too soon to say those words. I mean, I definitely like liked Ethan, but love? That was a big deal. Sure, we had been through a lot, but...whoa. It was a really, really big deal to say those words. I'd have to be careful. I mean, I didn't want to end up in one of those awkward moments where I said it and Ethan looked at me like, "Um, yeah, you're okay. I like you and stuff." That would be the worst thing ever, like mortifying beyond belief and soul crushing. I mean, I love... I mean, I like liked Ethan. Yeah, I just like liked him. What was wrong with me? It had to be Ariel ex-bff nerves. Yeah, that was it.

I was almost glad to arrive at Wired, so I wouldn't have a chance to think more about Ethan and the big L word. I mean, we had just become boyfriend and girlfriend. It was way too soon to be thinking about that. Right? I almost wanted to ask Ariel, but I wouldn't. I so didn't trust her not to blab my dilemma to Ethan. Ariel and I weren't rekindled bffs yet. It was just milkshakes. Right?

I got there first. I wasn't sure if I should go up to the counter and order my peanut butter banana milkshake or wait for Ariel to arrive. I waited a minute. Ariel didn't show and I was about to start pacing. Everyone's drinks looked amazing. Okay, I couldn't wait. The idea of a peanut butter banana milkshake and not having it in my hands was too much for me. Plus I was a little stressed about the Ariel and Ethan dilemmas waging war inside my head. Life used to be so much simpler. I walked up to the counter and was surprised to see quiet girl Suzie Whitsett taking orders.

"Suzie? What are you doing here?" I asked, stepping up to the register.


"It's my new job," Suzie said. "Kyle and I are saving up for prom. I know it's like six months away and it's only junior prom, but we want to do it right, you know? Limos cost a lot of money and I want a really great dress."

Suzie and Kyle had been snuggling up together just before and right after Chemistry class, so I was a little behind on their couple gossip because I had felt way too awkward to talk to them when they were all googly over each other. It made me think, though - were Ethan and I going to go to prom? Should we be planning and saving up too? If we went to prom, could I say I love you then? Okay, time for me to get back to reality. I couldn't think about that right now. The L word, not to mention prom, required way more thought than I could give them at the moment. I focused all of my attention on Suzie and tried to ignore the thousands of thoughts that were trying to take over my brain instead.

"Wow, that's cool, about prom and working here. They have the best peanut butter banana milkshakes here, you know," I said.

Suzie smiled shyly, "I haven't actually tried many drinks here yet."

"Oh, you definitely have to try it," I said. "Best drink on the menu, although I don't drink that much coffee so maybe I'm a little biased. Still, it's really, really good."

"I'll have to try it," Suzie said.

"Can you two stop gossiping and hurry it up?" The guy behind me said.

My cheeks flamed red and I quickly said, "Sorry. Peanut butter banana milkshake. Large."

"That'll be four dollars," Suzie said and I noticed her cheeks were pink too.

I gave Suzie a five and she handed back my change in a hurry.

"I'll bring you the drink," Suzie said. "It's getting a little crazy behind you. Do you mind?"

"No," I said and moved away from the counter, gladly.

The guy behind me started ordering his coffee, a complicated half-caff vanilla soy coffee something or other. I noticed that while Suzie and I were talking, the line had grown to ten people. Wow, that was kind of embarrassing. How had I not noticed that I was holding a ton of people up? Where did they all come from? There was nobody behind me three minutes ago. I ran to the opposite side of the coffee shop. I was mortified and I didn't want to get Suzie in trouble with her manager or anything, especially when she was still new to the job. Plus, it was super cute that she and Kyle were already saving for prom. I didn't want to do anything that would sabotage their plans.

Ariel was late, like really late. I watched Suzie take order after order and Ariel still hadn't shown up. Speaking of people showing up, wasn't there another employee who could help Suzie out by making some drinks? She was running herself ragged, taking orders and making drinks in between. I didn't see anyone, though. There was a door behind Suzie. Maybe they were in the back office taking stock or something. People were getting upset. I felt bad for Suzie. She was being super polite, but not everyone was being nice back.

I was also really craving my peanut butter banana milkshake. I hadn't eaten anything for lunch and my stomach was grumbling. I hadn't wanted anything to interrupt me drinking every last gulp of my milkshake. Now, I wished I had eaten. I hoped Suzie hadn't forgotten about me. I didn't want to go over there and interrupt her to ask for it either. She looked crazed trying to do everything at once. Plus her customers were looking scarier and scarier, kind of like they'd bite me if I tried to jump in front of them to talk to Suzie, even if it was about my drink that I had paid for already.

"Hey, Jeff? Can you come up here and help me?" Suzie called behind her into the back office after she spilled a frozen blended coffee drink all over herself. At least most of it only got on her apron.

The line just kept getting longer. Wired was a popular place on weekends. Poor Suzie. It was going to be a long day. Her co-worker finally came out and started making drinks, while Suzie tended the register. He must have been the boss. He was dressed too nice to be a barista. I had never noticed him before, but maybe I was just oblivious. He grabbed a Wired apron from the side of the coffee bar. Suzie took more orders. Wired was hopping today.

I really wanted my milkshake. What time was it? I wondered if I should call Ariel. I looked at my cell phone. She was fifteen minutes late. Had she ditched me? Was I being stood up? Should I call her? Wait to see if she called? Leave in ten minutes if I hadn't heard from her? Text? What did I do? In all my worrying, I never thought that Ariel just wouldn't show up. Would she do that to me? Really? I had saved her life!

I pulled out my cell phone, feeling frustrated. I was trying to decide what to do when I heard the front door jangle go off as someone opened it. I looked up. Ariel was walking in like nothing was wrong. She saw me, smiled brightly, and waved. I put my cell phone down, trying to feel less annoyed. I had to be in a good mood for this meeting. I mean, if we were going to be friends again, I couldn't start out mad at her, could I? Still, Ariel could have at least texted to tell me that she was running late. It was only polite. Right?

"Hey, Kait!" Ariel said, like everything was great and she wasn't totally late. "Did you order?"

"Yeah," I said, hoping that Ariel didn't catch on that I was still feeling annoyed at her, even though I was really trying to calm down.

I just had to remember how great it used to be to have peanut butter banana milkshakes with Ariel. We used to sit in Wired for hours and talk over them in junior high, gossiping about cute boys and complaining about classes and talking about things we wanted to do over the summer or on winter breaks. We used to have a great time just hanging out together.

"Okay, I'll be right back," Ariel said and joined the line, which had at least for Suzie's sake shortened down to include only three people.

I took the few minutes that Ariel was in line to refocus. I had to be nice. We were just hanging out. I really couldn't be mad at her already. I had to calm down. Ariel was Ariel and she was going to drive me a little crazy. Ariel had reached the counter. She recognized Suzie. Suzie looked in my direction with questioning eyebrows. I shrugged. Suzie looked back at Ariel and took her order. I knew that Suzie was going to ask me about all of this later. She knew Ariel and I were at opposite ends of the high school totem pole or food chain or whatever. It was weird that we were hanging out and even if Suzie was normally the quiet girl, I knew she'd want all of the details. Then Ariel was walking back to me, sadly, without either of our milkshakes. At least my brain was eager to focus on that instead of being mad at Ariel.

"Suzie says she'll bring them over in a minute," Ariel said, sitting down across from me and psychically guessing my question to her.

Maybe Ethan was right and there was a lingering bff connection between Ariel and I that for the most part wasn't readily apparent. Maybe.

"Cool," I said, even though my stomach grumbled again. I hoped Ariel didn't hear it.

A silence descended over our table. We couldn't be out of conversation topics already, could we? I felt panic replace annoyance. We had to find something to talk about and fast. Um...

"So, thank you again for coming to my rescue," Ariel said.

"It's okay. I mean, you're welcome," I said, grateful that Ariel had taken the initiative and started talking. Now, it was my turn. I went with an old boring standby. It was all I could think of, even if it was totally lame, "So, um, how are you? I mean, after all that craziness and all."

Ariel shrugged, "I'm doing okay. I mean, I took off sick most of that week, just to get my head back on straight. I've been having lots of nightmares."

I nodded. I had gone back before Ariel did, "I knew I hadn't seen you at school for a few days. Do you feel better now?"

"Mostly," Ariel said, "And Troy's been a big help."

"Things going well with you two?" I asked. Was that too fake sounding? Like we never really talked? But we did never really talk. I had no idea about anything going on in Ariel's life. I mean, besides what I saw from a distance at school, heard from someone else, or saw as a status update online.

"Yeah, they are," Ariel said, answering my question about Troy vaguely. "And you and Ethan are official. I never would have pegged him to date you. Great catch."

"Thanks," I said. I knew it was Ariel's version of a compliment. At least, I took it as that.

This was really awkward. Ariel and I used to talk for hours and now we were talking in stilted bursts. It was really kind of sad. Oh no. I think it was my turn to ask a question. What did I say next? We had been talking about Troy and Ethan. Um...

"So, any fun plans this weekend?" I asked. It was only slightly better than my last question and Ariel and I were definitely still on the awkward conversation track.

Ariel shrugged, "Hanging out with Troy later. We're probably going to go to a movie. You?"

It was already my turn to talk again? I felt myself start to sweat. What was I doing this weekend? Why couldn't I remember? I had to think of something cool and fun to say. But seriously, what was I doing this weekend?

Suzie came over with our peanut butter banana milkshakes. She was a lifesaver. At least I'd have something to do between awkward conversation topics and who knew, maybe the milkshakes would relax things and make them feel more like old times, instead of really, really, really awkward new times.

"A regular peanut butter banana milkshake for you," Suzie said, placing mine in front of me and then put a second one if front of Ariel, "And a nonfat milk, low fat peanut butter banana milkshake for you."

"Thanks. So, you finally got a lull in the craziness," I said to Suzie as I put the straw in my milkshake and took a long, luxurious gulp of yummy, yummy goodness. Sigh, heaven.

Suzie wiped her hair from her face, "Yeah. Weekends are crazy. At least, this weekend and last weekend were. There's supposed to be three people here on weekends, but one guy didn't show up today. So, it's kind of going to suck thanks to Gabe, but as long as people are nice I don't mind. Time flies when you're really busy. It's just when they get angry that it's not so fun."

I nodded. Ariel was looking between us. She was unusually quiet. I focused back on Suzie.

"When's your shift over?" I asked.

"Four," Suzie said. "I can't wait."

"You'll make it," I said.

"Yeah, I hope so. Well, have fun talking," Suzie said, looking between Ariel and I and then giving me a look that said she definitely wanted to hear about this interesting turn of events later, "I need to get back up there."

Suzie ran back to the counter. Two customers were already waiting. The insanity continued. Her co-worker had disappeared into the back again.

"So, you and Suzie are bffs now, huh?" Ariel said, stirring me out of my thoughts.

"What?" I asked, surprised at the turn in the conversation.

I mean, I guess Suzie and I were friends, although we hadn't officially hung out outside of school. She had come to visit me with her boyfriend Kyle at the hospital, but we hadn't gone to the mall or movies or anything, at least. Then again, I had been kind of busy the last month or so with murder mysteries and Ethan becoming my boyfriend and stuff. Wait. Wait one minute. Was Ariel Walker jealous of Suzie Whitsett because she and I were becoming friends? No way.

"Yeah, I guess," I said a second later, watching Ariel's reaction to my admitting to a friendship with Suzie.

I mean, it wasn't completely true. Suzie and I weren't bffs. Sure, we were cool with each other, but it wasn't like when Ariel and I were friends. I hadn't had a friendship like Ariel's and mine since we had stopped being friends. Were Suzie and I on our way to being bffs? I watched Ariel.