June 2018

Greyland, Seattle, Washington

The Pearl Pantry Diner

Ding! Ding! The sound of the order bell was nearly drowned out by the crowded chattering of college youths. Welcome to the Pearl Pantry Diner, a well-known hangout spot for students in the beautiful, peaceful town of Greyland. The retro styled establishment was covered with reds, whites and browns and waiters and waitresses zipped and zoomed through the mazes of people and tables, carrying delicious trays of sizzling food.

Low music played in the background, and the sunlight illuminated the large windows along with the entire room, the setting sun coloring the sky with orange and pink hues. Cars zoomed by the conjoined, bricked buildings that were decorated for the summer season.

Paige amusingly sat at the booth with her friends, Danny, Louis, Allen and Randy, as she watched their usual heated debate unfold between them. Feeling the heat from outside slowly creeping in, Paige tied her long braids into a ponytail with a black scrunchie, her dark skin almost glistened as the light from the windows shined on a side of her face and the parts of her arm and body that weren't covered by her short sleeved crop tee shirt and jeans.

"Louis, be logical here. Do you really think we as a society are actually equipped with the kind of technology to even calculate the concept of making time travel possible?!" Danny's pale freckled face contorted in disbelief as he spoke. He tucked away a few curly strands of his chin length, auburn hair, as he ate an onion ring from his plate.

Louis looked up from his computer and raised an eyebrow with a thin smirk. "Ummm, yeah?!"

Louis earned a few groans from the table. "Here we go, again..." A stoic young man with perfect styled hair and glasses sighed, without looking up from his notepad filled with mathematics. "Allen, you already know that they have this conversation, at least once a month." Paige said with a shake of her head and a quick shrug.

Danny stopped eating altogether, as he leaned over into the table, resting his elbows as he crossed his arms. "Okay, give me a valid explanation and how that could work-"

"Well-" Louis started, as he closed his laptop.

"Without referencing Back To the Future." Danny squinted, challenging him.

Louis sighed in annoyance. "Why do you always think I'm going to reference Back To the Future?" He raked a hand through his much shorter curly black hair compared to his friend.

Danny chuckled as his hands gestured wildly with every word he spoke. "Because it's your favorite movie, and whenever we have this conversation, you just have to bring up the goddamn Delorean!"

As long as Paige has known Danny and Louis, they have always been obsessed with anything scientific and especially conspiracy theories. But, they were both stubborn and constantly challenged one another. From the outside looking in, you think that these two were less than brothers and more like rivals. The curly haired best friends had met each other in middle school and have been pretty much inseparable since then.

"Because the Delorean is cool!" Louis exclaimed, throwing his hands up.

"The Delorean is an ugly contraption created by a film set crew." Allen chimed in a deep monotone voice, finally looking up from his notebook to look at Louis.

Meet the group's recent addition, Allen Sweeney, the stoic, future NASA mathematician with a generous heart, or at least towards the people that he actually liked. Paige and Louis met him in class and Louis was taken with him, but he wasn't taken with Louis all that much. He also likes to input his opinions on whatever debate Danny and Louis are having, but he more than often tends to get questionable looks from them. But, deep down, they know that in some way, shape, or form, he's technically always right.

Louis huffed. "Well, It's iconic, okay? So excuse me if I use it as a reference every time. You assholes are just too lame to get it!"

His eyes landed on Paige and he jumped at the opportunity. "Paige, help me out here-"

"Nope! I'm not getting into this!" She giggled, waving a dismissive hand at him and taking a sip of her soda.

"Oh come on! Aren't you supposed to be our mediator?" Louis groaned, nearly pouting.

Paige raised an eyebrow as she looked at the both of them. "Okay, when exactly did we assign this role to me?!"

"It's kind of like an unspoken role. Since it's mostly you that has the ability to tame our resident squirrel." Danny explained, as he playfully gestured to Louis.

"Hey, I told you to stop calling me that!" He squealed, his voice cracking as he complained.

Paige rolled her eyes as she conceded to their request. "Okay, okay, fine! Before this turns into a cat fight, and we get kicked out again."

"Which is also because of our lovely squirrel boy." A brown skinned young man with brown wavy hair finally spoke up as he stopped doodling in his sketchbook. He smirked evilly at Louis.

"Watch it Randy..." Louis earned him with gritted teeth, earning light laughs from the table.

Randy Jimenez was probably the most immature in the group and was always into something. His family owned a bakery in Greyland and everyone loved them. More times than he is willingly to admit, he would often sneak his friends some of their products, and he almost never gets caught. He's been friends with Danny and Louis since high school and surprisingly he does a good job of keeping up with their intelligence as well. But instead of wanting to run a bakery or do something related to science, he has dreams of becoming an artist, more of an animator if you want to get specific.

"I'd have to say that I'm very much stuck in the middle on this one." Paige began.

"Aw, dammit!" Louis slinked in the cushioned seating in defeat.

Paige put a hand. "Wait, lemme finish before your tantrum..."

She continued on with her verdict. "Although I did like Back To The Future a lot, I really don't see how you would even use it as a good reference point because of their expectations of what the future even looked like."

Danny reacted cockily, pretending to drop bombs onto the table. "BOOM! I win again-"

"But!" Paige raised her voice to catch his attention, stopping his celebration.

"...Of course, there's a but." Danny sighed in defeat.

Louis smirked playfully as he flicked one of his fries at Danny. "Yeah, it's you."

"Louis, be nice." Paige chastised him.

"I have nothing nice to say." Louis shrugged a grin plastered on his face.

"Then, don't say it at all." She ordered, fighting back a smile.

"Like I was saying..." She continued on.

"I do think that there is a slight possibility that the government might be hiding some really cool and dangerous things from us."

"Especially if it's a time machine." She agreed with Louis, nodding towards him.

"Thank you for partially agreeing." Louis said smugly.

"You're welcome." Paige replied with a quick smile.

Paige was more of the calmer and nicer friends in the group. She pretty much lived in Greyland all of her life, but she was always pretty shy, so it took a while to make close friends. She found those friends in Greyland Community College. Being raised by with her Great Aunt and Uncle, Donna and Charlie, she decided to sacrifice her acceptance into Seattle University in order to take care of them and help them around with their work, at the famous Greyland local museum, which they built from the ground up. It's their pride and joy and she wants to make it hers too, well partially, due to her dreams of becoming a filmmaker.

Randy continued to draw in his sketchbook as he spoke. "I mean, in a very literal sense, we're pretty much doing it right now." He added, Danny and Louis exchanging questionable looks.

He could see them from the corner of his eye and continue to elaborate. "With every second, our physical bodies continue to age and the present soon becomes distant memories."

Allen amusingly added on, crossed his arms as he settled into the booth's u shaped couch. "Meaning time is linear and that nothing we attempt to do to create a mechanism that could take us back-"

"Would be futile." Randy finished off his statement as he looked up with a smile, pointing to Allen with his pencil.

"See, Al, gets it!"

Louis and Danny stared at him in shock. "...That was deep as hell for no reason and I am very surprised that it actually came out of your mouth, Randy." Louis finally said.

Randy twisted his face in annoyance."Why? I'm literally just as smart as you dipshits. He shrugged as he began to draw again. "Oh, we know." Danny responded with wide eyes.

He resumed. "It's just that you're much calmer than usual."

"Calmer, meaning less obnoxious." Allen added.

Randy rolled his eyes, and Paige defended him with a sympathetic smile. "Guys, get off his back, he's clearly trying to focus over here!"

"Yeah, you heard the lady, I'm focusing on a project." He reiterated, as Paige looked over at his extremely realistic drawing of the building's in view through the window.

"That's pretty." She complimented me with a bright smile.

"Thanks!" He replied happily, quickly looking up at her.

"Can I see?" Louis asked noisily as he tried to get a peek.

Randy swiftly closed his sketchbook, and looked at him blankly. "No, because you're a bully..."

"Was it an obnoxious thing? We're sorry on Allen's behalf."

"Who said I was sorry?" Allen scoffed.

Louis glances at him, before waving him off. "...Ignore him."

Randy cut his eyes at Allen, before speaking again. "And this is exactly why I only let certain people like, the beautiful Ms. Ashton over here-" He nodded at Paige, and they shared a smile.

"Flattery gets you nowhere, Randy..." Danny said, forcing a grin as he scrunched up his nose.

"Wrong, it gets you places with me, keep going." Paige giggled.

Randy continued at Paige's request. "Only let certain people see what I'm working on because you two are either incredibly judgemental or incredibly unserious about everything." He pointed to Danny and Louis.

"The unserious part is literally your entire personality Randy, don't give me that shit!" Danny laughed.

"The very second that we start speaking about Lyla, you go absolutely feral." Louis added. Randy could barely hold back his widening smile, as the table teased him with "oooo's" and flirty whistles.

"You're totally obsessed with her!" Danny said, pointing at his expression.

"I'm nothing but a shameless groupie for her and I'm very comfortable with the fact that she barely notices me." Randy states as he stares off dreamily.

"Not saying that I'm biased or anything, but maybe if she took her eyes off of the muscly, peanut brained jocks over there, and gave you a fair chance, I think you could sweep her, not gonna lie." Paige gave him a silly side-eyed glance with a smirk.

"And this is why you and I get along so well..." Randy gave her fist bump as Louis looked over at the crowded cheerleader's table.

"I don't know what you see in her man." He sighed, shaking his head.

"I mean you're not supposed to, she's my crush." Randy replied jokingly.

Louis only went into detail as turned to look at him. "I'm just saying that this "Greyland's Sweetheart" get-up is growing stale. She only dates sports guys, her parents are super loaded, she's too nice to everyone, and donates to charity almost every month." He counted his fingers, while listing off.

"She's great! Randy said defensively. You act like people just can't be good people."

But, Louis continued to stubbornly disagree. "I'm telling you man, there could be something dark behind those forest green eyes of hers, and your 20/20 vision ass would be too blinded by her beauty to see it!"

Randy scoffed. "First of all, you're one to talk Louis! Everytime Ella gets near our table, you can't help but make googly eyes at her!" Danny excitedly snapped his fingers and pointed at Randy.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"Yeah! The other day, you literally ranted about how beautiful she was and said that she was, and I quote-'' Danny raised his hands and his fingers began to mimic quotation marks.

"A vision sculpted by Aphrodite herself."

Paige immediately let out a sharp laugh, nearly choking on her drink. "He did not say that!" She cackled.

"He totally did!" Danny answered, laughing along with her.

Louis gasped offensively. "I told you that in confidence!"

Danny shrugged. "Hey, I'm sorry that I exposed you but it was just too funny."

"Aw, Louis, you poor lovesick puppy." Paige teasingly pouted at Louis.

"It happens to the best of us, man." Danny gently patted the back of his hand and Louis snatched it away, rolling his eyes.

The table hears the ring of a bell as a fit, blond haired girl walks in, with a dark skinned guy with a coily temple faded haircut and a "Seattle University" tee shirt in tow.

"Hey!" She sang, walking up to the group's table with a sports bag hanging off her shoulder.

"Anna, glad you could finally join us!" Louis said gleefully, making a sluggish grin spread onto her face. Louis silently reached over the top of his seat and dapped up the young man behind her, exchanging smiles with one another.

Anna Weiss. The future Olympic Swimmer. Compared to anyone in the group was the most athletic and no one could beat her in an arm wrestling match, ever. She apart of Danny and Louis' group of friends in middle school and in highschool when they met Randy, they were all known as the town's, favorite best friends. She adopted Paige as her best friend when got to college and the rest is history.

"Swim practice ran over. Scooch." Anna snapped her fingers together and ordered Louis to get up. He obliged and allowed to scoot to the middle of the couch, and sat back down at the edge.

"Again? Man, they are working you guys to the bone!" Paige fussed, giving her a concerned look.

Anna only gave her a light shrug. "I mean, if we plan on winning this season, we gotta put in the work. Although, I'm sore as hell." She groaned, moving her shoulders in a circle to ease her discomfort.

"Plus, I had to find a ride. Thanks again for driving me, Terry." She nodded over to the young man wearing the "Seattle University" shirt, as he leaned his elbow against the booth's seating.

"You're lucky I was on the way here already." He smirked cockily, wiggling a finger at her.

Shaking her hands in the air, she replied with a sarcastic tone. "Yeah, yeah, you're my hero and all that."

Anna quickly reaches over to grab a few fries off of Paige's plate. Her eyes narrowed towards Anna as she watched her chew.

"Tax for being my supportive best friend." Anna teased.

Paige giggled, as she pulled her plate closer to her body. "Hey, get your own plate of fries, before I start taxing you."

Terrance's eyes land on Paige and he gives her a cool smirk. "Hey Paige."

"Hi, Terrance." Paige greets him back confidently, looking him in the eye. Danny looked between the two of them and silently huffed as he rolled his eyes. Danny and Louis recognized Terrance's several advances towards Paige. They weren't surprised that he liked her, but everytime he saw her, he just had to work his charm on her, and for the most part, it would...extremely well."

"...You look nice today." Terrance pointed to her outfit with a pretty smile.

Paige waved him off with a small laugh. "Just a little something threw on, but I'll take the compliment." She dismissed it, but Danny could see that her eyes were pretty much sparkling as they spoke. It irritated him to say the least, Louis clearly saw that too.

"You look...nice too." She expressed, quickly looking him up and down.

Terrance lets out a chuckle and he stuffs his hand in the pockets of his green sweatpants "Oh, yeah, thanks."

There's a bit of silence between them as they continue to look at each other and Terrance finally speaks up.

"So, Paige, I was wondering if you were doing anything this-"

Danny loudly clears his throat and interrupts. "Terrance, didn't you come over here to talk to Louis?"

"Huh?" Terrance pulls his eyes away from Paige and looks at Danny. After a few seconds, he realized what he said and perked up. "Oh, yeah! You fixed my headphones?" He lightly placed a hand on Louis' shoulder as he spoke.

"Dude, do you know who you're talking to?!" Louis says cockily.

Terrance raises an eyebrow and points finger guns at him."The greatest tech genius of all time?"

"Damn straight." He answered, opening his bag full of tech equipment and pulling out a headphones case"And I'm a man of my word." He placed the case in Terrance's hands.

"Louis, you are literally that guy." He couldn't take his eyes off the case and reached for Louis's hand, dapping him up again.

"I know, I'm the best." Louis smirked.

Terrance continued to compliment his work, pulling the headphones out of the case.."They look like they're fresh from the package!"

"I even had extra time to put some custom decals there for you." Louis pointed out, showing him the letters, "T.N." for Terrance Nicks on each side.

"You put my initials on them?!"

"Mmhm."

"Like I said, literally that guy." Terrance reached into his wallet and slid a dollar bill to Louis.

"Here, $50. Like you asked."

Louis refused politely. "Nah, man. Free of charge. For getting our future gold medalist here in one piece." Louis winked at Anna and she laughed.

But Terrance insisted. "Come on, you did great work, at least take $25."

Louis pretended to contemplate.."Well...if you insist!"

Terrance clapped him on the shoulder, as he began to walk away from the table, pulling in his keys out of his other pocket. "That's my boy!"

"But, yeah I got a few errands to run, so I'll catch you guys later!" He said.

He quickly turned around to announce something else. "And Randy, I just got three full carts of Optimo comics with your name on them!" He singled out his sleek black truck in the parking lot, just outside of the window.

"No way!" Randy perked up.

"Yes way, I'll come by the apartment tomorrow so you can check them out."

"You better!" Terrance gave him a playful salute as he continued.

"Lou, thanks for the headphones, Anna, please get your car fixed, and Paige..."

His gaze softened as he looked at her again.

"I'll catch you later..."

Paige couldn't help but blush profusely, but she hid it as best as she could. "Yeah.. I'll see you around..."

"Yeah, bye Terrance." Danny said sharply, but Terrance barely noticed as he opened the door, followed by the jingle of the bell.

"Bye, Danny." He called out, with a quick wave.

"And Allen, you should talk more."

"See you later, Terry!" Randy waves enthusiastically.

"Not gonna happen..." Allen muttered, without looking up. The door to the diner closed and the window in front of the group allowed them to see Terrance jogging out to his truck and getting inside.

"Such a nice guy!" Randy sighed contently, and Louis agreed, "Yeah, he's so cool." Anna proceeded to give Paige a side-eye."Was Terrance flirting with you?"

"Yes." The whole table answered.

"It's so painfully obvious." Danny released an exasperated sigh.

"Oh come on, Danny, no need to be dramatic." Randy said with a small frown.

"I'm not being dramatic, I'm just saying that he flirts with literally every girl in town." Danny complained, glimpsing at Paige.

"Terrance is just a romantic guy!" Louis defended.

"Really, you're defending him?" Danny grimaced.

"He means well, we all know that!" Louis said, with the table in full agreement, except for Danny.

"Well, I think he's nice!" Paige chimed in, with a grin.

"And very attractive..." Anna added with a sly smirk.

"Yeah, that too..." Paige hid her blush that was growing again, and she slipped the last of her soda. She tapped at Danny's thigh, signaling to get up.

"But, I will be right back because I have to go to the restroom." He stood up and allowed her to leave. "Danny, protect my food, and don't take anything from my plate." He raised an eyebrow as he sat back down.

"Not even a fry? I doubt you'd notice."

Paige scoffed and squinted,"Oh, I will." She said as she left.

She disappeared into the bathrooms and silence took over the table and Danny looked up to the whole table staring at him. He stared back blankly before shrugging nonchalantly "....What?"

Louis started with a serious look."You know what."

Danny breathed out in annoyance. "Oh, I'm sorry, my telepathic powers of friendship aren't working at the moment." He said sarcastically.

"When are you going to tell Paige that you like her?" Louis asked, the whole table exchanging shocking looks.

Danny immediately questioned "Louis, what the hell?!"

Anna put a finger up and laughed in surprise. "Wait, hold the fucking phone. You like Paige?"

Danny ignored her and continued talking to Louis. "You weren't supposed to say anything about that!"

Louis brushed him off. "They were going to put it together eventually, "Mr. I Wear My Heart On My Sleeve".

Allen chimed, looking up from his notebook."I mean, it's kind of obvious. Because you look at her like she's a freaking unicorn."

Randy smiled and pointed to Allen."Hey, look Allen said something funny."

"Fuck off." Allen stated with a nod.

"When did you start liking Paige?" Anna asked curiously, sitting up in her seat. Danny refused to answer, so Louis took over.

"Well, he told me about it a few months ago," he started. "So, I'm assuming this was going on for quite a while..." Louis trailed off as he stared lovingly at a diner waitress, with long curly brown hair and tanned skin. She smiled brightly as she jotted down the orders of a family adjacent from their table.

"Speaking of looking at women like they're unicorns..." Allen says with a huff as he continues his math work. The group look at Louis as he continues to gawk at her, barely moving a muscle.

Even when he was in middle school, Louis had never been in love with anything but his computers and tech gear. But, then he met Ella Smith-well, he just simply looked at her, if we're being honest. But, eventually he did get up the courage to talk to her in his first year and it didn't take him that long to realize that he was "head-over-heels" in love with her. Unfortunately, he never had a chance with her, courtesy of her simple minded ex-boyfriend, Zack Kierney, who was the captain of Seattle University's football team. They had been on and off for years, but there have been rumors that they were completely off, and for Louis' sake...for good, this time.

"I swear this man doesn't know how to function any time she's like two feet away from him." Danny mutters frustratingly, reaching over to snap loudly in Louis' face.

"Hey! Louis!" He called, trying to get his attention, but to no avail. Randy eventually chimed in, reaching across Anna to shake his shoulder. "Squirrel boy, stop staring at her like an idiot!" But it was still no use.

As she left the family's table, twirling the pencil in her hand, his eyes still followed her. She walks to the diner's counter and she pulls the sheet of orders out of her notepad and slides it to one of the chefs.

Anna shakes her head, and crosses her arms and she looks at him. "He is really in his own little world, isn't he?"

Randy gave her an evil look as an idea popped into his head. "I know just the thing that'll bring him back to reality!"

As Ella was taking off her apron and hanging on the rack, Randy cups his hand around his mouth and calls out to her.

"Hey, Ella! Over here!" Her attention immediately shifts to their table and she gives him a grin with a thumbs up, as she begins to walk over. Louis immediately slaps Randy in the back of the head and he hisses in pain, the table bursting into laughs, except for Allen who's only fighting back a wide grin.

"Dude, why the hell would you do that?!" Louis snarled, his jaw clenching in anger.

Randy could help but find some amusement in his reaction, giving him a silly grin. "I did you a favor, she's walking over here now!" He pointed towards her.

"Hey, you guys!" Ella's clear English accent was like music to Louis' ears as she neared the table. Fear and embarrassment washed over him."Shit." He mumbled under his breath, quickly replacing it with a fake smile.

"What's going on?" She asks.

Randy looked at Louis teasingly as he explained. "We just called you over because we saw that you were going on break and we wanted to talk to you."

Paige finally came back from the restroom and when she looked up and saw Ella at the table she immediately knew what to do....start ruthlessly teasing Louis about it. She came closer to the table as Randy spoke and started making funny hearts with her hands at Louis behind Ella.

She stopped just in time, as Ella turned her head towards her.

"Hey, Paige!" Ella happily greets with a hug, and Paige wiggles her eyebrows at Louis, causing him to pinch his nose in frustration.

"Ella! How are you?"

"I'm doing alright! Just working, of course."

She sits down back in her spot and she motions for Ella to sit beside her, subtly winking at Louis. As she sits down, she looks straight at him.

"Hey Louis..." She greeted him with a shy smile. "Hey..." Louis said with a nervous grin, nearly breathless as he greeted her back. He avoided looking at her to hide his growing blush, as Randy spoke.

"Sooo, Ella, what are your plans for the summer?"

"Oh nothing much really." She sighed.

Louis looked at her in bewilderment, tilting his head. "Wait, so you're not going back to Wales to see your parents?" He asked.

"Not this summer. They went on a couple's retreat in Bora Bora to work on their marriage or whatever." She huffed as she sat back. "So I'll be stuck here in Greyland working, part time and being a community college student, full time."

Paige lightly hit her shoulder with the back of hand in agreement. "Same here, sister. I'll mainly be helping Aunt Donna and Uncle Charlie with stuff for the museum all summer, so I won't really have time to do summer classes." She explained.

There was also something that wanted to tell the group but she didn't know how they would react. She distractedly played with the straw in her glass, bending nervously as she spoke again. "Plus...Aunt Donna got me a job to make a documentary film on Greyland, courtesy of the mayor.

The entire group stared at her with wide eyes, gasping, as they all began to react excitingly.

"Wait, what?!" Anna exclaimed, a big smile on her face.

"Yep!" Paige giggled.

"When were you gonna tell us?! That's big news!" Danny stated happily.

Paige raised a brow as she sat up in her seat. "Compared to you three getting internships from the most prestigious integrated science facility in the country? Yeah this documentary is just a small feat." She pointed at Danny, Louis and Randy.

"Paige, you're about to collab with the fucking mayor, are you kidding?!" Louis said.

Allen was even a bit content with Paige's news. "She wanted you out of everyone in Greyland, you should be proud." He said with a small smile.

She let out a sigh of relief. "Thanks guys."

"But back to the real geniuses of the group-" She looked at Danny, and the others again.

"Aww, stop it with the flattery!" Randy said amusingly, waving a dismissive hand.

"Yeah, what he said." Danny agreed.

But, Paige ushered them along. "Go on, tell us about internships!"

Louis decided to speak up and explain. "All of us know that Randy and I are going for computer science, but Danny's doing chemistry so he'll be in a different sector from us. The facility building is conjoined and it has different sections according to the type of science, it's actually really cool!" He stated.

He continued on. "I initially got accepted and the facility said that I could send out a few recommendations, so that's how Randy and Danny got in. I could've sent one more actually, but everyone else has different majors from us."

"What about Allen?" Ella asked, turning to him.

"I'm a math major," Allen said, "but I decided not to do any internships this year, because I'm doing summer courses to graduate early."

"Well, at least we can be summer course buddies!" Ella exclaimed, sidling up to him with a toothy grin, and for the first time Allen was actually taken aback by her statement.

"Oh, ummm...yeah." He paused. "We can set up a group chat if you want, and if you have a hard time with any math, you can come to the apartment. I'll tutor you." He offered.

Danny, Louis and Randy stared at him with surprised looks.

"...That was strangely sweet of you to say Allen." Louis stated in confusion, his brows knitting together.

Allen scoffed. "What? She's a friend, of course, I'll help. I'm not a complete douchebag."

Randy decided to try his hand at asking Allen nicely. "Well, could you help me study, Allen?"

Allen looked him straight in the eyes and rejected him. "Randy, we aren't friends, I tolerate you."

"Damn...that hurt." Randy mumbled, shifting awkwardly in his seat.

"Well, who are your friends then?!" He asked with an attitude.

"Ella, Paige, Anna and sometimes Danny and Terrance, rarely Louis." Allen said.

Louis almost sputtered at his words."Rarely? Then why do you keep me around then?!"

"You're useful, I respect that. And you're funny, sometimes." He explained, back to his monotone expression.

"Well, I'll take what I can get, I guess." Louis huffed.

Ella gives Allen a frown, lightly poking his arm. "Aw, Al. Be nice to Louis, will you? For me?" She playfully looks at him with puppy dog eyes and Allen only sighs.

"I can only try..." He mutters.

"That's the spirit!" She cheers, giving him a quick pat on the back.

Allen surprisingly lets out a small chuckle.

Ella nearly jumped out of her seat as a thought popped into her. "Oh, Anna, I heard about the swim meet coming up from Cara. I bet you're super excited!" She grinned widely, and her happiness was contagious enough having Anna smiling as well.

While they talked, Randy swiftly pulled out his phone and sent a text. Soon after Louis' phone vibrates in his pocket, as he reads the message and quickly texted him back.

Randy:

I just had a crazy idea!

Louis:

Stupid crazy or mind-blown crazy?

Randy:

MIND-BLOWN. And my ideas are NEVER stupid.

Louis:

I highly disagree. And why are you texting me?

Randy:

Because it's a secret!

Louis:

What is it, Randy?

Randy:

Okay, HEAR ME OUT. GIVE YOUR LAST RECOMMENDATION TO ELLA.

Louis:

HELL NO.

Randy:

Please, mannn.

Randy:

....Fuck it, imma tell her.

Louis: NO.

"Yeah, I am!" Anna confirmed, with a relaxed smile, followed by a light groan as she stretched. "Practice is surely whooping my ass though. All I need right now is a hot bath and some Epsom Salt because my legs are killing me."

"Oh I know! Ella agreed, with a sympathetic look. But, she perked up afterwards. "But it'll be worth it, when you guys are on a winning streak!" She said, putting up her hand and Anna giving her a high five.

"You got that right!"

"Hey, Ella!" Randy sang as he quickly glanced at Louis, who was giving him a deathly stare, as he mouthed, "Stop. Now."

"Yeah?" She quickly turned her head to him.

"What's your major again?"

Randy asked, the amusement in his voice only being noticed by Louis as he continued. "Computer Science?" Ella answered in a puzzled tone, assuming that Randy and the entire group knew what her major was already. "Why?" She let out a short giggle.

"Well, I was thinking that maybe Louis could give you his recommendation for his internship?" Randy suggested immediately, looking at Louis as well as everyone else at the table. Louis quickly stopped gritting his teeth and replaced it with a forceful smile.

Ella was shocked at his suggestion, "Louis, you'd...do that?" She questioned nervously, with a small shy smile tugging at her lips.

Louis was almost speechless.."Ummm..." All eyes were on him and he knew couldn't say no to her. That would surely make him look like a monster, he thought. He gulped and eventually gave in.

"Of course! His voice cracked under pressure, but he quickly covered it up with a small laugh. His cheeks began to hurt due to his forced smiling. "You know me, I can't leave a smarticle particle behind...!" He cringed in his head, regretting his choice of words.

Ella smiled. "Oh my God, I don't know what to say..." He could see that she was happy about the invitation, and she bursted into cheers, turning to Paige. "I'm actually going to California for my very first internship!" Paige and her jumped and squealed in their seats.

Louis gradually became more apprehensive as he thought about her joining them. "Yeah... it's gonna be so much fun..." His smile finally faltered, but Ella barely noticed as another waiter called out to her.

"Hey, Ells! Come here, for a sec!"

"And that's my cue!" Ella stood up from the booth with a bright smile.

"But, listen, thank you so much for the recommendation, Louis!" Louis almost bursts from happiness as Ella wraps her arm around his neck and hugs him while he sits down

"Oh! Um yeah, no problem!" He says in surprise, feeling his cheeks burning as his friends stare with proud faces.

"I know you just got a new phone, so you can ask Allen for my number and I'll just write down my email address, so that you can video chat with me too!"

She said to him as she scribbled her email onto a sheet of her notepad and handed it over to Louis. He takes it sheepishly, avoiding her eyes as he hides his blush. She backed away from the table as said bye to everyone.

"Al, don't forget to send him my number." She reminded him.

"Already sent." Allen stated quickly, still focusing on his work.

"And that's why you're my favorite." She complimented.

"I'll just add you to our group chat tonight, so we can catch you up on the internship." Louis said, finally able to speak up.

"Cool, talk to you later!" He watched her as she left and she entered the kitchen, Louis buried his face in his hands as the whole table started to whoop and cheer for him.

"Dude, why are you sulking?!" Danny began with a laugh. "This is your chance to finally impress her and tell her how you feel!"

"Or to make a complete fool of myself and ruin my chances of ever getting with her at all!" He stressed, looking up from his hands.

"She's a computer science major, just like you. Meaning that you guys get to spend most of your time together!" Randy added, shaking with excitement.

But Louis was not in tune with either of him. "You are aware of where we'll be staying for the entire trip, right?!"

"Yeah, with your cool ass grandparents!" Randy grinned.

Louis' lips formed into a thin line as he spoke. "Right, my grandparents, who are bound to embarrass me if I bring home a girl!"

"Well, why not just ask them to pay for an apartment for us?" Randy suggested, earning looks from both Danny and Louis.

"Because Mrs. Brexwerry would literally burst into tears."

"Thank you, Danny!" Louis said, giving him a quick fist bump. "You know the Hoover Dam?! Yeah, that would be her goddamn eyeballs! The moment I say "apartment", she floods the entire airport with tears!" He exaggerated, throwing his hands in the air.

"Aw, dude she just loves you..." Anna gushed.

"Yeah, I wish my grandparents loved me like that." Randy agreed, leaning onto the table, he continued. They think I'm an 'annoying little shit', an accurate quote from my grandpa."

"Well, Randy, my grandparents love you just about the same as they love me, so, hopefully that helps you feel whole." Louis said.

"You know what? It does." Randy smiled as he reached over, clapping Louis on the back.

"Thanks, man."

Anna huffed, as Louis finished his rant

"Alright, enough of this sappy stuff, I'm ready for some grub!"

"I mean, most of us ate before you got here Anna, so you're on your own." Paige gestured to the empty plates of food on the tables.

"Well, we could have dessert!" Randy proposed happily.

"Ummm, with what fucking money?!" Danny asked, looking around with wide eyes.

Randy waves a dismissive hand as he lays on his back against the couch. "We'll just put it on Louis' tab. His grandparents will just replace the money anyway."

Louis gives a look of disappointment. "Wow, Randy. When I see them in a few weeks, I'm definitely going to tell them how you took advantage of their high economic stat

us."

Randy only put his hands up defensively. "I literally only have ramen back in that apartment, so I gotta do what gotta do! They'll understand and hopefully, your grandma will keep making me a plate twice as big as yours, you toothpick." A goofy smirk was plastered on his face, as Louis crinkled up a paper towel and threw it at him. Randy effortlessly caught it. "Gotta try harder than that to get me, squirrel boy."

"Yeah, okay, whatever." He rolled his eyes.

Randy waves at their waiter and gets his attention. "Hey, Chris, right?"

"Yeah, we're ready for dessert!"