Elijah arrived about thirty minutes after me. I spotted him from my seat, but I kept my head down to avoid eye contact. Our conversation earlier in the morning left me feeling unconvinced that he didn't despise me.

Unfortunately, our gazes met as he approached my booth. I saw his expression shift from relaxed to mild irritation that he did not bother to hide once he sat. God, why is he so cute when he's annoyed?

I quickly realized that he was glaring at the large coffee cup that I had paired with my notes. He placed his own green tinted drink beside mine and folded his hands in front of him.

"What's that?" I asked, jutting my chin towards his drink.

"It was supposed to be your reward for staying away from coffee," He replied pointedly.

"No, I deserve this," My hand was quick to cover my cup in defense. "I woke up feeling like crap and I basically had to fight Elaine to make it for me."

"Why don't you try this instead?" He pushed his green iced drink towards me.

My features wrinkled as I pushed his drink back. "No thanks," Elijah inched it back over, without saying anything. "I don't like matcha," I shrugged.

"You haven't tried this matcha," He insisted, pushing my work aside to get the drink even closer to my face. "Take one sip," He urged quietly.

Pouting, I grabbed the drink and sucked on the straw hard enough to get the liquid close to my tongue. "It tastes gross." I hadn't tasted anything but plastic, but I knew myself. I hated matcha.

"You are so fucking immature," Elijah shook his head in disbelief. "I'm not stupid," He narrowed his eyes as he leaned forward on the table, taking my coffee. "Take a real sip or your coffee goes in the trash," He challenged me.

"It was like 4 bucks!" I pleaded softly.

"I didn't pay 5 to watch you play in my face," He quickly retorted.

Eli's warning seemed a bit too serious for comfort. "Fine!" I whispered loudly. Closing my eyes, I took a long sip of the drink. Pleasantly surprised at its sweet yet earthy flavor, I leaned back in my seat.

This is matcha?

I took another sip as if the flavor would change. "That's what I thought," Eli commented. My eyes opened to see a smug looking man sitting across from me. "Who put you on?" His smirk was infuriating because he knew he was right.

"Where'd you order this?" I ignored his question.

"Java Jones, two doors down from 7-11," Eli stretched in his seat before fully relaxing.

"What is this?" I asked as I took a long sip.

"Iced matcha latte with macadamia milk and caramel drizzle on the bottom and top." He crossed his arms as he studied me, "You're welcome by the way."

"Oh, sorry, thank you." I gave him an apologetic smile as I began to obsessively sip my new favorite drink. "Ready to do some work?" I asked hopefully.

"Yeah, I have some assignments to catch up on," He responded as he took out his laptop.

"Do you mind if we do psychology first? There were some questions in the homework I didn't understand." I asked sheepishly.

"Let's do it," He smiled.

We spent an hour working as we went back in forth discussing the concepts we learned about in class. Elijah was the first to tap out. "Break?" He asked as we finished up another question on the assignment.

I nodded and shut my notebook. He stood up and motioned for me to follow him."I gotta clock in for my shift."

I frowned. "Oh, do you have to go to work now?" Despite how uneasy I originally felt earlier this morning, I didn't want our time to be over.

"It's that time of the day where I bother my favorite sister," He smiled as he waited for me. "You can shadow me for this one." I chuckled softly and stood up, ready to follow him anywhere.

The cafe was empty as usual on a weekend. Many students go home or sleep in on weekends. Elaine leaned over the counter, engrossed by whatever she was looking at on her phone. I quickly connected the dots.

Eli cleared his throat, catching her attention. Immediately she rolled her eyes at the sight of us. "I swear you and your bum ass friends bother me like clockwork." She made eye contact with me for a bit before shaking her head, "Now you've got this one in on it too?"

"I'm just here for a snack," I raised my hands in defense. I didn't want to feel Elaine's wrath.

"You know she came here begging me to give her coffee like a damned crackhead? " She glared at me. "Put her on a fucking leash."

My chest felt hollow as Elaine aired out my dirty laundry. "That's crazy," Eli started. "As soon as we get back I'm throwing that shit out."

I tried to keep my gaze forward, avoiding both of their pointed glares. "I-I told you guys," My defense started weakly with my nervous stutter. "I woke up feeling like shit—"

"Oh my god here she goes again." Elaine rolled her eyes.

"Shut the hell up." Eli snapped.

I shrunk back and looked between the two of them. "You guys are mean..." I mumbled as I turned to look at the other items in the cafe.

I picked out a big bottle of water, as per Eli's forceful suggestion. I grabbed a bag of chips and a croissant. As I brought my items to the register, Eli swiped the items from my hands.

"It's fine, I can pay," I grabbed his arm to halt his movements.

"Just take it." Elaine sighed miserably as she shut off her phone and leaned on the counter to stare at us.

"So y'all fucking or what?" Eli and I both froze in our tracks as we processed his sister's question.

"No." We both agreed on this sentiment. I moved away from Eli and released his arm quickly.

"You don't have to hide it from me. I saw the way my little brother was eyeing you last night." She smirked as she teased us. "You guys probably fucked on that casting couch after we all left."

No, but we were really fucking close.

"Oh God, shut up." Eli sounded exasperated as he picked up my items and dragged me out of the cafe by my arm.

"I'm happy you're finally moving on." Elaine yelled uncharacteristically full of glee.

As he pulled me up the stairs I gathered the courage to say what was on my mind. "You okay?"

Her turned and gave me a lopsided smile as we reached our booth. "I'm fine."

This sudden change of pace gave me the confidence to ask what had been on my mind since I woke up. "Is everything okay between us? I know I might have made things weird last night."

"What do you mean?"

"You know...when I...when we—" He avoided eye contact with me as I continued.

"Yes, I remember." He said flatly. "We're all good, don't worry."

"Thanks, I really appreciate that." I gave him a small smile. "If I can be honest, I'm feeling a little confused. You told me before that—"

"I know what I said."

"So what are we?"

"We're still friends."

After a while, I looked at him. Elijah was deep in thought as he looked over his work. "If I hadn't stopped you last night," I paused, choosing my next words carefully. "Would things be different?"

Eli stopped his work to look up at me. He pursed lips before he answered. "I guess we'll never know."