{Xavier Knight}

The party is in a week and I'm kind of nervous to meet Amaya's friends.

This morning I woke up and as always, Amaya had already left for work so now I am getting ready.

As I walk out the door I bump into someone.

"Sorry. Oh, hey. Are you going to work?" Jen apologizes.

"Yeah," I nod.

She looks around, "Could you take me with you? my car is in the shop and I missed the bus."

"Yeah sure," I don't really see a problem with that.

We settle into the car and she turns to me.

"By the way, I wanted to apologize for the muffin thing. I don't know why I did that," she mumbles.

"Yeah it's okay just don't do it again," she hasn't done anything since so I'm glad she apologized. Maybe she isn't that bad anymore.

"Oh my god. It's still open," she laughs and I turn to where she was pointing. A café. Well, our café. The one we would go to like every single day.

"Yeah," I smile.

"We should go there again. I miss the cake," she grumbles.

I laugh a bit, "Yeah we'll check it out but I don't think they have the same menu from years ago."

"About that too. I should've told you everything," she gives me a sad look.

"It's okay. The past is the past. I'm glad you are okay now," I nod.

"Yeah. You seem happy now," she mentions.

I grin, "yeah I am really happy. Amaya is amazing."

She turns the other way, "Yeah she seems nice. I feel bad, I've been a bitch to her but she has always been nice."

"I don't think she cares much. I know she doesn't want you hurt but she also forgives people easily. Just apologize if you feel that bad, I'm sure she'll forgive you," I assure her.

She looks back at me and smiles, "I will."

As we reach the office, we both walk in and I spot Amaya immediately.

She smiles at me and her eyes turn to Jennifer, who is beside me.

I reach her and Jennifer goes straight to the back, "Hey muffin."

"Hello. Just on time sir," she glances at her phone.

"Yup," I grin.

"Here," she hands me my muffin.

Jen walk out and looks at us for a second before turning away, "she needed a ride so I gave her one."

Amaya nods, "Good, you shouldn't be so mean to her."

"Yeah, I'm working on it," I laugh and give her a lingering kiss.

"Alright enjoy sir, there are other customers I must assist," she exaggerates, wiping her head like she is sweaty.

I grin, "Yes ma'am. have a nice day."

"You too," she smiles.

"Bye baby," I wave, turning and walking away into the elevator.

After I'm done with my work I walk out to my car and start driving, that's when I spot Jen at the bus stop.

I stop in front of her, rolling down my window. "Come on I'll drop you."

"You're out of work early," she acknowledges when she settles in the car.

"Yeah, I didn't have much work today," I nod and start driving.

"You want to stop at the café?" she grins.

I laugh, "let's do it."

I keep in mind that I need to go home soon because I told Amaya I will go shopping with her cause she needs a dress for the party and she wants my opinion.

We jump out of the car when we reach the café and when I enter I am surprised to see it looks exactly the same.

"Holy-" Jen's eyes widen.

"That's fucking cool," I laugh.

We both go straight to the booth we would sit in whether we were with other people or not.

The waiter walks up to us, "what can I get you?"

"Do you still have the strawberry cake?" she looks excited.

"Yes ma'am, anything else?" he laughs at her eagerness.

"Pancakes," I say my order.

He nods and walks away.

"I'm so excited. I hope it tastes the same," Jen claps.

I laugh and we continue talking about old times with friends and the shit we used to do in high school.

The food gets here and she gets really happy when she realizes the cake tastes the same.

"Oh my god, do you remember the time we almost got arrested," she laughs.

"Yes and that was completely your fault," I point out, grinning.

"I'm not the one who had their phone on loud," she gasps.

I shake my head, "you called me while we were spray painting Mr. James' house."

She giggles, "it was by mistake."

"Okay, how about we agree that it was both of our faults," I stick out my hand.

"Fine," she shakes it.

We continue talking and by the time we are done, Jennifer has another idea.

"Oh my god. We should go to the abandoned house," she screams.

I agree and we start driving there. About thirty minutes later we arrive.

"I'm scared," Jen whispers as we enter the house.

We walk upstairs and the creaking of the stairs makes us both skeptical. We used to come here with the group every day after the café and we would hang out here.

We sit in one of the rooms and it still looks the same. It was a built house but the paint was chipping everywhere and no one had lived here in years cause the owner died. the owner's son didn't want anything to do with the house and refused to sell it so it was just... there.

"I remember hiding here when the police were chasing us," she laughs.

I smile, recalling the time; Me, Dante, Enzo, Kayla, and Jennifer had run from the cops because we were wrecking our principles car. In our defense, he was sexist and also racist plus he was just an ass.

Thankfully though the cops didn't see our faces and we ended up hiding here till the next morning.

"Where is Kayla, by the way? I haven't seen her since we broke up," I ask. Kayla and Jennifer were best friends and we had formed a group in freshmen year of high school. Jennifer and I started dating during the last year of high school and it was a surprise to everyone.

"She is married to some guy in London and she has two kids," she informs.

My eyes widen, "Holy shit. I would expect her to be the last person to settle down."

"Yeah. She called me like a year ago and told me. I am happy for her," she laughs.

I nod agreeing. Kayla was the craziest out of all of us, she would be at every party and would do the dumbest shit. She was fun though, I don't think I have ever, not had fun when hanging out with her.

While we talk about everything I notice that it's super quiet out. No cars, no people, just complete silence.

I look at the time and realize it's two in the morning and I grab my phone to see many calls and messages from Amaya. Shit.

"We need to leave," I say to Jen, standing up and going to walk down the stairs.

As we settle in the car I try to call Amaya but no response.

"Fuck," I groan.

Jennifer places a hand on my shoulder, "don't stress it. just explain to her that you lost track of time."

I nod, she is right. Muffin will understand.

As we reach home I say a quick 'bye' to Jen and head upstairs.

When I enter my room I see Amaya asleep, hugging a pillow. I walk up to her and sit on the bed, caressing her head. She stirs and opens her eyes.

"Hey, sorry I didn't mean to wake you," I apologize.

"It's okay. Where were you? I was waiting and also tried to call you but you didn't pick up," she mumbles, ribbing her eyes.

I hesitate before answering, "I was with Jen, we were just checking out the places we used to go to when we were younger and just lost track of time."

"Oh," she sits up.

"I'm sorry," I whisper.

"It's okay, we can go tomorrow," she smiles.

"I can't baby. My entire week is packed except Saturday cause of the party," I keep my voice low.

"Oh, right," she looks down.

"I'm sorry love. You can go without me, I'm sure you'll look gorgeous in anything," I feel so bad.

"It's okay. I'll just go with Ash," she assures. "Let's sleep, for now, I'm super tired."

I nod and go to change before I join her in bed.

She said it was okay but I still feel bad.