Amethyst's was packed today.

Ace would have barely been able to find a table if it weren't for his favorite waitress, Bianca.

The woman was in her late forties and an avid sports junkie so whenever there was a game, she strategically maneuvered the orders in her favor. The tables she waited on were never disappointed either. In fact, most students respected her ethic.

Millennials tended to adore a hustler.

Sitting opposite Kai, he passed up on the waffle special Bianca insisted he'd order and settled with a Russian tea.

For the past thirty minutes, the soccer player had done a decent job on making Kai communicate his feelings since he wasn't exactly the most comfortable doing so.

"Odeta and Karan will come around sooner than later, you know that. I think Noel just needs some time to process everything." Ace offers, playing with the handle of his mug.

"I've never felt shittier in my entire life Ace. And that's coming from the guy who straight up almost buried my little sister's living bunny because I read a headline that said a fat rabbit is a dead rabbit."

"I have so many problems with that sentence that I don't even know where to begin." A caffeinated Ace meant a brutally honest one.

"Look, where I'm going at is that," Kai stopped for a moment to select his words, scrunching his face, a tick he'd been doing since eleven years old. "I really regret that that's how I chose to part my way from everyone."

"I get that people grow apart. We were all heading to university, it was bound to happen. You didn't exactly pick the wisest road to peace out but, hey, you're trying to make everything right now and I think that's what's important." Ace glances over the booths in front of him, all occupied by people. He hated siting in the back.

"I'm glad you think so. Could you maybe drill that into their minds? I really wanna be good with them." Kai lifts up the clear rimmed glasses further up the bridge of his nose.

The night spent at Noel's and Anastasia's place had been relentlessly replaying in his mind every night before bed. It had really put into the perspective how much of a dumbass he'd been to people he considered family at one point.

"Kai, I gotta tell you. I'm not really the best person to egg them on about this kinda stuff right now. They're going through enough of mine and Ronnie's shit." His gaze fall down to the pale blue chipped table.

"What was up with Veronica that night? One moment she was all nervous and jittery and then she'd didn't pipe up a single word." Kai furrows his eyebrows, looking pointedly at Ace.

"I don't know man," He clicks his tongue. "I'm trynna not spend my time wondering what goes on in that girl's mind."

"Wow," Kai jokingly scoffs before throwing his crumpled paper towel towards Ace's direction. "Who you gonna bullshit with that line?"

"I'm not playing Kai," Ace's face hardens at an attempt of looking serious. "I'm not caring anymore."

Kai widens his eyes and snorts, completely mocking Ace much to his annoyance. "Sure Campbell. Let's go with this one today."

"You got 'nough problems of your own, dude. Let's not fight on who's horse is bigger." Ace leans back, appearing more relaxed than earlier. He stretches his back, eyes scanning the counter this time.

"Cause we know who wins that one." Kai smirks as he leans forward, clearly impressed with his own joke.

Ace rolls his eyes at his friend and throws back the trash Kai chucked at him earlier.

While he understood why the group rightfully despised Kai for the way he cut them out of his life, Ace always had a soft spot for him as much as he didn't want to admit it. Kai was his teammate and one of his favorite friends.

The guy was ridiculously sarcastic and whenever he tried to be anything but it cracked Ace up.

It also helped that Kai never really distanced himself from him, because if so, Ace would be the first to give him the iciest, coldest, chilly shoulder. So as much as he tired to reassure Kai that everyone would forgive him at one point, you didn't just throw years of friendship to the side over something insignificant.

Or a relationship in general.

A flash of warm brown hair caught his attention. Long legs clad in sexy tight jeans made a natural smirk overcome his features in appreciation. Her wavy hair bounced as she excitedly nodded at the tall guy in front of her who looked familiar to Ace.

The guy playfully caught her hands and pulled her down over the stools at the counter and only when she flipped her long locks over her shoulder which allowed to catch a glimpse of her profile did Ace finally recognize the girl.

Veronica.

A very beautiful Veronica. On a date.

Following Ace's entranced line of sight, Kai makes a face as realization dawns up on him. He wondered how Ace would react.

"You okay?" He carefully asks, fingers snapping in front of his friend to break off the staring.

"Yeah," Ace coughs, eyes shutting for a moment. "I'm fine. Anyway, how's your PT going?"

And as Kai gave the automatic, monotonous response, Ace's attention was fully on him, desperately trying to ignore the sight at the counter.

Veronica going on a date with another person seemed too real. It made everything too real.

Everything that'd happened. Their break up, their weird toxic dynamic. It meant she was trying to move on, to forget him.

They wouldn't see each other anymore. She wouldn't be his anymore.

Suddenly Ace caught himself going way too fast for his own good.

Maybe it wasn't a date. She was definitely in between lectures and maybe he was just a new friend. A guy and a girl on an outing didn't automatically mean it was romantic.

Maybe things weren't going as downhill as he thought.

He was slowly convincing himself that he still had time in his safe bubble before it was burst.

Sweet talking Bianca, he finally made the order of the waffles he'd previously declined and the display of them with extra whipped cream made him mutely nod at his decision.

It was better than getting drunk, even though he was painfully deviating off his diet.

After playing around with the honey artfully drizzled over the stack of crispy dough, he looks up at Kai.

"How fat was that bunny anyway?"