"I never thought I'd say this, but it must suck to be you right now."

I stared in disbelief at my best friend, who had just said that. He blew out a puff of air to punctuate his statement before placing the tray he was holding with the others on the counter.

Three things were obvious; One, I was going to need a new best friend because this one wasn't doing what best friends were supposed to do. Two, he was right. It did suck to be me right now. And three, I needed a break from life.

Apparently, neither option one nor three were going to happen.

I removed my fist from under my chin and laid my palms flat on the counter, giving Kong the most unimpressed look I could muster. "You're not helping."

My eyes did a quick scan of our surroundings. Almost everyone was moving. Most of the customers were either smiling, talking, eating, or doing all three at their tables, while other employees maneuvered between tables to do their jobs.

Kong snorted. "I doubt anything would be able to help you now."

"Yay," I said with a fake smile, squinting. "You just keep making me feel better, bestie."

With that, I grabbed a napkin. The people at table seven had just left, so it was my duty to clean it up. Also, I didn't want to look at Kong right now.

As I rounded the counter and headed for table seven, I felt Kong jogging to keep up with me. Once he caught up, he steadied himself to a quick walk that had other people in The Breakfast Cafe giving us weird looks. I whipped out a good grin immediately.

"Okay, I'm sorry," Kong apologized as we got to the table. I ignored him and started wiping at the ketchup stain on the table. "But you have to agree that this is a big problem."

The words "no shit" literally flew out of my mouth before I could stop them. Devastated, I tossed the napkin onto the table and stared at Kong again. His blue eyes seemed to grow darker with genuine concern. I sighed and pouted.

Kong sighed as well. "You know what? I think you need some ice cream so you can think of a solution to this."

"There's no thinking about it. It's either I beg James to help, or I watch my family's business crumble. Or so my parents said."

"But then there's a little problem with the first option." Kong pinched his index finger and thumb together to put more effect on the 'little.' Then he placed his hand on the table and leaned into it. "You cheated on James, broke his heart, and created an enmity between yourselves."

I was going to bite Kong's head off if he kept doing this.

Sensing the danger, he rearranged his words with a small chuckle. "I'm sure you'll find a way around it. You're the smartest person I know."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "If you think you can sweet talk your way out of this, you better stop trying."

If I was going to be honest both with myself and the world, Kong was right, it did suck to be me, and I did create this problem for myself. But now I needed to fix it without having to talk to my ex-boyfriend.

It was complicated-total chaos.

There had to be another way to solve my family's problem, and I was going to find it: one way or another.

Kong picked up the cloth and held it between his hands. "I think you should call him."

Snapping out of my thoughts, I blinked at him. "Who?"

He shrugged and finished wiping off the ketchup stain. Straightening his posture, he threw me a grin. "James, of course."

I swear I felt a part of my brain explode. Somehow, I managed to retain my composure and a deadpan expression when I said, "I'd rather have a train run over me twelve times and then get kicked off a cliff. Right into a river of sharks."

Kong's shoulders shook as he laughed. "You're so mean to yourself."

"Get out of here," I groaned, pushing past him and making a point of bumping my shoulder with his forearm.

Our shifts were almost over, and I was exhausted. Not physically but mentally. All this thinking about James was draining me. Maybe Kong was right. I needed ice cream.

I'd just reached the back of the counter when I heard Kong speak up again.

"You're making dinner."

"Really?" I asked, trying to put on an even more disappointed look than before. "I tell you about my life problems, and all you think of is food?"

"Well, yeah," replied Kong in a duh-tone that had me frowning. "I'm a growing boy. I need food."

The guy was an idiot sometimes, but I loved him nonetheless. "Fine, but you're on dish duty."

Kong and I shared an apartment-yes, we lived together. It was a best friend thing. It was also temporary. The thing was, my break up with James had also affected Kong.

Before James and I broke up, Kong shared an apartment with his girlfriend, James' sister. When the breakup happened, they had to pick sides, and voila. We found ourselves at this point.

Throwing a mock salute, Kong nodded. "Yes, ma'am. I'll also be in charge of the TV."

I narrowed my eyes at him, stifling a small laugh. "Nice try."

Our goofing was interrupted by Tasha, the head waiter. She balanced a tray of food on one hand and put her other hand on her hip. "What are the two of you doing back here? Your shift doesn't end until another five minutes."

Tasha was the definition of uptight. She was our Manager's girlfriend and thus had the uncertified responsibility of ensuring the rest of us worked our butts off. She'd cut her pink hair into a neat bob with a fringe that stopped at her eyebrows. Like Kong and I, she also had on the worker's uniform (basically a white shirt and black mid-calf trousers), complete with her name tag.

"It's just five minutes, Tash." Kong stepped towards her. Tasha lifted a brow at him in response.

"Roy will have your heads," she said finally, turning around and walking away. "Don't say I didn't tell you."

Once she was gone, Kong turned to me and took my arm, a mischievous smile on his lips. Just by his look, I knew he was going to say something bizarre.

"Let's leave now."

See? An idiot.

"We're going to get fired," I argued.

"We've done it countless times."

"And almost got caught countless times."

"But I'm hungry, and our shifts are almost over already."

"It's wrong, Kong."

"Live a little, Avery."

I bit down on my lip. I needed to get ice cream and think of a solution to my problem anyways. And he was right. Our shifts ended in like three minutes.

Roy, the manager, always said we weren't permitted to leave until our shifts were over. But I was sure that Kong would pester me into giving in either way. Also, we were beginning to get weird looks from other employees. They probably saw us as crazier than before now.

As soon as the sigh left my lips, Kong pumped one fist in the air to celebrate his early victory and then dragged me out of there.

The escape would have been clean had we not bumped into a couple at the door. The girl shrieked in surprise while the guy pulled her back. Kong stopped in his tracks, successfully halting me as well, right on time too. The four of us almost collided.

It still would have been a smooth escape had we not locked eyes with the couple we'd almost run over and get the shock of our lives.

James stood there with his little sister, Patricia Grant.

They had on matching outfits; blue sweatshirts and gray sweatpants. James' brown hair looked like someone had just dumped it on his head. His eyes looked puffy and distant like he'd been crying. A part of me wanted to reach out and hold him like I used to four months ago, but I restricted myself. That would be stupid of me.

Pat's pin-straight hair poured out from under her baseball cap, framing her face. Her expression looked nothing like her brother's, appearing more nonchalant at first, right before the shock set in.

All four of us wore the same shocked expressions, and for just a second, this moment could have trended on Instagram with the hashtag enemy goals. But then, just as quickly as it came, the shock left James's expression. While Kong was too busy staring at Pat, I was about to faint from watching James.

For one thing, I thanked the heavens that heartbeats couldn't be heard out loud because everything within me was racing. And beads of sweat were beginning to form on my forehead.

It felt like everything had stopped and was moving too fast at the same time. Almost overwhelming.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

What broke the silence was James' voice, cutting through the thick air and tension like a knife would cut through cake.

"Excuse you."

I watched with dilated pupils as he tugged Pat into the restaurant and away from us like we had the plague. When the moment was over, I felt tears brim in my eyes. Suddenly, I couldn't wait to go home and make dinner.

And also, probably-most certainly-top it with some wine.