Page 109 of Drama Queens Don't Fall For Charming Boys

“The back is more fun,” I tell him.

“Okay, sure. Doesn’t really matter to me.”

I lead them toward the back of the diner and make a short stop at Miss Lane’s table. “Miss Lane? Hi!”

She looks up and smiles. Hi, Mia.” She notices Declan. “Hey, Declan.” And when she realizes who the third person in our group is, she gets all shy. “Chase.”

He smiles, placing one hand in his pocket. “Hi, Tori. How are you?”

“I’m good. You?”

“Good. Busy, you know how it is.”

Silence.

Declan and I exchange a glance, trying not to cringe at how awkward and uncomfortable this is.

Miss Lane gestures at her table. “Do you guys want to join me?”

Chase backs away. “We wouldn’t want to disturb—”

“Sure, thanks!” I tell her. “We’d love to join you.”

Chase releases a breath. “Yeah, sure. Thanks.” His hand shakes a little as he pulls out a chair and sits down.

Declan and I exchange another glance, wondering if this is doomed before it even begins. We pull out chairs and sit down as well.

“How was rehearsal today?” Chase asks, mostly to Tori and not us.

She smiles in excitement. “It was great. These two kids are so talented. I’m so impressed, I want to cry.”

“I’m very glad to hear it’s going well. But I wouldn’t want you to cry, though,” Chase says.

She waves her hand. “That’s okay. The tears are from excitement.”

“Oh.” He blanches. “Right.”

Quiet.

“Soo,” I say. “Declan tells me you guys were friends in high school.”

Miss Lane and Chase look at one another. “Yeah, we were friends,” she says. “Good friends.”

“Good friends indeed,” Chase agrees.

Gosh. This isn’t going well. It’s so obvious these two still like each other, so why aren’t they hitting it off?”

“Where are the servers?” Miss Lane asks. “Word of advice? You might want to leave before the teens come. While I love my students, they can be quite loud.”

Chase laughs. “Any different from when we were in high school?”

She joins in his laughter. “Remember when…? Oh, when was it? Right. Your football team lost a game and no one was in the mood to celebrate like you always did. Everyone was so sad and crushed. No one expected to lose. So what did you do?” She looks at us. “He knocked some sense into his teammates, told them that it’s not always about winning. It’s about having fun, doing something they love, being together. They went to celebrate and it was one of the best nights the team ever had.”

“Awesome, man,” Declan says to him.

“I didn’t know you played football,” I say to Chase.

He shrugs. “Was a long time ago.”

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