Coffee

She sat in her usual chair in the school common room. She wouldn't have called herself popular but her five closest friends sat around her. This scene would be perfect, she thought solemnly to herself, if it wasn't for the fact that I'm sitting alone as usual. She looked to her left, where her best friend Emily sat with her arms around her boyfriend's neck. She glanced around at the couples surrounding her. Why is it that she was the only one without a boyfriend? She sighed. The bell rang for the beginning of lessons. Great, History. At least they were together, without their other halves. She plucked up the courage to ask.
"Erm...Are we still meeting up later?
"Yeah, course we are." Replied Melanie, smiling the way she always does.
"I just thought I'd check." She returned the smile, timidly. Olivia reached over and put her arm around her shoulders, to reassure her.
"Don't worry so much Amelia. We always go out on Friday, don't we?" Yeah, right she thought. They used to go out every Friday. But that was a while ago. Ever since they had been leached onto their boyfriends, she had begun to see her friends less and less.
                By the end of the day, she was dreading meeting up with her friends. They always met at the same coffee shop and then planned to go shopping. She was always left sitting outside for hours, only to find she had been forgotten about, yet again. She always felt so stupid and naive as she watched the same faces walk past and stare at her.
                She picked out her favourite pair of black jeans and her favourite top, the one with the purple flowers on.
"Damn it, no shoes." She looked around her room and spied her Converse lying in the corner. She smiled. She pulled them on her feet and put on her coat. Please don't rain, she thought. I didn't spend all this time getting ready for nothing. She headed out the door. A cold wind ruffled her hair as she buttoned up her coat. The café shop was only twenty minutes away. Looking at her watch she had decided she had taken too long to get ready. She quickened her pace. She was never late; this wasn't going to be her first time.
                The sky had begun to get darker as she reached the coffee shop. She sat down on the usual bench and waved to the store clerk in the store opposite. He smiled back at her. Amelia checked her watch. She was late, by ten minutes. They should have been here by now. She watched the sky grow darker. This always happens, she thought to herself. They promise to meet up, just like we've always done and I'm the only one who bothers to turn up. They didn't know it but she was jealous. They would never now it. She stared down at her dirt covered shoes. She heard footsteps as someone sat down on the bench next to her. She didn't bother to look up. She glanced at her watch and sighed. They should have been here forty minutes ago. She had gotten used to them leaving her out, but she still couldn't believe it. Every time made her feel more of a fool. She sighed heavily and put her head in her palms. She looked at the shoes of the person next to her: Converse. She smiled.
"Excuse me, are you waiting for someone?" She was asked, a hint of embarrassment in the voice. She froze. It was a guy. She looked up, so she didn't seem rude. Wow. It was an incredibly cute guy. He had a head of black hair that swept over his face. He had dark brown eyes that were just visible under his hair. And he was smiling, smiling at her.
"Well..." She murmured, glancing at her watch. "...I was."
"Ah, stood up, huh?" He answered sympathetically. She shuffled her feet as she stared back at them. She nodded. She couldn't bear to look at him now. He would probably laugh at her. She couldn't help herself. She looked back at him. Only to find he was staring straight at her. She blushed and lowered her eyes.
"Well...Erm...This may seem a little forward of me but since it seems we've both been stood up." He said, moving his black sleeve and looking at his watch.
"...Do you think...maybe we could get a coffee?"
She looked up at him. He was smiling ever so slightly. A smile spread helplessly across her face.
"That would be nice." They stood up from the bench and headed into the coffee shop.
"Oh sorry, my name is Edward by the way. Sorry for not telling you earlier." He smiled at her and held the door of the coffee shop open so she could walk through.
"It's Amelia." She smiled back and walked through the door that was politely held open for her.
"Thank you." They sat down at a small, round table close to the window. As Edward went to the middle aged woman behind the counter to order coffee, the first drops of rain splattered on the window and ran down to the window pane. Edward sat opposite Amelia and the woman behind the counter busied herself making the coffee that Edward had ordered. They sat in silence until the waitress bought there steaming coffee over to their table. They were the only customers except for and old man reading a newspaper. Amelia picked up her cup and stared nervously at her fingers, laced through the handle of the mug. She glanced up at her rescuer and saw he was staring at his cup too. He looked up.
"Erm...so how come you were stood up?" He asked her nervously.
"Oh..." And all of a sudden, she heard herself emptying her heart to a complete stranger. Its okay, she thought, you'll never see him again after you bore him to death. She told him about how her best friends had left her out on their journey into happiness. And how jealous she was, but they never seemed to notice how much it bothered her. They just walked over her anyway. Just like they always did.
                By the time she had finished talking, her coffee had gone cold and the rain was pounding against the window. She picked up her mug and took a mouthful of cold coffee. Disgusting. She wrinkled her nose and set it back down on the table. She felt as if a great weight had been taken of her shoulders, but instead it was replaced with a new feeling of self-conscience. She continued to stare at her cold coffee, not daring to look up.
"Excuse me...can we have some more coffee, please?" The waitress came and took the cold mugs of coffee from their table and set about making a fresh pot.
"Why don't you tell them that it bothers you so much?" She looked up at him. She hadn't really thought about it. She just accepted it for what it was.
"I guess..." She paused for a moment to think about it. She was jealous all right but she didn't know why she hadn't told them. She stared at the table as if hoping it would give her an answer.
"I guess I just didn't want them to hate me. I mean, I want something they have. It seems quite selfish really..."
"Selfish? No it doesn't, not really." Amelia looked up at him. The waitress came and placed the fresh cups of coffee in front of them.
"Thank you" They said together.
"You've been friends with these people, what? ...Most of your life?" She nodded to him.
"Well, then surely they would get what you mean, right? They could at least stick to the plans they make with you. It's only fair. Their happy doing what there doing, but in the process it's making you miserable." He sounded surprisingly sympathetic for a guy she had just met, thought Amelia. She picked up her mug and took a mouthful of warm coffee. It felt quite pleasant to be sitting inside a small coffee shop, while it was cold and raining outside, drinking coffee and talking about her for a change. This she could get used too. Not realizing it, she smiled at her coffee.
"I guess your right. If you make plans, you should stick to them. Not brush them off like dust on a shelf." She glanced out the window; the rain was now bouncing off the bench where they had been sitting an hour before hand. Edward followed her gaze and then looked back at her...