So, here’s the continuation of yesterday.

I really don’t know how to hold a diary, man. I mean, do you seriously have to introduce everything you talk about? Do I really pretend I’m talking to someone? That ’s so complicated.

Is it wrong to complain to your diary that writing a diary is hard?

I give up on understanding this .

But anyway. Yeah. After Daniel came in yesterday and hugged and pecked Alice’s and Thiteya’s cheeks, he told them he’d be back later ‘cause he had to talk to “his friend” which so happened to be me. I was in front of the kitchen’s door, fighting the urge to beat one of my best friends just so he’d tell me how close he was to Alice.

He walked to me and I said hi with the biggest fake smile ever seen, but he didn’t notice. We went in the kitchen to talk with Nicki and ChaCha a little, and then we sat at the table near the kitchen to talk about the problem he had.

I’d received a text from Daniel the day before about him needing my help with something, so I told him to come the 23^rd after closing hour of the restaurant.

He needed a dancer for his next choreography and he thought of me. And then he asked if my dad would let him film the video for the choreography behind the restaurant ‘cause he needed a place outside where he wouldn’t be disturbed and blah blah.

Like he even needed to ask. My parents think of everyone in AOM as their own children. So I told him there was no problem and he thanked me and I remembered my parents had bought cake and there was one piece left, so I gave it to him.

Okay. Maybe I wanted to look like some sort of awesome friend.

After giving it to him, I went back in the kitchen for a few minutes. Only two, I swear. Just to help ChaCha with the dishes. And when I came back out, Daniel was gone.

And by gone, I mean he was now at the only taken table in the whole ing restaurant. He was with Thiteya and my Jagiya.

Feeding them the cake. Feeding them. Bringing the spoon to their mouths.

I could see Alice’s wide smile when he offered her some and then the tiny bit of cream that stayed on the side of and… Yeah. I’ll skip the details. I mean… You should know how it goes. I’m a guy. She had white cream near … Whatever.

I went over to bring Daniel a chair ‘cause he was still standing up and then I stayed there. Like a creep. Thiteya and Daniel kept glancing at me, most likely wondering why the hell I was creeping on their conversation, and I ended up feeling out of place and scary, so I left and went away to fake counting the money for the day.

Daniel came to get me a few minutes later because “someone wanted to give me something”.

I wanted it to be Alice so ing bad. But no. It was Thiteya. She said something about giving me a present for Christmas because I was nice to them when they came and about coming really often or something.

I remembered Junior coming in for a few minutes to take his pay for the week and Thiteya, giving him something when he was about to leave. But I hadn’t bothered looking at the thing she gave him. I was too busy looking at Alice.

She gave me chocolate and I thanked her and stayed there, standing, awkward as .

They kept talking and I creeped on their conversation. I learned that Alice was really protective and nice to her friends, that they knew Daniel because they saw him dance and that Alice and Thiteya were cool people.

Maybe I should try being nice with Thiteya. I mean, if I ever go out with Alice, it’d be a good idea to get along with her best friend.

Their talk somehow drifted from dancing to pets. Daniel was telling them how he liked cats more than dogs because they were more independent. He said he was also kind of a bit scared of dogs.

And then he said the only dog he could get close to was Peatry.

My dog.

Afterwards, it went like this:

Alice: Peatry? Who’s dog is it?

Daniel: Jay’s. You didn’t know?

Alice: Huh? Jay..?

Me: Yeah. That’s me. Haha… Ha. My bad. I’m Jay.

Alice: Oh. Sorry. Hehe. You have a dog?

Me: Yeah… You didn’t know?

Thiteya: Well, no. How did you want us to know? Hahahaha.

Me: He’s always barking when someone passes by. He’s at the back of the restaurant… He has his own tiny house there since we’re all working here everyday and we can’t leave him alone.

Alice: Can we go see him?

And she had like the biggest smile ever. I nodded and we all went to the back, except for Daniel, to go see Peatry.

Before anything, I really have to precise that Peatry isn’t really the sociable dog. He plays with other dogs and with me and the guys in AOM. That’s it. Well, my family too, but that’s about it.

But right when we came in, he started barking and waving his tail like a mad dog and I thought like “Damn, he’s so happy to see me. I missed you too bro.” And then he went to Alice. And he was all over her. And she was petting him and he was her hands and then she picked him up and kissed him and he her face and I got jealous.

Yes, I got jealous of my own dog.

Peatry was literally ignoring me. Peatry. My super-indifferent-to-strangers dog was ignoring me. And he was all over a girl he’d never seen before.

He even went to Thiteya before he finally noticed I was there too. And when he noticed, he just looked at me and went back to Alice.

But then I thought it wasn’t too bad.

We were at the back of the restaurant. No one was around apart from my dog and Thiteya, and she obviously knew I had something for Alice. So it was my chance, no? I just had to talk to her… And get closer and… Well. Yeah. I thought I could play it cool. You know, hold her hand and talk to her coolly.

I reached for her hand and the moment my hand brushed hers, I chickened. I reached a bit further and pretended I just wanted to pet the dog.

And well. It was winter, we had no coat and obviously, we got cold. Peatry had his tiny dog house, so he went back in and we all went back in the restaurant. ChaCha was coming out at the same time and Alice got surprised, so she stepped back a little.

And I was behind her, so I held her. By the waist. Close to me.

Oh dear God tell me I’m not blushing just thinking about it.

She turned around and thanked me.

Like “Oh. Thank you Jay.”

, man. I could listen to her say my name for years.

We went back inside, Nicki looked at me, smirked and mouthed the word ert to me multiple times and I shrugged at her.

They all went back to sit and I cleaned up and finished preparing the stuff for the day after.

ChaCha came back in around midnight with all the other guys coming with us to the party after. I got Nicki to leave after she was done laughing at me for being all red and dirty minded.

And when Alice saw all the people, her and Thiteya both got up and I thought for sure they were coming with us. I mean, they knew Daniel, so I thought he invited them or something. And they were gonna come with us.

But no. Thiteya walked to the counter to pay and Alice followed her. I looked at Daniel and he shook his head. Thiteya called me and I walked over to tell them how much it was.

Thiteya: What, you forgot we had to pay?

Me: You wish. Haha.

I told them how much it was and Thiteya paid. It was midnight. I was so scared they wouldn’t get any bus or subway.

I looked at them walking away and I had a flash. I ran after them and I stopped them right when they opened the door.

It went like this:

Me: Wait!

They turned around and waited for me to talk.

Me: Umm… Well… I was wondering if, maybe, like, if you were free and you had nothing to do… I mean, yeah. If you’re free on New Year… ‘Cause maybe you’re busy, but… If you can, my parents are doing a special soup… For New Year. And they invited other people… And I thought, maybe you could come too. I mean… Yeah. It’d be nice. If you’re free. Only if you have nothing to do. Yeah.

I was stuttering like some loser and I could feel Daniel’s stare at the back of my head and I saw Thiteya giving me the dude-get-to-the-point look.

Me: So… Umm… If you’re free on January 1^st, you could drop by at like 7PM to try the soup. It’s for New Year’s…

Alice: Yeah sure! Sounds nice~

I nodded and told them bye again. The moment they were out and they couldn’t see me anymore, I dropped to the floor and started rolling around.