Meeting an old friend

"God, am I hungry!" (Y/N) shouted out and looked at Lyla, "Is there a good place to chow down?"

"Yes, but please don't behave like that there... it's so childish," Lyla said, while driving.

"But, Lyla, that's just who I am. Why can't you accept it?"

"Because I'm not sure whether other people will accept it. You are a debuting pop star. If you want to reach to the top, there must be an image you must preserve," Lyla lightly scolded.

At this, the girl couldn't help but remain silent. Truthfully, she kinda hated this part of stardom: fame. For her, it had more cons than pros. The lack of privacy and the screaming fans disgusted the girl, but what the hell can be done about it?

"Well," Lyla said kindly, "Here we are."

The cafe was quaint and picturesque outside. As you entered with the tinkering bell signalling to other occupants and attendants, the girl saw that it was also quaint and picturesque inside. (Y/N) took a two seat table with Lyla, and she perused the menu to her heart's content.

"What..." she said quizzically as you saw some of the options on the menu because printed on the menu was: Sweet and salty combo sandwich. At the bottom in smaller words: beef, tomatoes, pickles, peanut butter and honey

The girl couldn't help but smile, because if memory serves her right, there was only one person who would have created this oddity.

"What would you like to have?" An attendant with a notepad was patiently waiting for their orders.

Lyla requested for pork chops and a Coke.

(Y/N) requested for that sandwich and fizzy orange juice.

The attendant looked surprised but took away with the order. Lyla looked at the girl as if she had ran away from the asylum.

"Do you want to kill your taste buds? Why on Earth would you pick something like that?" Lyla asked, shocked.

(Y/N) smile at her surprised look, "Why not?"

"Well, if you get poisoned, don't say that I warned you."

"Unless the chef adds poison, I don't think that will be happening."

"That combination might be poison enough. People should stick with normal combos instead of bizarre ones like this," Lyla shook her head.

(Y/N) couldn't help but think, 'Not everyone thinks that.'

When the orders came, Lyla looked at the sandwich apprehensively, but it looked like any normal sandwich, save the weird combinations. (Y/N) simply smiled and took a bite out of the sandwich, making Lyla gasped but since the girl opposite her was not dropping dead, Lyla sighed and shook her head.

"I thought for sure you will be killed," Lyla made a face as she started on her pork chops.

"Don't be silly," (Y/N) said, adding the flavour with her fizzy orange juice. "In fact, this was one of my favorite dishes."

"Huh?" Lyla looked up to meet the girl's (e/c) eyes, and then said, "You have tried this before?"

"Yes... a long, long time ago," (Y/N) said, and she hoped to be reacquainted with the person who first introduced this oddity to her.

Once they finished up lunch, (Y/N) made a request to speak to the chef who made this. The attendant asked why and the girl simply said, "Just want to meet him, if that's no trouble at all."

The attendant bowed and left them. Lyla raised her eyebrows but remained silent. It was but a few minutes when the chef in question came.

The chef was a boy of the same age, his golden hair that was slightly wispy falling down his face, slightly covering the green luminous eyes that were wide and tired looking, but down his body, he was alert and peachy though slightly thin for someone who cooks food for a job.

He was wearing a chef's uniform but inside a pocket, sticking out, was a stuffed bird with brown gleaming feathers and glassy eyes. Taped on both sides of the wings were a rabbit's foot stickers.

"I heard that one of you- Ahh..." The boy said, looking at Lyla, then (Y/N) where he let out an exclamation of recognition as he saw the beautiful girl in front of his eyes.

"Eli... it's been a long time, right?" (Y/N) asked cheerfully.

"Yes... yes, it has been. Glad to see you again," the boy, Eli, said cheerfully back.

Elrian Kert was a childhood friend from (Y/N)'s younger days, and was also one of her best friends, so it was sad that he moved one day and she couldn't reach him. But she never forgotten him, and neither did he.

"The sandwich was as good as always," (Y/N) said cheerfully still.

"Thanks," Eli said with a smile as he pulled up a chair and sat down with them. "Congratulations on your pop star life."

"Thanks, so how have you been doing?" (Y/N) asked.

"As you can see, I'm taking a part time job as a chef," Eli said.

"Hmm... that's OK, right? You always liked food," (Y/N) mused.

"And other things," Eli said, smiling at (Y/N) but she didn't catch the true meaning. Lyla did, and smiled conspiratorially.

"Oh, yeah, you are an artist, right?" (Y/N) asked, just remembering, "How's that going for you?"

"Ahh... I have the love and drive but it's slow going," Eli said.

(Y/N) sighed, "I know what you mean, same with some of my desires too. But in the end, we always reach where we are supposed to be, right?"

"Right. You want to hang out sometime?" Eli asked.

"Of course," (Y/N) said happily as they exchanged phone numbers. Lyla was very happy for (Y/N) for her re acquaintance with an old friend, because judging by him, he may have the hots for her. Not that she noticed, or maybe denying it. Lyla remembered how the last incident went, by then, anyone would go to denial forever.

"I hope we can catch up soon," Eli said happily.

"Yes, I feel like there's a lot that just waiting to discover with the both of us," (Y/N) said with good humored. Then, although reluctant, Eli went back to the kitchen. The attendant who fetched him was there and asked, "What did she want with you?"

"Just a little catching up, because you see... she was my old childhood friend," Eli said.

"Ahh..." the attendant noticed something about Eli, "You have really missed her, huh?"

'More than you will ever know...' Eli thought although he remained silent to the attendant, as he noticed he was unwanted and went back to work. 'That girl was such a fresh air, the first who noticed me... accepted my craziness... and found the light for me...'

'It was stupid that I had to move and even more stupid that I never had any contact, but not again... never again.'

Meanwhile, (Y/N) and Lyla left, where the girl could spend a day for herself. The things she can do now when she couldn't before.

"Eli, a childhood friend?" Lyla asked with raised eyebrows.

"Yep, when I was 6. He's a bit weird, but who isn't. He was alone and I was alone... so it was just like... fate or something."

"Fate..." Lyla smiled.

"Mostly, we usually hang out for me to try Eli's creations and for me to enact a few stories in front of him," (Y/N) said wistfully, "It was a lot of fun."

"Then, why did you lose contact?" Lyla asked.

"It was just complete bad luck, but now, we can hang out like we usually do," (Y/N) said.

"Yeah..." Lyla smiled, and (Y/N) noticed something amiss.

"As friends," (Y/N) said to Lyla, disappointing her hopes for the girl.

"How did you know what I was thinking?" Lyla asked, shocked. She was indeed thinking of a budding romance between the two, and (Y/N) found that out so quickly when she couldn't decipher Eli's action.

"I know you better," (Y/N) said.

"And then you'll know Eli better," Lyla said, hoping her dreams wouldn't be so easily crushed.

"Never again..." (Y/N) said softly.

Then, Lyla was ashamed of herself for being so selfish, the incident wasn't something easy to be rid off.

"Right, well, where do you want to go next?" Lyla asked quickly.

Afterwards they left, but someone had eavesdropped on their conversation.

Shortly after returning to work, the chef was asked to come back for a complaint and he happened to notice those two talking.

Throughout the whole conversation, Eli was sad and indignant.

He was happy to be her friend, but he was hoping for more...

And what was the incident that caused so much distrust with love?

'Don't worry, whatever you are feeling, hurting, I will heal it, just like last time. So, please...

... Let us love like we were supposed to.'