029 | newly opened

Natasha stood up from her seat when she finished arranging her things in her backpack and then she wore it. She almost forgot to tell Liam that she wouldn't able to watch his club activities until it ended and then go home with him. She was planning to tell him around lunchtime, but it slipped away from her mind, and she didn't know why that happened.

"Liam?" she got the attention of Liam. "It's a shame I can't be with you since I have a deal with my best friend, so I hope you won't tire yourself out so much and be careful."

Liam understood. "It's all right, Natasha. I hope you'll have a blast with your best friend and be careful as well."

She recalled that Liam hadn't met Cassie nor Cassie had, so she thought that it would be great if Liam and Cassie met each other if there was free time. "My best friend is curious to know what kind of friend I made here. Aren't you curious about it, Liam?"

"Of course, I'm curious about who your best friend is," Liam wouldn't deny that. He wanted to meet what kind of person Cassie was. "If your best friend and I are curious about each other, I think we're going to meet."

She beamed. "I can't wait to see that."

"You better be going, Natasha," Liam reminded. "You don't want to make your best friend wait, do you?"

She almost forgot about the time. "Oh, you're so right!" she looked at the time through her phone and then looked at Liam. "I must be going. See you tomorrow, Liam!"

Liam waved his right hand. "Yeah, see you tomorrow, Natasha."

She went out of the classroom in rush. She hoped that she wouldn't make Cassie wait for long if Cassie arrived earlier than her. This was one of the rare chances to hang out with Cassie again, so she hurried to save the remaining time.

She didn't exactly know where to go, but it was all thanks to Google Maps, she arrived at the destination where the newly opened Starbucks was. She looked around to see if Cassie was around, and it took a few seconds until she found Cassie who was standing there and waiting for someone.

"Cass!" she yelled to get the attention of Cassie.

Cassie turned around and then saw Natasha not too far from her. "Nat!"

Natasha caught her lost breath first before speaking. "I hope I didn't make you wait, Cass."

Cassie shook her head. "You didn't, Nat. I just arrived here a while ago, so you don't have to worry about that matter."

Natasha was relieved to hear that. "If you say so, Cass."

Cassie gestured that she and Natasha should link their arms. "Shall we, Nat?"

Natasha smiled and then linked her left arm with the right arm of Cassie. "We shall."

Cassie and Natasha laughed at their own antics and then went into the newly established Starbucks. The frigid air wafted on their skin and it brought a relaxing fragrance, an evident scent of freshly brewed coffee and sweet pastries, that wandered in their nostrils.

As much as Natasha wanted to order something she would absolutely love to eat, but she couldn't afford to spend all her allowance. It wasn't like she had a goal to purchase something, but more like she wanted to save just because. She would just have a tall-sized iced caffè americano drink.

She was about to place her order when Cassie shushed her with her right index finger. She looked at Cassie with a confused look, waiting for what Cassie had to tell.

"We should order venti-sized drinks," Natasha was about to protest, but Cassie revealed she had four coupons of Starbucks worth $30 each and then Cassie winked. "I got you. So no more throwing reasons, Nat."

Natasha was speechless. She didn't even have an idea where Cassie got those coupons. She would ask Cassie later to fill the details when both of them got their orders.

She ordered a venti-sized iced caffè americano as her drink and an almond croissant as her food. Cassie ordered a venti-sized caramel apple spice as her drink and a classic coffee cake as her food. It didn't take long since their orders were served quickly.

Cassie wanted to sit down on the wing chair, so she went along with what Cassie wanted. Nonetheless, she didn't care what types of chairs she would sit on.

Cassie took a sip of her drink. She couldn't stop herself from beaming. "It's so good! It's been a while since I've tasted caramel apple spice!"

"Just a question," Cassie waited for what Natasha had to ask, but she had a hunch it was about the coupons. "So where did you get those coupons?"

"I got it from Father," Cassie answered. "But Father got it from a lucky spin he joined out of nowhere."

Natasha was amused at how Cassie got the coupons. "Your Pops got some luck, you know."

"He does," Cassie agreed. "I wish I had those luck, but I guess I didn't get those."

"You have luck," Natasha recalled what Cassie told her. "You hoped that I'll have a good friend, and look, I made a good friend."

Cassie beamed. "I guess I have one then," since Natasha brought it up, she would ask Natasha about it. "So what happened between you and your good friend?"

"I think we discovered something we don't know about each other?" Natasha wasn't sure, but that was she could only think of. "But still, I don't know a lot, so I think I'll discover those one at a time."