You didn't tell me you were dying

The last of the Friday night customers had just left. The small cafe has some sort of haunted feel about it. The lights flickered on and off, ancient photographs of dead family hung on the old peeling walls, the mismatched pieces of furniture with chipped paint were scattered around. It was nice though. I have to admit it was nice.

I was interrupted by the sound of giggling and squealing. I cringed, Lilly's boyfriend must be here and they are most likely making out in the back room. Don't ask what his name is, she has a new boyfriend each week and I got lost a while ago now. Lilly is 17 just like me. We both work here in the evenings and at weekends. Well, I work, she flirts. But that's okay. It's entertaining to watch I suppose. That's probably why half our customers keep coming back here because it is definitely not for the food or drinks.

A few minutes later, Lilly and her boyfriend came out of the back room. He was hot. Obviously, Lilly wouldn't be dating him if he wasn't. But he was hotter than I thought he was going to be. Lilly smiled nervously "Hey, do you mind if I leave you to lock up on your own? We err… -"

"-Yeah, sure, it's fine." I cut her off. I didn't exactly want to be hearing about what they're going to be up to later. She said thanks, hugged me goodbye and then disappeared with this week’s boyfriend. I sighed, I was always left to do the clearing away. It didn't matter too much, though. I had nowhere to be. Plus, it was really the only time I got to be truly alone and not be disturbed by anyone.

Well, usually. I was in the back room collecting my stuff to leave. I heard the door opening and closing. My heart felt as though it was literally going to fly out of my chest any second. I grabbed a frying pan (the closest object near me that would probably do some damage if necessary) and headed for the cafe.

He was looking at the pictures on the wall. "Um, may I... May I help you?" I asked, my voice was shaking and I could barely get the words out. He jumped a little and turned round to face me, "Sorry, I thought you were open." He paused for a while before adding, "I'll go someone else, its fine."

"Wait." I smiled awkwardly, not entirely sure what I was doing. "You can have something to drink here if you want. But I have to warn you, my skills in the kitchen are very limited if you want anything to eat." I unstacked two of the chairs and stuck them round a table. It was strange; I didn't feel that shy considering I had only just met this guy and what's that? Me trying to flirt? I wasn't even sure if he was gay yet. "You'll have to be quick though, my parents will start getting worried if I'm too late."

He started to laugh and sat down. "Were you going to hit me over the head with that frying pan?" He pointed to the frying pan still in my hand.

My face was going red, I could feel it. "Oh." I forgot I was holding it. Quickly, I put it on the counter and turned the kettle on.

We sat there in silence while the kettle was boiling. I'd seen him somewhere before but I couldn't quite remember where. It was probably at school; I don't exactly go anywhere else apart from here and he definitely hadn't been to the cafe before. He was about 6'4, tall for his age and I will bet there's a splendid six-pack under that coat of his. His hair was brown and scruffy and was in need of a cut but it looked cute. I started to think about what it would be like for him to hold me but then the kettle finished boiling and I had to go make the tea instead of continue imagining what it would be like. Plus, I felt kind of pervy for thinking about this when I had kind of only just met the guy.

I took the two boiling mugs of tea over to the table and sat opposite him. We sat in silence for a while until he started to laugh. "What?" I asked.

"Nothing, it's just, well, this is a bit weird, like, we don't even know each other’s names and we're sitting here drinking tea together." He took a big gulp of his tea before continuing, "So yeah, I'm Jake." I told him my name, Owen, and he nodded.

Jake looked at the clock on the wall, which is probably the only properly working thing in this entire cafe, and said, "I better be going. I promised my mum I'd help with dinner tonight." He got out a pen and piece of paper from his coat pocket, scribbled down a few numbers, and handed it to me. "Err, so yeah, call me some time over the weekend. If not, see you in school?" I smiled and nodded, picking up the empty mugs. He put up the hood on his coat and left. I cleaned up the mugs quicker than I'd ever cleaned anything in my life and then went home myself.

It was Sunday; a day had passed since I'd spoken to Jake. I'd decided to wait a while before calling him because I didn't want it to seem as if I was desperate or anything. I tapped the numbers into my ancient phone and listened to it ringing. After three rings, he picked up. "Hello?"
"Hi, it's me." I replied, although 'me' could mean anyone.
“Oh hey, I was starting to wonder if you were ever going to call.” He'd obviously recognized my voice. “My friend’s having a party next weekend; do you want to go with me? It’d be fun; we could finally get to know each other.”

A party? He was inviting me to a party? I’d never been invited to a proper one before because I was that awkward kid who just sits at the back of the room alone all day. I didn't know what to say. I knew what my parents would say if I asked them. I sighed, "I’ll ask but I doubt they'll let me." It made me feel like a small child that wasn't allowed to go out of its parent’s sight.

After that, the conversation soon ended. I attempted to come up with ways to ask Mum without her being able to refuse. I could always just lie about where I'm going, ask if I can spend the night at a friend’s house or something, but she'd probably not believe me because I'm a terrible liar and she would be able to tell that what I was saying wasn't the truth. So that was it then, I’ll tell the truth, ask if I can go to this party next weekend, and if she says no then she says no. It’s only a party. I probably won’t like it anyway. What with the loud music, sweating bodies jumping around and throwing up all over the floor. How could that ever be fun?

It was now Thursday. I had yet to ask my parents whether or not I could go to this party. I’d tried to ask them, but there just hadn't been a chance to.

Since Sunday, I had seen Jake at school a few times but we hadn't spoken. That’s not exactly his fault; I hadn't been exactly trying to talk to him and most of the time I tried to stay out of his way because I felt so scared to go up to him. He had friends, cute friends. I didn't want to interrupt them so I watched from a distance, trying to figure out if one of them was the friend who was hosting the party. Sometimes Jake would look in my direction and look right at me but then one of his friends would get his attention and they’d start to laugh again and he would soon forget about me.

It was okay though, I was used to being alone. But what was the point in me going to this party? Jake had other friends; he’d be with them at the party, not me. I’d just be the loner bopping along to the music in the corner trying not to make eye contact with anyone.

He was looking right at me again. And I was looking right back at him. He said something to his friends and then got up and left the canteen, looking my way several times. After a few seconds of hesitation, I followed him. When I got out of the canteen, I saw him standing there waiting for me.

"Hey, so are you coming on Saturday?"
I didn't know what to say. "Yeah." What? I hadn't asked yet. There was no way my parents would let me go, what happens if they say no now? He thinks I'm going, I can't just tell him I'm not at the last minute.

"Cool, so you want me to give you a lift? It's quite far to walk and it saves your parents having to drive you." I nodded. I'll just lie to them. Say I'm staying round a friend’s house. Everything will be fine.

The last lesson that day lasted forever. After what seemed like ten minutes I would look at the clock and see it had only been two since I had last checked. The edges of the paper I was working on were covered in doodles, it was a bad habit I had to doodle on things when I was bored.

Eventually the bell rang. I shoved everything into my bag and left. The walk from school to my house isn't long. If I walk quickly it will take no longer than five minutes, but I don't so it takes more like ten minutes before I get home.

When I got home, my mum was already there with my sister, sitting in the living room watching Cbeebies. My sister is three and looks exactly like my mum. She has clear blue eyes and blonde hair. There's no doubt she'll be beautiful when she's older, just like my mum probably was when she was a teen.

However, I can't leave it too late before I ask else however good my story is there is absolutely no way they will say yes. So just spit it out, Owen. I sigh, have a quick think through what I'm going to say so it doesn't come out completely wrong, "Mum, Dad, can I go to this Sleepover thing on Saturday? It's just a few of my friends." Dad looks over at Mum with that you-can-deal-with-this face. She looks back and sighs before bombarding me with questions that I really should have prepared answers for. I tell her what she wants to hear, that it's just a small get together of friends, that there will be no drink, and how we'll just be watching films for most the night.