. . . a juicy truth
Mala and I are each already three extortionately priced juices down by the time the rest of the group make it to the juice bar, and I am definitely experiencing some sort of natural sugar high.
We greet the other runners with bright, beaming and highly ecstatic faces, and they greet us with the kind of confusion that scrunches your face up into a tight ball.
They murmur between them as they sit, trying to get to the bottom of how the girl at the back of the pack got here first.
‘So, you’ve had fun,’ Noah says, beaming.
I whisked him away to the counter the second he showed up.
I told Mala it was because he’d have no clue what to pick, but, really, I wanted to make sure we were cool after my small blow-up earlier.
He brushed it off instantly, offering to buy my next juice and then moving on as if nothing ever happened.
It made me feel like more of a cow for overreacting, but I moved on with him nonetheless.
I nod. ‘Yeah, she’s cute. And athletic. And incredibly chatty, which is good because the more I do this the more I’m running out of things to say.’
‘Hence why you ran to me.’
I scoff. ‘I hardly ran.’
He raises an eyebrow. ‘You practically leapt from your seat and dragged me away to the bar.’
Though not entirely wrong, his retelling is wildly askew. The leap was a mere offshoot of my juice-induced energy.
‘Well, excuse me for wanting to see my friend,’ I huff.
He pauses for a moment, the corners of his mouth twisting up at my use of the word ‘friend’.
‘Missed you too, bubs.’
‘Bubs?’ I ask.
He shrugs. ‘I’m trying something new.’
They call our juices – apple, pear and ginger for him, and raspberry and mango for me.
‘You’re right – this is good.’ He takes another sip. I smile, satisfied.
‘Been working my way around the menu.’
‘Yeah, you have had way too much juice. Remember, we share a toilet.’
He shudders at the mere thought of what this means.
I shudder too. I didn’t think that far ahead as I downed juice after bright, colourful juice.
My stomach churns ever so slightly at the thought of all that acid bubbling and spitting up inside me.
I place my new cup down on the counter immediately, as if it were about to explode in my hands.
‘Don’t do this to me, Noah. I can’t throw up again. Not on another date. This can’t be my thing.’
He chuckles, his face lighting up as he harks back to that fateful night in Rotterdam, before delving into his backpack and chucking me his half-drunk bottle of water.
I take a deep breath, then a couple more, before lifting it to my lips and praying it’s enough to dilute the fruity soup I’ve created.
I feel it run across my tongue, down my throat and slosh down to join the mass of liquid I seem to have accumulated.
‘Better?’ he asks.
‘Better. I should get back to Mala. Thank you.’
‘Mind if I come too? Things did not go well with Abigail,’ he says, lowering his voice.
‘The girl in blue? What happened?’ I ask, surprised.
Despite my weird feelings earlier, I actually do feel bad. Now I’ve got Mala, I want him to be happy too. He dips his eyes as he takes a long, hard sip through his straw.
‘It doesn’t matter.’
‘It absolutely does. I can’t help you if you continue to keep your dates secretive. I don’t want another El.’
He winces at her name. ‘Yeah, you made that clear earlier.’
My heart drops as I relive our little spat. ‘Sorry.’
‘It’s fine. This wasn’t the same. She was single, she just had a really short fuse.’
‘In what way?’ I ask.
It has become increasingly clear that he’s a hard nut to pull information from. He rolls his eyes and huffs, looking down again.
‘I freaked out when we lost you at the back. She didn’t like how much I cared. Can we go sit now?’ he asks.
‘I’m sorry,’ I say again.
‘Please don’t apologise. Let’s sit,’ he says, shaking off his gloom and walking ahead.
I direct us to the booths, steering our way through the crowd and trying not to hover too much on his story.
‘Who’s this?’ Mala asks, squinting at us as we approach.
‘Oh, this is Noah. My travel buddy,’ I say proudly.
‘Oh. Hi.’ She greets him, a weak smile on her face. ‘You didn’t tell me you were travelling with someone.’
‘I haven’t come up?’ he gasps, dramatically clutching his chest. ‘You’re like the first thing I mention to anyone!’
I force a pretty large eyeroll at his faux outrage, but not before a small smile lifts the corner of my mouth. He spots it like a hawk zeroing in on its prey and hits me back with a smug, satisfied grin.
‘Ignore him,’ I say to Mala, breaking the eye contact between me and Noah for good. ‘He’s an only child. Real problem with sharing.’
‘Got it.’ She nods, smile far duller than before. ‘Will you sit?’
‘Yeah, of course!’ I beam, shuffling into our booth.
I shimmy far enough so that Noah can slide in next to me, but the booth reveals itself to be a little too small for three people. My knees knock into Mala’s so hard she gasps and recoils at the unexpected aftershock.
‘Sorry!’ I splutter an apology instantly. ‘It’s all the juice – I guess I don’t know my own strength.’
‘I told her to stop at three, but she may have a problem!’ Noah adds as I playfully slap him on the arm.
Mala’s eyes flick between us with each sentence we say, her whole expression shifting into something way harder to read.
‘You know what? You two stay, I will go,’ she says, shuffling out the other end.
‘What? Mala!’ I say, protesting.
But it’s too late. She’s already pacing out of the juice bar. I stare back at Noah in panic, but he’s just as perplexed as I am.
‘Should I?’ I gesture outside.
‘Yeah, why not?’ he shrugs.
So I leave my juice with him and bolt out the door after her. It takes a few minutes of hapless running and calling her name before I finally catch up. I grab her arm as I do, her skin warm to the touch as she whips her head round and stares back at me.
‘Why’d you leave? Did I do something wrong?’ I say, panting.
Her wide eyes dart to the pavement as soon as I look her way.
‘No, you didn’t – it’s fine,’ she says, dejected. ‘I just . . . I didn’t realise what this was. My mistake.’
‘What do you mean?’ I ask.
She tries to turn again, but I’m still close enough to grab her hand, squeeze it tight, pull her back.
‘Mala, please, what do you mean?’ I ask again, softer.
She lets out a deep sigh, eyes flitting to my face before repelling off it. ‘Look. I totally respect whatever you and your boyfriend are into, but that’s just not who I am. I’m not really interested in . . . joining couples.’
I choke on my spit in shock. ‘What?’
She continues. ‘Like I said, no judgement! It’s just not really who I am.’
‘We’re not a couple,’ I say, stunned.
‘What?’ She looks confused.
‘Noah and I. We’re not a couple,’ I say vehemently. ‘I was flirting with you because I wanted you. Noah is my friend. No couple business here.’
She doesn’t look any more relieved. In fact, she raises an eyebrow sceptically. ‘How long have you two known each other?’
‘About a month,’ I say.
‘And in that month, you’ve never been physical?’
‘Well . . .’
‘I knew it.’ She sighs.
‘But we decided . . .’
She grips my arm, lightly caressing it to stop me. I feel the trace of her nails and shiver at the brief moment of intimacy.
‘I believe you,’ she says softly, staring into my eyes. ‘You might not see it, but there’s something there – it’s so obvious. And I’m not prepared to get in the middle of that.’
She turns to walk away again, but I’m not ready to give up. We had a spark – a spark worth at least trying to explore. I’m only in Prague for a week longer. If we don’t try now, then we’ll never get a chance again.
‘Mala!’
She turns around, her gaze pitying as she clocks the confusion on my face. ‘It was lovely to meet you, Amorie. But I think you need to figure out what’s happening with you and Noah before you date anyone else.’