Three's a Crowd

Elizabeth Wakefield
Maria is my B.F. How could I have kissed Conner aware that she was coming over!?! I am a terrible friend.

Conner McDermott
This is just great! I'm going to hear about this for a long time! If I could send a message to Maria right now.... Maybe it would be "Quit being such a pest!" or "Leave Liz and I alone!"

Will Simmons
How could I have left Melissa? She was my heart, my soul, my girl... She almost killed herself over me! I guess I feel sorta flattered.

Ring-ring. Elizabeth reached over and hit her alarm. She almost fell back asleep, but she instantly woke-up when she remembered what she had to do today. " I've got to make-up with Maria. I have to talk to her." Elizabeth jumped out of bed and headed towards the bathroom she shared with Conner. She heard the water running. Elizabeth banged the door once.

" Hurry-up Conner!" The water ran for a few minutes longer and then stopped. Elizabeth heard the door to his side close, so she went in the bathroom. After she showered she was ready to face Maria. Liz dressed in a casual look. Jeans, CK short-sleeved shirt, and sneakers. Conner and Liz exited their rooms at the same time. Silence hung in the air.

"Good morning Liz. Why are you up this early on a Saturday?"

"Umm, I'm going to go talk to a friend."

"Need a ride?" Elizabeth almost said "yes" but knew that would be too much for Maria seeing her arrive in Conner's car.

" No. Why are you up this early?"

" I'm going to the movies with Andy, Tia, Angel, and the rest of the crew. I was going to ask you to come along......." Suddenly the whole Maria thing could wait..... Liz quickly abandoned the idea. She had to get this done now.

" I would love to go, but I better get this done now...."

" Okay. I understand." Conner said frowning. Then he grabbed Elizabeth's waist and gave her a deep passionate kiss.

" Good-luck talking to Maria," he said and walked down the steps and out the house. Elizabeth gasped for air.

" One coffee with milk and a raspberry donut please." Requested a chubby woman.

" Sure, coming right up!" Jessica said probably for the millionth time that day. HOJ had been packed ever since her shift began that morning.

" Why did I ever want to work here?" Jessica face began to blush as she remembered the answer. Jeremy Aames. Jessica smiled thinking of him. She envisioned him. Then she realized instead of his picture being there it was Will's.

" Hey cutie!"

" Jeremy! I was just thinking of you."

" I was thinking of you too."

" You aren't scheduled to work today."

" I was hoping they would let me work anyway. I could use the extra hours you know." Jeremy's dad had lost his job so Jeremy was supporting the family as much as he could.

" When are you all moving?"

" As soon as we find a buyer." Silence hung in the air.

" Order up!" called Nick. Jessica picked up the tray.

" I gotta go......"

" Ok.... Call you later?"

" Yeah. Talk to you then." Jessica got back to work. Another customer walked in after Jeremy left.

" Could you take that one Jess? I'm beat!" a co-worker asked.

" Sure. Welcome to the House of Java. Party of how many?"

" One." The customer turned around. It was Will.

" Umm. Umm....." Jessica took a moment to regain her composure. Why was she feeling this way? She has Jeremy! " Right this way.." After Will had sat down at a table, he grabbed Jessica's arm.

" We have to talk."

" My lunch break is in fifteen minutes. Can it wait until then?"

" Yeah, I guess so." Will sat in the booth and waited.

Fifteen minutes later, Jessica sauntered over and sat down.

" You said you wanted to talk, so spill."

" Melissa---"

" What makes you think I want to hear about her?"

" No, you need to hear this, Melissa really did it this time, the doctor says that she could possibly die this time."

" That's too bad." Jessica said trying to dig out some sympathy for Melissa.

" I'll stop by the hospital and see how she is after I'm off work."

" Okay. I'll go with you." Jessica began to smile. " Okay."

Kiss. Rewind. Play. Kiss. Rewind. Play. Kiss. Maria replayed the scene over and over again.

" That dirty, sneaky, lying bitch!" Ding-dong. The doorbell. Maria rolled her eyes wishing it would be Conner. With the thought, she ran to the door and opened it. Disappointment was clearly visible in her eyes when she saw it was Elizabeth.

" What do you want?" Maria said coldly.

" I want to apologize Maria. I want to tell you the truth and I want to be your friend again." Maria felt hurt that Liz didn't want her to be her best friend. That only added to her increasing anger.

" What makes you think I will listen to you?"

" Because we've been best friends for so long. We promised not to get mad over guys too."

" Since when do you care about promises? You broke the #1 rule!" Maria noted how upset Elizabeth was getting.

" Maria I'm so sorry! I just wish you would forgive me. Conner was the one I was obsessing over the whole time. Then when I finally realized he liked me too. You were just in the way. I was so in love with him I..."

" Elizabeth," Maria said and noticed how Elizabeth shrank back in hurt and pain because she hadn't said 'Liz', " in other words you are saying that you've been living with him, obsessing over him, messing with him while I was going out with him, and now you want to get rid of me? That's fine with me. Three's a crowd anyway!"