Chapter 3

What's more socially awkward than sitting in a breakfast diner eating breakfast with your two best friends and the guy you're currently tutoring who everyone thinks is your boyfriend AND you have bad history that he's probably already forgotten about?Nothing, literally nothing in the universe. Link and I surprisingly didn't get there first, since we walked, I assumed we'd be the first ones there, but I knew in my heart we'd never beat Mipha. The very punctual Zora had arrived twenty minutes in advance, and because they were neighbours, dragged along a very sleepy, grumpy, hungry and tired Urbosa. Props to Mipha. Even I never had the courage to wake sleeping Urbosa up."Please remind me why we decided to meet here this early in the morning?" Urbosa grumbled, eyes closing and arms crossed."It's almost 11," I heard Mipha say."No, it's not.""Yes, it is."Urbosa grumbled again and muttered something that I couldn't hear."And who's this?" Mipha asked, an innocent look on her face. The nerve! I was so going to pillow fight her later."Uh, I'm Link. But you know me already."At this point, Urbosa was listening too, a look on her face that said everything, a smirk washing over her once tired face."And why are you here?" Mipha continued.Link, on the other hand, looked stressed and confused. He glanced at me for help and the only thing I could offer him was a shrug and an awkward smile. I chose to answer for him."He helped shovel our driveway," I reply, trying to sound nonchalant and failing."Our driveway?""I-I mean me, Twi and Sky. I don't live with Link. Nope.""Twi, Sky and I, Zel."I scowl at them.Urbosa raised an eyebrow, looking at me skeptically. Yeah, this seems like the right time to shut up. Link seems to look embarrassed as well. "Anyways..."Mipha continues talking about something, trying to break the deafening awkward silence, but I tune it out. I'm looking straight at Link. He seems uncomfortable, fiddling with his fingers and biting his lower lip and he looks... like a teenage boy.A Hylian waiter walks over and he looks extremely sleep-deprived. "Hi, what can I get for you here at The Slippery Falcon?" he asks us in his oily voice. Mipha speaks up almost immediately, asking for grilled salmon. Urbosa takes longer to order and ends up deciding on their specialty, the Hyrule Spaghetti. Link and I are the last ones to order.

"I'll take a grilled cheese then." Link closes the menu and hands it to him. The waiter, who I identify on his nametag, says that his name is Byrne."Um," I begin panicking as everyone looks at me. "I'll take... umm... a grilled cheese."

"Sure." Byrne replies boringly and snatches the menus, walking back to the kitchen, surely telling the chef our order. The Slippery Falcon seems pretty empty, save for a few Hylians here for an early lunch. Urbosa got to pick the dining spot this time, a small quaint restaurant in the Mabe District of Castle Town, which at this point, with all the skyscrapers and buildings, not to mention houses, is starting to look like a city.Urbosa looks at me like I've gone completely insane. "You don't... even like grilled cheese." At this point, even Link and Mipha have whipped their heads around from their friendly conversation to listen to this."I thought I'd try it.""And not because Link ordered a grilled cheese?""No, that has nothing to do with Link ordering a grilled cheese!" I responded, flustered. A wave of pink is probably spreading across my face at the very moment."Mm. Right," Urbosa says sarcastically, looking at me skeptically.I looked over to my right to see Link staring directly at me. "What?" I uttered.Link feigned surprise. "You don't like grilled cheese?"——I think. "Well, I've never quite liked it," I say.Urbosa snorts. "That's an understatement." I must've looked confused because she added, "You threw up at my seventh birthday party.""I did not!""Right." Mipha looks skeptical at my statements.Link looked bewildered. "What part of grilled cheese do you not like? It's literally cheese on bread," he points out. "Do you not like cheese and bread?"There's a sense of seriousness in his voice, and yet, his facial expressions always seem soft and kind."Well," I start, "It's just, cheese and bread taste so bad together!"Link feigns shock again and even Mipha, who, let's face it, doesn't even eat grilled cheese, looks offended.Urbosa attempts to change subjects. "So, Link, do you have siblings?" she asks.As Urbosa and Mipha begin their interrogation of Link, I quickly glance out of the window. Hoarfrost is already shimmering at the edges, which isn't all that uncommon, seeing as Christmas was in two days. I gaze out at Mabe Terrace, the circular terrace once used for treaties and negotiations turned food plaza, addorned with restaurants serving traditional Hylian foods."Here's your food."I turn my head around and spot Byrne resting several plates down on the table. "Grilled salmon with risotto, Hyrule Spaghetti, and two grilled cheeses with tomato soup."We all nod in gratitude and begin eating as Byrne turns around and leaves.I take a bite out of my grilled cheese sandwich. It's not as bad as I expected it would taste. Urbosa and Mipha are staring at me expectingly.I look over at Link. He has somehow managed to devour his entire grilled cheese sandwich and drain the tomato soup of his bowl. I can't help gawking as he places the empty bowl back on the table.He looks over at me."What?""Nothing," I reply, "How in Hylia did you manage to finish all that, that quickly?""What can I say? I'm a foodie."Urbosa snorts for the second time in five minutes. "That's an understatement.""I thought foodies were supposed to eat slowly in order to 'savour the food?'"He laughs sheepishly. "Whoops."Over the course of thirty minutes, we finish our food, as Urbosa, Mipha and Link converse. I've barely talked to him at all since we entered the restaurant. On the other hand, there seems to be no shortage of the awkward glances.Over the course of this meal, I've learned about how Link plays soccer, his favorite foods (chocolate pancakes, wildberry crepes and Hylian pizza), his dog named Wolf, and his favourite places to be (the pizzeria on Main Street), all thanks to Urbosa and Mipha's interrogating.Foodie was an understatement.Urbosa looks down at her phone. "Oh, I gotta go."Mipha does the same thing and says, "Me too. I have swim practice."They start to get up and put their coats on. "What about the check?" I hear myself saying."You owe me one, Zel. I already paid for it. Except for Link's.""Why not pay for him?" I ask."I'll start paying for him when you two are official," Urbosa smirks.I squeak in shock. Link looks like a tomato."I could've paid for it, y'know?" Link interjects, still looking bright red."My treat," Urbosa waves. She and Mipha stroll out of the restaurant, leaving Link and I in shock.This is getting awkward. I urge myself to say something."I'm sorry about her. And this whole situation," I blurt.He simply laughs and shakes his head. "Don't worry about it. My friends are the same."He brushes his dirty blonde hair aside and grins. "Since they're already gone, shouldn't we get going?""Probably," I reply. For some reason, I can't stop my heart from pounding through my rib cage."Let's head off, then." He smiles, and grabs his backpack, the same way he did... back then.I push the the thoughts out of my mind and pick myself up from where I'm sitting."To the library it is," I say, shoving pieces of shattered thoughts into the drawers of my mind. As we head out, Link smiles and hands one of the waiters a crumped up bill.We open the door and head out, strolling along the cloudy landscape. The library doesn't seem to be too far, at least the one we're headed to. I glance up at the sky and let out a sigh of semi-relief.Perhaps this was going to turn out well after all, maybe even better than I expected.

(A/N:) Hey!  I know this update is a bit late, not to mention short, but I hope you'll like it! I've spent a lot of time doing extracurriculars and schoolwork, so I ask all of you for some patience, as updates may not be as frequent! Also, thanks for 350 reads, and votes! Shoutouts go to my fellow PJO and TLoZ writers for their continued support on Wattpad and their patronage! 

Thanks,

Vinny