Sweater Weather

Theia

"Why are we here again?" asked Lia.

"I need to talk to all of you guys." I said. "Over the past few weeks, I've noticed that we've been sort of...distant. I was hoping that we could all meet here to maybe talk about how we're feeling."

"How long is this going to take?" Jay asked. He was bouncing his knee up and down.

"Don't worry, this won't take up the whole lunch period."

"It better not." Jay grumbled. Layla put her hand on top of his and he seemed to relax a little.

"It's okay, if Theia says that it won't take long, it probably won't." She reassured him. I don't know about that. I noticed that Ophelia's smile faltered a little when Layla touched Jay's hand.

"Lia, why don't we start with you. Is there anything you want to get off your chest?" Her hands started fidgeting and she tensed up when I called her name.

"No, I'm all good." Ophelia laughed and gave me a look. A look that said "not right now." I decided to respect her wish.

"What about you, Jay and/or Layla? Do you have anything you want to say." I turned towards them.

"I've been wanting to become friends with Ophelia because she seems really fun and outgoing. I was excited when she asked me to hang out with her. I just hope we can become closer and hang out more." Layla told us. Lia's smile became a little more genuine.

"Of course we can hang out more. I'd love that!" She responded happily.

"Perfect. What about you, Jay?" Jay looked at the clock and stood up from his chair. He then leaned on the table. Jay pulled a pencil from his pocket.

"Actually, I do have something to say. You should hurry this up before I have the sudden urge to throw this pencil at you." I scoffed and crossed my arms.

"I'd like to see you try." I taunted.

I knew he wouldn't actually throw a pencil at me. He would have been in trouble if he did and he doesn't like getting in trouble. We were sitting at a table that was near the librarian's desk. If he saw Jay throw a pencil at me, he would most definitely send Jay to the principal's office. He stood there for a while. That was never a good sign. Layla seemed concerned and maybe a little bit scared. Ophelia knew what to do though. She took Jay by the arm and escorted him to a different part of the library.

Layla started to follow them but I told her, "It's best to just leave her to snap some sense into him."

She was hesitant but nodded and returned to her seat. Layla and I were alone. I decided it would be the perfect time to learn more about her relationship with Jay.

"So Layla," I started. "How have things been with you two lately?"

She played with her hair and avoided eye contact. "Um...he makes lots of time for me, that's for sure. He...he's kind and sweet but he does have sort of a short temper."

"What do you guys usually talk about?"
"I usually talk about music, movies I want to see, my family — normal stuff. All Ju Ju talks about most of the time is Ophelia. His eyes always light up whenever he talks about her or sees her. I want to become closer to Ophelia because I want to see her the way he sees her. She seems like a really amazing person. I...I just think his heart might be somewhere else." I kind of felt bad for Layla. She's so sweet and Jay doesn't deserve her.

"Have you told him how you feel?" I inquired.

"Sort of. I told him that I wanted to become friends with Ophelia but that's pretty much it." Expressed Layla.

"I think you should tell him how you feel, Layla."

"I know, I know. I'm...working on it. I've been thinking about it and I think it might be best if we break up. As much as I love him, I think he should be with someone he really loves." I held her hand.

"That's really kind of you. I think you should talk with him and I think you should maybe consider breaking up with him."

She gave me a sad smile and nodded. We walked to the cafeteria. The lunch line wasn't long because there was only a few minutes of lunch left. I forgot to bring my lunch today so Layla offered to pay for mine. She is literally the most kind-hearted person ever. By the time Jay and Lia came into the cafeteria, lunch was over. I could tell that he was not happy about that. He glared at me and I just smirked at him. I made my way over to my last class, PE. When I entered the girls locker room, I looked at the whiteboard to see what we were going to be doing. The board said that we would be doing the mile. I don't hate the mile but I don't exactly love it either. It's a love hate relationship. My mile time was 8:46. A pretty average time. Nice, now let's try and beat that time on the next mile. After I completed my mile I just sat on a bench to catch my breath. Matthew sat down next to me. He sat there, saying nothing for a while until finally he spoke.

"Can I ask you something, Theia?" I was in the middle of drinking my water when Matthew asked so I just gave a thumbs up.

"Do you know if Ophelia is interested in anyone?" I swallowed my water.

"Yeah but I don't think she wants to be in a relationship right now. I could be wrong, why don't you ask her yourself?" I turned towards him. Matthew looked at the ground then toward the track.
"I'm a little scared too. I'm not really good at talking to people." He confessed.

"You're talking to me right now." I pointed out.

"Yeah but that's different. I've known you since freshman year and you're just an easy person to talk to. Not that Ophelia is not easy to talk to it's just...I don't know."

I placed a hand on his shoulder. "I get it but if you never put yourself out there then you'll never know."

Matthew considered this. "Yeah...yeah, I guess you're right. I'll ask her when I'm ready. Thanks." He said.

"No problem."

I don't know what it is but people always seem to come to me for advice. Maybe it was like Matthew said and I'm just an easy person to talk to. The bell rang and everyone went to the locker room to change back into their clothes. After I changed into my clothes, I walked to my car and drove home.