We Could Be Dreamers

8

"I dunno if I'd call him hot," I hear Brooke say. "Cute, maybe. Pretty, sure. But not hot."

"Wrong," Jason proclaims. "He's hot. No room for debate." 

"Uh, guys?" I say awkwardly, walking over to the couch they're sprawled across. 

I normally spend my lunches at a restaurant or cafe or on a bench somewhere with Sam, but students can also spend their lunch periods inside the school in a classroom. Provided there's no class going on, of course. If I'm being honest, it sounded kind of lame to me, so it was never something I did, but now that I'm here...

It's a surprisingly laid-back classroom. Bigger than most, desks fill up one half of the room and couches line the walls of the other. Judging by the bookshelves everywhere, it's an English classroom. The walls have all been painted—by students, I'm guessing—and covered by those weird motivational posters so cheesy that they have to be satire. 

"Hey!" Brooke smiles. "Sorry. We were arguing about something." 

Jason nods and holds a phone out towards me. Displayed on the screen is a picture of some actor I vaguely recognize. Sam would probably know who he is. "Him, specifically," Jason explains. 

I furrow my brow, admittedly confused. "What about him?" I ask reluctantly. 

"Whether or not he's attractive," Brooke replies. 

"Whether or not he's hot," Jason corrects. "And he is. Hot, that is." 

My confusion deepens. Why are he and Brooke arguing over whether or not some actor's hot? It doesn't quite make sense. 

"And you're debating this—like, both of you? You think he's hot, and she..." I trail off, not entirely sure what I'm saying at this point. "And it—"

Jason stares at me like I'm an alien. "You okay there?" He asks slowly. 

"Huh?" I blink a couple times, feeling my face heat up. "Yeah, I'm fine. Why?"

"You kinda look like your brain's breaking," Brooke says bluntly. 

Yeah, that's something you wanna hear your crush say to you. 

"Great," I mutter. "So did you text me to meet you guys here so I could participate in the hot actor argument, or...?"

"No," Brooke replies at the same moment Jason says "Yes." 

Brooke rolls her eyes and swats him lightly on the shoulder. Jason grins at me, and I feel the butterflies start to swarm in my stomach. 

The fuck?

"You're not here to participate in the hot actor argument," Brooke says with a light laugh. "Although I would like to hear your input. But. Anyways. I had an epiphany and stayed up like all night last night and I am almost done the project so I figured if we get lucky we can get it all done today." 

"Wait, seriously?" I ask. "You're almost finished? That's..." I trail off, not quite sure how I want to finish that sentence. 

I... don't really want this project to end. 

"I know, right? Awesome!" She beams. "Sit down. You just need to polish off that conclusion and figure out what the fuck's going on with the bibliography, and we're all set."

"Uh..." 

There's not really much room for me to sit down. Jason's lying down on his back and Brooke is sitting on his legs. 

Brooke pokes Jason again. "Move." 

Jason sighs and sits up, yanking his legs away from underneath Brooke. She squeals and topples off the couch. I offer a hand to help her up instinctively, and there's something positively electric when her palm settles against mine. 

And then Jason moves into the corner, and Brooke leans against him, which frees up half the couch for me. And I take my seat and clench my jaw and hide behind my laptop screen, which I know isn't fair of me. It's not Jason's fault that he's so good-looking and I feel intimidated. It's not Brooke's fault that she's so fucking amazing. Neither of them are to blame for my inability to shake these stupid feelings. 

It's all just something I have to figure out for myself. 

But I don't particularly want to do that right now. 

So I just concentrate on the project.