See Me

40

"So then, Zane picked up the book and threw it back at him, and the guy turns around and he said think wisely about your next move, as if he was scary, right? So then Zane... he..." O was clutching his stomach, laughing through his words.

"Zane just hit him." Gavin laughed out, finishing O's sentence. "Right here." His balled hand tapped on his chin twice.

"Seriously, Seren, these three were a nightmare to deal with before Zane left." Cassidy added, her voice made it sound like she was annoyed, but she had a grin on her face too.

"Why are you guys the way that you are?" Zane sighed out, shaking his head. "You have to tell everyone this story."

"You've never minded when we told anyone else this story, Zane." O said as he raised an eyebrow. Cassidy's head was laying in his lap, and he was gently running his fingers through her curls.

"Shut up." Zane muttered, before looking down at me. I was tucked into his side, my head on his chest and his arm pulled tightly around me. "Don't listen to a word they say."

"I'm quite enjoying this, actually." I giggled as I spoke. I looked back towards O and Gavin, who were watching the two of us with an amused expression on their faces. "Tell me more, please. I feel like I don't even know the Zane in those stories."

"Oh... I have a good one." Gavin moved forward towards the end of the couch, rubbing his hands together with a mischievous look on his face. "We went to this party in freshman year, and Zane brought this chick named Holly..."

Zane cut him off. "Not this one."

"Why not?" I pouted.

"Yeah, Zane, why not? It's not like we have many recent stories to tell of you and girls. Once you got a glimpse of this one, it was over." Gavin titled his head towards me as he spoke.

"Oh, really?" I teased, my fingers landing on Zane's chest as I pretended to tickle him.

"That's not..." Zane started.

"It is the truth and don't let him tell you otherwise." O cut him off this time.

"I'm sure you're exaggerating." I said, but I couldn't help the smile that was beaming from my lips.

"Seriously, every girl who tried to talk to him, he would be like you know Seren wears her hair like that sometimes, but..."

"Alright. Enough." Zane covered his face with his hand. "Seren doesn't need to hear this. You three were supposed to come over to watch a movie."

"Yeah, until we found out Seren was here." Cassidy said, raising her body up from O's lap. "Why would we watch a movie when we could embarrass you in front of her instead?"

Zane must have given her a dirty look, I couldn't see his face, but Cassidy changed her tone quickly.

"Okay, okay. But I'm picking the movie this time. I'm sick of watching guy movies." She said as she picked up the remote.

I've spent a lot of time surrounded by friends. Well, friends is a strong word. I've spent a lot of time surrounded by people who I thought were my friends who really didn't give a shit about me. We had spent many nights together, just like this one. Piled on a couch in someone's basement, watching a movie and eating snacks. It was the same, but I can't explain to how indescribably different it was. There was love here. You could feel it. The three boys, and Cassidy, they loved each other.

"Sorry about them." Zane said as he came back downstairs after letting his friends out. "I would have cancelled, but I had forgotten they were supposed to come."