Pretty Boy- discontinued sorryyyy

• Chapter Eight •

"Damn Luke, I think I just fell in love with you, that was so impressive," My eyes follow the sound of the voice and watch as the girl punches the kid in the arm.

"Seriously Cole?!" the boy with brown eyes in front of me laughs at their bickering, his eyes still not leaving my face.

"How are you feeling?" His voice draws me away from the continuing argument between the girl and who I presume to be Cole.

"Like I just had a panic attack in front of a bunch of strangers?" It doesn't come out as sarcastic as I had hoped but the boy smiles anyways.

"Fair enough, but really... are you ok kid?" I inwardly chuckle at his use of "kid" cause I can't be over a year younger than him if even that.

"I..." how the hell do I answer that? I can't tell him that I'm not and probably never will be ok, so I settle on a half-truth, "I'll be ok, I'm so sorry I didn't mean to freak out on you guys."

He shakes his head, "don't be sorry it's ok, I just wanted to make sure you were alright."

"Yeah, yeah. All good, thank you." Why is he being so nice to me? He doesn't even know who I am? I don't deserve this.

"Of course," He finally looks over at his friends and smiles, "I'm Lucas, the doofuses arguing are Cole and Michelle."

"Yeah but don't call her that!" Cole shouts ending his argument, "She'll punch your lights out, I couldn't see out of my left eye for a week after she punched me."

"I'm not gonna punch him! You make me out to be some kind of monster" Michelle or, not Michelle I guess, pipes in.

"Well, you punch me all the time!"

"That's 'cause you're ugly and mean." She snaps back at Cole but I can tell by the smile in her voice she's not truly mad at him.

"Mich, quit yelling." a calm voice says from the other side of me and I turn slightly to see them, "I'm Eli, and just stick to Mich cause she tends to pretty violent." He sends me a small smile as I try not to be too overwhelmed.

"I-I'm Aiden," My voice sounds so weak, what a wonderful first impression I've made so far.

Lucas opens his mouth to speak when he's interrupted by the doors to the mall swinging open. Ellie steps out into the sun, her hair shinning in the light as she looks around.

"Ellie?" My voice cracks at her name and her head swings over to me, her face full of worry.

"Holy shit Aiden," she rushes over and pulls me into a hug, " you bitch, you just disappear!" She pulls back to look me in the eyes, "are you ok? what happened?"

"First of all, language."

"Shut up! I had no idea where you were! I was worried."

"Second of all," I continue, laughing, "I'm fine. Nothing happened just got a little bothered and needed some air." I hear a scoff from behind Ellie and suddenly remember that we aren't alone. "Honest, I'm fine," I state, stronger this time and finally standing up, "where are Ethan and Owen at?"

"Still in the food court, I made them stay in case you..." She clears her throat, swallowing whatever she was about to say, "Let's head back inside. We should get home."

I nod before looking back to Lucus, "Thanks again, man." Hopefully, I don't have to see them ever again and face the embarrassment of all this.

"No problem." Something about his smile makes me hesitate, not wanting to leave the safety of his eyes. But in the end, I follow Ellie back through the doors.