Pieces of Him

The One and Only Bae

Cory's POV

"What do you think she's going to do?" Drew frowned, not bothering to keep his voice down in the rowdy cafeteria. Cory shrugged moodily, grabbing a lunch tray and watching morose lumps of potato slide onto his plate.

"Goddammit, Cory. Why in the name of Satan's spawn do you date her? Honestly." Drew said, exasperatedly.

"Get your ass outta line, Anderson," a slow, drawling voice cut in. "If you're gonna stand and talk to Jackson there, you can do it in bed. After all, you two live together don't you?"

Seth Mason. The football team's wide receiver. Rich as hell too. Always smugly talking about how his family bought another villa, another estate, another freaking island. He rubbed it in Cory's face, knowing that Cory relied on a part time job and was always cracking jokes about Cory living with Drew.

Cory gritted his teeth, telling himself to not make a scene. If anybody was going to make a scene, it would be Mason. "I would get my ass out of line if I have to emphasize how much sh*t yours spouted."

Mason clenched his fists, his muscles bulging, "What did you say?"

"I said you-" Cory began, but manicured hands pushed through the two of them, resting on their chests. A sickening smell of roses reached Cory's nose, making him grimace. Ugh. It was her...

"Break it up boys," Melissa said sweetly, still dressed in her hooker clothes: her cutoff denim shorts seemingly, if possible, even shorter.

Mason flashed her his signature grin, uncurling his fists and relaxing his posture, "Of course, Melissa."

Melissa curved her lips, trailing her fingers down Mason's chest, "Much appreciated, Mason."

Behind Mason, Drew mimed puking onto Mason's mashed potatoes. Cory choked back a laugh, trying to push away the voice inside his head whispering: why the hell is she interfering? Why the hell was she flirting with Mason?

"I'd watch my girlfriend if I were you, Anderson," Mason smirked maliciously, as if he had read Cory's thoughts,"or somebody just might... steal her from you."

"Try not to get into any more trouble okay, sweetie?" Melissa smiled charmingly at Mason, dimpling her cheeks and raising her pencilled eyebrows.

Melissa waved to him as he swaggered off, a victorious grin on his face. She looked disdainfully at Cory and strutted off, swaying her hips in an exaggerated movement. Mason's head turned back to stare and Melissa dropped a glittering wink, whispering in his ear as she passed. Mason grinned and looked over at Cory. What the hell?

Worry filled Cory's heart. She wasn't going to dump him for Mason was she?

He clenched his teeth and muttered, "Screw him."

"Oh, I wouldn't. He's kinda ugly don't you think?" Drew laughed, trying to lighten the mood.

Cory chuckled, though he was still fuming. F*cking Mason. Was being a linebacker instead of a quarterback that big of a deal? Coach gave the position to Cory and that was that. And his way of getting back at Cory was by flirting with Melissa? Seriously? Did he even have a single brain cell in that fathead of his? Probably not.At least Cory himself had enough brain cells how to spell jerk: S-E-T-H M-A-S-O-N.

Cory thrust the Polaroid camera into Melissa's arms the next day.

"Finally, Cory. At least you picked a pink one. Otherwise, I might have had to tell you to go get another. Does it have film in it?" Melissa examined the camera.