Ashley ✓

Nine | Constantine

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SOTC: Never Be Like You by Flume (ft. Kai)

"That's cool he recovered," Sienna said.

"I think so, too," Belle answered with a curve across her face, running a napkin over her mouth.

Fedor made a large swallow of pasta. "What happened to that one dude who got slammed by a erectile dysfunction truck?"

Sienna's jaw dropped at him. "Bro!"

Belle snorted. "He did not get slammed! The wheel ran over his foot, and he'll be in surgery tomorrow."

A week later, Belle, Fedor, Sienna, and I sat down for dinner like we did every night. Belle had made Penne Rosa since she arrived home early from the hospital she worked at. Now, Sienna and Fedor asked about updates on her patients she talked about, which were admittedly interesting.

And what a week it had been.

Since Mustafa reportedly 'saved me' with his Baltimore statement, I had been swarmed left and right. Boys ran up to me asking for my number. Girls stalked me in the hallway asking for his new snap and if I was sleeping with him or not. Oh, and there was Jordyn. Every time I roamed the halls, she'd try to burn me at the stake with her curled lip and eyes thinner than knife blades.

Whenever Sienna or Fedor and I talked, the anticipation of whether they'd bring it up crawled underneath layers of my skin.

Strangely, they never did.

"Can I be excused, Mom?" Fedor asked, ripping me from the claws of my mind.

"Yes you may," Belle replied.

"Me, too?" Sienna seconded. In response, Belle nodded.

They both arose, pushing in their chairs and washing their plates in the sink. Then they left the room.

"Did you like the food?"

I turned to Belle as she asked me the question. "Yeah, thank you," I said, taking the final bite finishing my meal. Then, I paused. "Um.. may I be excused?"

"Yes, you may."

I pushed in my chair when I got up and washed my plate and utensils, proceeding to leave the room.

I raised my eyebrows when I found Sienna halfway up the stairs.

"Come on, we have someone over," she said.

"Wha—" I began.

She just kept ascending the stairs, and I instinctively followed her to a room.

When Sienna creaked open the door, both my eyes drank in the sight of a beige bedroom. Soccer posters covered the walls, the largest one regarding the World Cup in Qatar above Fedor's mattress.

Frick my life.

Because on the navy covers sat Fedor on one side and him on the other.

"What's up, Mustafa?" Sienna asked and closed the door.

"Gas prices, rent, and Fedor's pants," Mustafa casually stated, bending his leg so his foot was on the covers.

Fedor punched him in the shoulder. "Dude, what the fuck?"

Sienna gagged. "Excuse me?"

"Tell Sienna why, Fedor." His eyes peered to me, his jaw clenching at a pressure that could've smashed his molars into bits. His jaw only softened and his eyes neutralized when he focused on Sienna again.

What the hell?

Fedor sighed. "Just sit down."

Sienna and I sat on the bed. I settled as far away from Mustafa as humanely possible, but it hadn't ceased the replay of that look.

"My supportive friend Mustafa made that joke because I have an announcement!" Fedor exclaimed.

Sienna crossed her legs. "What?"

"Oh fuck, here we go," Mustafa groaned, leaning his head on the wall.

Fedor cleared his throat and declared:

"Sienna, I ask you as the friend of Francesca, to make a move on her!"

"What the hell?" Sienna annunciated her words, high pitches drowning normalcy in her vocals.

Mustafa raised his eyebrows.

Fedor's eyes widened. "What? I thought you'd be proud of me! You know I've been scared to talk to her forever!"

Sienna clapped her hands. "We've been over this! Bro, you have rizz with a bazillion girls and bring over a new sneaky link every week, and you out here pissing yourself over saying hi to my best friend."

"You two have been over this?" Mustafa sighed, looking at Fedor.

"Yes," Fedor said to him before turning back to Sienna. "But Slavic rizz gets boring after a while! Plus... y'know, I like Francesca. She's sassy yet I feel like she could listen to me, y'know?" He tilted his chin upward, his eyes dazed as a current of oxygen escaped him in a dream-like sigh. "Plus she got this cute nose scrunch thing when she sneezes."

"Wow. That is the corniest shit I ever heard," Sienna said, turning to me. "Do you hear this man?"

"I thin—" I began.

"Chill, Sienna," Mustafa cut in, clasping his knee. "Bro's in love."

"You just made a boner joke about my brother," she scoffed.

"I was speaking facts. You're just being mean."

"You two are both not helping!" Fedor whined.

Sienna scrunched her eyebrows at Fedor. "Also, just the way you introduced this topic. You asked me to make a move on her like I was a fat dad who wears a feather offering my daughter's hand in marriage."

"Like King George?"

Sienna scrunched her eyebrows. "What? No! Not King George."

"Constantine the Great?"

"Who the hell is Constantine the Great?" Sienna asked.

"The king before King George?" Fedor suggested.

Mustafa shook his head. "No, it's probably Spain."

"He was a Roman emperor."

Everyone turned to me as I continued, "Constantine the Great ruled in the early 4th century. He's known for being the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity, and tied his success to it."

Fedor's jaw dropped.

"Damn girl, how you know that?" Sienna exclaimed, her face lit up at me.

I shrugged. "I read it in a book in like, fourth grade."

"Fourth grade?" Fedor followed. "Damn, you must be a big brain."

I snorted.

"Liar," Mustafa muttered under his breath, which no one else seemed to hear but me. This had dissipated any iota of joy I had from my body, staining me in icky feelings.

Maybe I just wanted him to ignore me after all...