4 Nerds Want Lemons

31

Chapter 31

Ryland

Wednesday 10:15 am

***

AP Bio was taught by a teacher who was so ugly it was hard to look at him. Large eyes, big teeth. Weird voice that scares my ears. Sometimes I pictured myself putting his head through a wall. So, it's not surprising that I wasn't paying attention to him, but rather Andrew Montgomery.

He was paying attention to me which was more than enough to make me belligerent with power. He was pissed I stole his boy. I understood. I'd have been mad if Tomlin chose him. He had a right to feel how he felt. He just had no right to keep eyeing me like that.

"Can I help you, Montgomery?"

"He said yes to you guys didn't he?"

I smiled, a rare real one because it made me so happy to say this. "Yeah, he did. Of course he did. Or are you surprised?"

"Of course I am. He's our best friend. It's always been us."

"And he chose something different. If you really care about him, maybe you should give him a break. You've hurt him. You social media bombed him. You think that's okay? You'd hate me if I was the one who betrayed him. Instead it's you. His best friend. You helped me win, Andy." I winked.

He scowled. He leaned forward putting his face in mine. "Fuck you, Ryland."

"No, thanks, Montgomery. I've got your boy for that later." I winked at him.

"Rude." Sammy interjected. "Both of you back up and knock it off. Remember at the end of the day you both care about Tomlin. Andy, you and Dylan need a better way to make up with Tomlin than to fight with us, man."

Andrew sighed, "Fuck. I know alright. I know. I really fucked up. I really thought he'd see that post and chose to embrace us. He is so open about everything I thought it'd be a slam dunk."

I laughed. "He's a human. Not a basketball. Damn, you really are a jockstrap."

Andrew glared, grabbed his shit and left. I didn't blame him. What was he going to say?

****

Lunch 12:30 pm

***

"Ryland, I asked you guys not to say a word about this. Why did you tell Andy?" Tomlin was upset.

I shrugged. "He was being a sore loser. Plus, we told him he should make it up to you. I wasn't actively starting shit."

Tomlin rolled his eyes. "It was a power move and I'm mad about it." He crossed his arms over his chest with a small pout.

"How mad?" Sammy quirked an eyebrow. "Mad enough to dump us, or just mad enough to act out."

Tomlin put a hand to his chin and his nose in the air like he was thinking really hard about this. "Just mad enough to act out. I'm man enough to understand that Ryland feels like a God right now because I said yes to you boys. And I'm man enough to know Andrew feels like a loser who got dumped by his best friend not once, but twice. Both men have big egos. It's not that I'm mad about."

Sammy smiled softly. "Then what are you mad about?"

"I'm mad at myself. I realized I've always let Andrew boss me around. So I'm really mad at myself for just realizing I went from one odd relationship to another and didn't even know it till now. I mean I let them talk me into a threesome. I thought it was about love and friendship. And the whole time Andy had this plan to destroy me. It feels like he took something good and made it dirty. If that makes sense."

"It does." I nodded. "It's also important to know we aren't them. We won't treat you like that. Or at least I won't. I'd like to think our boys feel the same."

Sammy smiled at the both of us. His green eyes were brighter than ever. "I love you both too much for that bullshit."

I felt the words hit me in my toes. It was nice and something that always made me feel tingly. I looked at Tomlin and almost fell over in my seat. Tomlin Lemons was crying big happy tears and he looked so ethereal it was hard not to stare and harder not to look away.

"Shorty, you watch your mouth when we are in public. You can't go making declarations like that all willy-nilly like. It stuns people." Tomlin chided, drying his face with the ends of his sweatshirt.

"Goodbye, Heathens. Just so you know I will be avoiding you all until Saturday. This is to much torture to have to live through."

He made me laugh so hard I spit out my soda. Poor Sammy got a face full of the sticky liquid and looked as if he wanted to kill me. Jay and Darius laughed so hard that no one could really help poor Sammy, but Sammy himself.

"Tomlin would say this is what I deserve." Sammy complained, making the laughter stretch out the rest of the lunch period.

And just to be clear, Tomlin really did avoid us until Saturday. It made everyone so upset we didn't even spend time with each other. We decided to all spend the next few days alone preparing ourselves for Saturday. Whatever the fuck that meant. All I really knew was it made the anticipation that much greater for when Saturday finally reached us.