Here We Lie

02

                        Jayden Flores

Jazz, Tyler, and I were all gathered at the mall, Jazz guiding us toward a restaurant. She was mad since she lost a vote, the vote being what kind of food we got. She picked chicken while Tyler and I picked Asian food. Or what was considered Asian food.

"How about Panda Express?" Tyler suggested, an eyebrow raised as we all kept walking around the food area. Jazz huffed as we all kept walking, eventually finding ourselves in front of Panda Express. "Wow, you listened for once," Tyler said with a somewhat sassy tone. I glared at him and elbowed him, trying to tell him to zip it. "How about you just leave me alone for once?" Jazzy snapped in an equal tone and volume.

After that, it was silent until we ordered our food. Once we got our food, we walked over to a table and sat down. Jazzy sat next to me, and Tyler sat across from us. We all sat awkwardly, able to sense the tension that was between Tyler and Jazz. Even though it was awkward, I could still tell Jazz was fuming with anger. One wrong move and she'd caused a scene.

Once we were all done, we threw our trash away and started walking again. The tension cooled once the food was put into Jazzy's stomach.

"What do you guys wanna do now?" I asked, hoping to lower the barrier that blocked us all.

"How about we go to the movies? Couldn't go wrong with that," Tyler suggested, shrugging his shoulders at his own words.

Jazz seemed amused with the idea, nodding in agreement. I nodded as well, sighing as we made our way out of the mall.

"What movie?" Tyler asked as he got into the driver's seat, Jazz and I got in our usual spots.

"A scary movie?" I suggested, groaning when I saw Jazzy glaring at me.

"A romance movie!" Jazlyn beamed, a wide grin shown on her face.

Tyler nodded, pulling out of the parking spot and starting the way to the closest movie theater, which was only about fifteen minutes away.

***

We walked out of the movie theater, and I was exhausted as Jazlyn went on a rant about how amazing she thought the movie was. I rubbed my eyes, and since I had fallen asleep and was woken up by someone's sobs, I was still tired.

"That was the best movie ever! I love the way Katie and Steven got together by the end of it! Cutest movie ever," Jazzy screamed, fangirling over the movie we had just seen.

She's going to be talking about it for days, maybe even weeks now. Tyler gave me a knowing glance as if we were both thinking the same thing.

"Wanna hang out for the rest of tonight, or do you guys want me to drop you off at your houses?" Tyler asked the both of us.

Jazlyn shrugged, her eyes darting towards me. "His choice," is all she said.

"I'd rather hang out, honestly," I shrugged, not knowing what I wanted to do.

Jazzy put a thumbs up, patting me on my back with her other hand as we made our way back toward Tyler's car.

                         Leonel Cruz

"Yo, Leo, you down to head to the mall?" My friend, Ethan, asked over the phone. "Sure, are the others coming, or are they being lazy like normal?" I chuckled into my phone, getting up from my bed.

"Nah, guess they're sore from our game a week ago," he said, bursting out into laughter.

"Alright, see you there, man," I said back, shaking my head as I hung up.