Wild Ride

Chapter 4: The Man Who Pretended Not to Care

Xandria's pov

I was relaxing in my room, sprawled comfortably across my bed, one leg hanging lazily over the edge while music played softly through my phone. Every now and then, I'd tap the screen to skip a song that I wasn't in the mood for. At the same time, I was playing a game on my phone, completely determined to beat the difficult level I'd been stuck on for the past two days.

"Come on," I muttered, staring intensely at the screen. "Just a little more..." My character was almost at the finish line when my phone suddenly vibrated and started ringing out. I groaned. "Seriously?"

I glanced at the screen and saw it was Benj calling. I answered. "Hello?"

"Hey, Xan."

I could hear the smile in his voice. "What's up?"

"Nothing much. Are you busy?"

"Not really."

"Good. Come out.", he said.

Seeing as I had nothing better to do at the time, I got dressed into something comfy, grabbed my room key, phone and headed out.

When I got to him, we started walking together, randomly just talking about any and everything. We jumped from schoolwork to the latest movies we watched to random things we'd seen online. At one point, he started telling me about something ridiculous that had happened earlier that morning, and I laughed so hard I had to hold my stomach.

"You should've seen your face," I told him.

"You would have reacted the same way."

"Absolutely not."

I shook my head, smiling.

We had barely been talking for fifteen minutes when his phone started ringing. He glanced at the screen, his expression changed slightly. "Give me a second, Xan."

"Sure." He stepped a few feet away and answered the call. I didn't bother looking at the caller ID, I wasn't interested, but it must have been important if he had to excuse himself. Whatever the call was about seemed important though, because he walked even farther away.

I shrugged and reached into my pocket for my phone. If he was going to be occupied for a while, I might as well do something too. I opened Snapchat. I immediately found myself scrolling through a pile of Snapchat messages I'd not opened. I started replying to the texts one after the other.

Before I knew it, I was completely absorbed in my phone. I was so focused on typing a reply that I failed to notice someone walk up to me.

"Hey." I looked up. I immediately recognized him. He was none other than the mysterious man's friend. At that time he seemed to be alone and not with his friend. For a second, I just stared at him.

He smiled. Then he lifted his hand and gestured for me to come closer. I blinked. Me? I glanced behind myself as though there might be someone else standing there. There wasn't. He was definitely talking to me.

I didn't have time to think it over as my feet moved on its own accord. A few steps later, I was standing in front of him.

"Hey, how are you?", he asked me with a smile.

"I'm doing pretty good. How about you?"

"I'm good. I'm sorry for flagging you down like this, but I've seen you around a couple of times and I just wanted to say hi."

I smiled. "Oh." For some reason, that made me feel strangely good. It was nice to be noticed.

"So what are you up to today? What are you doing here?", he asked.

I gestured toward the direction Benj had gone. "I'm just waiting for a friend, he left not too long ago to answer an important phone call."

"Oh, okay", he nodded.

His eyes briefly followed mine before returning to me. Then his gaze dropped towards my phone. He came a little closer and looked at my phone. "Woah, you chat on Snapchat too?"

I laughed. "Of course I do."

"I don't know why but you don't look like someone who spends time on Snapchat."

I raised an eyebrow. "What does someone who uses Snapchat look like?"

He laughed. "I don't know. I just wasn't expecting it."

"Well, now you know."

He smiled. "So what's your username?"

I narrowed my eyes playfully. "Why?"

"So I can add you."

I laughed. "That's convenient."

We continued talking. It was easy. There wasn't that awkward silence that sometimes happened when talking to someone you barely knew. He was friendly, confident, and seemed genuinely interested in having a conversation.

A few moments later, though, I noticed someone approaching from behind him. My smile slowly faded. Him. The mysterious man. He walked over with his phone in his hand, but instead of joining the conversation, he simply stood behind his friend. He didn't say anything. Didn't smile. Didn't even wave. He was just there, completely absorbed in whatever was happening on his phone.

I stared at him half a second. Seriously? After everything that happened at the copy shop? The cafeteria? The stadium? The intense eye contact? The way he'd looked at me? And now he couldn't even say hello?

I felt a tiny bit of irritation and thought of him as rude because the least he could have done was to wave or say hi or hello. I began wondering what his problem was, I knew I didn't do anything to him, so he's most likely a snub.

I looked back at Damian. At least now I knew his name. Damian continued talking, completely unaware of the thoughts running through my head. I answered him normally, pretending the person behind him didn't exist. But even though I refused to look at him, I could feel his gaze on me while talking. I resisted the urge to look at him.

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught movement. The mysterious guy finally looked up from his phone. His eyes were on me. Again. For a second, our eyes almost met. I deliberately looked away. If he wanted to act like I wasn't there, then I could do the same.

Two minutes later, I spotted Benj walking back towards me. Finally. I turned towards him, he smiled apologetically as he approached. I said my goodbyes to Damian and left.

"Xan, I'm sorry I kept you waiting for so long, it was my mom who called over an urgent matter." His expression became more serious. "I didn't know I would spend that long on the phone. I hope you aren't upset?"

"It's fine, Benj. I'm not. Besides I had someone else keeping me company while you were gone."

The moment I said that, I noticed a change in his facial expressions. It was so quick that I almost convinced myself I'd imagined it. His eyes moving briefly towards Damian. Then towards the person standing behind him. Then back at me.

I smiled at Benj. "Ready?"

"Yeah."

As we started walking away, I couldn't resist one last glance behind me. His phone was still in his hand. But he wasn't looking at it anymore. He was looking straight at me. Our eyes met for the briefest moment, I quickly turned away. I don't know what his deal was, but there was one thing I was beginning to realize. For someone who seemed so determined to act like I didn't exist. He sure seemed to notice me a lot.

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