Kissing Booth || Jarren

[ 11 ] Stolen Kisses, Pretty Lies

Darren tilted his head, wondering if he had heard his friend correctly. Oliver watched him for a few seconds before repeating himself.

"You heard me. Why are you so nice to that junior?"

"To Sojuphan? Dude. You must have a twisted definition of 'nice.'"

"No, the scale of your affection is just that much lower than the average person's."

Darren rolled his eyes. "I don't see where you're going with this."

Oliver sighed and began counting on his fingers as he listed examples. "Okay, well, first of all, you fucking kissed him even though you didn't want to do the kissing booth. You don't do shit if you don't want to."

"Yeah, and that shit came back to scream in my face the next day."

"And then walked away in one piece? Completely unharmed? Last month you punched a guy just for stepping on your foot."

"Not my fault he needed a second pair of eyes."

"The other day you went dashing over to Kane's house the moment you heard he was there. The hell was up with that? And to top it all off, the kid almost beat you up in the middle of the cafeteria today but you didn't do anything!"

Darren pressed his lips into a thin line and did not respond. He was beginning to feel mildly annoyed.

Oliver counted the final finger on his hand, looking at his friend pointedly as he did so. "And now he's landed you in detention and you're... what? Just leaving quietly to buy snacks? Are you his bread shuttle now? Want a pumpkin chai latte to go with that?"

"Whatever," Darren snorted, crossing his arms. "You act like you know everything about me."

"Not everything," Oliver admitted. "But enough to notice when you're behaving weirdly. I'm telling you, that junior seriously hates your guts."

Darren raised an eyebrow. "So now you know him too?"

The curly-haired boy shook his head. "He's friends with my little brother, remember? The gossip hound who's had a lot to say about you and Sojuphan lately. According to him, the guy thinks you're a total shitshow."

"So what?" Darren replied, ruffling his silver locks. "He's not the first. Seriously, you need to chill."

Oliver groaned, hanging his head in defeat. "Ughhh. Okay, fine. I give up. See ya later."

Darren waved his hand dismissively. "Yeah, yeah. Until tomorrow, Moy boy."

He turned to leave, but Oliver suddenly reached out and grabbed his shoulder. "Hey, Dar. Just... be careful, okay?"

Darren met his eyes and smirked. "What, afraid I'll break his heart?" He didn't wait for an answer and started down the hallway.

Oliver bit his lip as he watched his friend shuffle away. Once the leather jacket disappeared around the corner, he let out a huff of air and kicked at the ground. "Idiot," he muttered. "You're gonna break your own heart."

* * *

Justin begrudgingly dragged his feet down the hallway toward detention. He was not looking forward to yet another excruciating hour with Darren the jackass Liang. As he rounded the corner, the office came into sight, right across from the main entrance. It must be the school's sick idea of a joke to give the detention room a first-class view of the door to freedom.