Just Best Friends

Chapter Four

After he said that to me, I was quiet for the rest of the day. He didn't seem to notice though. His nose was still stuck in his book, which he had almost finished.
I feel like this is the part where I say something like "I miss the old Chase."
But he's still the same Chase as before. The same one I bonded with over books and math in the third grade.
So why was he acting so different?
I knew I wasn't gonna get it out of him, so I stayed quiet for the rest of the day. Plus I didn't want to say something that I might regret.
I was just glad that in our next class, which was Spanish, I sat next to Ryan.
Thank you Señora for picking an amazing seating chart!
Except for the fact that Ruben sat on the other side of Ryan.
Señora continued to rattle off conjugations of the new verb, which I already new because I accidentally studied ahead.
Oopsies?
So I started to braid a strand of my bland brown hair, which made me think about hair in general. Which then lead to me thinking about Ryan's adorable brown floof of hair.
"What even is this shit?" Ruben scoffed when Señora wasn't around to hear.
"Spanish you idiot." Ryan laughed.
Oh god that laugh is the most attractive laugh I have ever heard.
"Spanish is stupid then." Ruben kicked his feet on top of the desk, even though Señora hated it when we did that.
SPOILER ALERT: he didn't care.
Ryan audibly sighed, clearly annoyed by his best friends actions. At this, I giggled. That caught both Ruben and Ryan's attention.
"Did you just giggle?" Ruben scoffed.
"Maybe..." I blushed. I hated my laugh, but my giggle was a million times worse.
"It was adorable." Ryan smiled.
Then the bell rang.
And my heart was about to fall out of my chest it was beating so fast. Everyone bolted out, except Ruben and Ryan. They always walked super slow.
Today I was too, because I was now in even more shock than before. As I walked out, I bumped into Ryan on accident.
Wow, Lyla. I thought. So smooth.
"Oh sorry." He blushed.
"No I'm sorry. I'm the one who bumped into you." I said awkwardly.
"Way to go, Jones." Ruben laughed.
"Come on dude. Don't be an asshole." Ryan turned to me and gave me my Spanish textbook I dropped. "Here you go!" He smiled.
"I-uh- thanks." I sputtered.
"You're welcome!" He smiled.
If smiles could kill because of how cute they are, I would be so dead right now. "You look pretty today." He stated very confidently.
"Thanks." I blushed, not yet absorbing the fact that he called me pretty.
"Not that you don't look pretty every day, I just felt like telling you today. Wait that sounded stupid." He muttered.
"It didn't sound stupid. It was sweet." I smiled, but in the back of my mind I was wondering where the hell I got that confidence from.
Ruben rolled his eyes in disgust.
"Come on Ryan let's go." He groaned.
"Hold on a second." Ryan held up his hand. "Why don't we exchange numbers?"
"Sure!" I smiled as we switched phones to exchange phone numbers. Ruben was getting antsy, almost like he had to pee. It looked like he was doing a potty dance of some sort.
"Well I'll see you around." Ryan smiled and walked down the hallway with Ruben.
"Oh my god." I whispered to myself.
Did that really just happen?
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"OH MY GOD!" Jessie shouted into the phone after her told her what happened.
"I know right? I mean, what do I do? Do I text him?" I was confused. I hadn't been in this situation before.
"YES. TEXT HIM!! Send me screenshots of what he says!" She squealed.
"I always do. You know that."
"I know. I just needed to make sure!! You know I've shipped this since day one of this crush right?"
"Yes yes I do." I laughed.
"Okay. Go text him. I'll talk to you later!" She hung up.
I sighed and checked my phone.
One new text message. Can you take a guess who from?
If you guessed Ryan you were absolutely, 100% correct.
It read exactly this:
Ryan: Hey ;)
Okay first off, hey is chill. WINKY FACES are not. I typed a quick hey with a smiley face in response.
It was your typical, friendly, normal conversation.
Also? It was boring.
In person he was funny, cute, charming, flirty, and fun to talk to. But texting him was more boring than staring at a brick wall.
I quickly screenshotted the conversation and sent Jessie the screenshots.
Her only response?
Wow.
Yep. Exactly.
He was an interesting person but a very boring person to text with.
I stood up from my bed and walked downstairs to the kitchen, but bumped into my mom first.
"Hi sweetie! How are you?" She smiled. I wish I had inherited her blue eyes.
"Meh." I shrugged my shoulders.
"Why meh?"
"Well you know that cute guy who I've liked for awhile now?"
"Ryan?"
"Yeah him! I got his number today and had a fun, flirty conversation with him!"
"That's great! So why so meh?"
"He's great to talk to in person! But I'd rather watch paint dry than talk to him through text." I groaned.
"Aww sweetie I'm sorry." She pushed a strand of hair out of my face and tucked it behind my ear. "How about we go get coffee? As a 'pick me up?'"
"Really?" I beamed. It was five o'clock in the afternoon. We never went out for coffee at this time.
"Yeah! Plus we haven't gotten any in awhile. It'll be fun! Why don't we go now?"
"Okay!"
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As we waited for them to give us our drinks, my eyes wandered around the crowd of people in line and the people sitting at tables. People watching is a fun pastime.
It was nice and peaceful, until someone tapped on my shoulder.
I quickly whirled around to see one of the last faces I wanted to see. Danny.
"Hi Lyla! I totally didn't expect to see you here! Are you here with anyone else?" He smiled.
"Hi Danny! I'm just here with my mom." I said awkwardly. Not because I didn't want to be their with my mom, but because I didn't want to be talking to him.
"Oh that's nice! Your mother is a very nice person. She makes the best brownies."
"Yeah she does. I've been helping in making them since I was about four years old." I said nonchalantly, hoping that they'd call out my name and my order soon so I could just get out of there.
"Really? That's so cool. I didn't know you could bake!" He had a talent of saying what was meant to be a compliment almost as if it were an insult. Not even on purpose either!
Which sucked because it made him seem kind of adorable and endearing.
Wait what was I saying?
This is Danny. Not Ryan or Chase.
"So are you going to the big party this weekend? It's gonna be a lot of fun!" He smirked.
"Um, hell no?" I scoffed. There's no way I would go to one of those ragers. That was insane.
"Hallelujah you're still the same Lyla I know and love." He laughed, clearly amused. I, however, was not amused. Not one bit.
"Haha real funny, Danny." I spat, each word oozing sass and venom.
"Hey don't get so butthurt, it was just a joke. Plus, Jacob dared me to ask you to know what your reaction would be."
I rolled my eyes. Boys are so stupid. "Don't worry he isn't here." He answered my question before I had even opened my mouth to ask it.
"Oh um okay."
"Well it was nice to see you. We should hang out sometime soon, yeah?"
"Uh sure."
"Awesome! You're the best Lyla. I'll text you." He winked and waved as he walked away.
"What an asshole." I muttered under my breath. Then my mom came over with both of our drinks in hand and we sat at a table.
I sipped my iced Carmel macchiato and sighed.
Today may have been kind of rough, but at least I had my coffee.
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We got home about an hour later after my mom and I talked to each other about our day, puppies, coffee vs. tea, and One Direction.
Yes, my mother and I both love One Direction. Although she thinks Harry's hair is too long, but I think it's beautiful and majestic.
It was a lovely chat, but we realized that we should get home so she could start making dinner.
I sat at the counter while she cooked pasta on the stove. I didn't have anything to do, so I just kept talking to her.
"Cmon Mom! Dad's working late tonight and we both love How I Met Your Mother!!" I begged, hoping to watch the show with my own mother.
"Lyla, it is a really funny episode but we've already seen all of the episodes!" She argued. "Why don't we watch something new?"
"But there isn't anything new to watch. Plus watching the series over again for the fifth time would be fun!" I squealed, hoping to get my way.
She sighed. "One episode. Maybe two or three." She smiled.
I knew I could crack her. I squealed and hugged her.
"Thankyouthankyou! You're the best Mom ever. I love you!!"
"I love you too." She chuckled.
I ran into the family room that was right next to the kitchen and started up Netflix.
If I didn't have Chase, Jessie, or Amelia, my Mom and Netflix would probably be my only friends.
But that's cool! My Mom is amazing and so is Netflix
Wow. I'm lame. Whatever.
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We watched four episodes after dinner, although during the third and fourth episodes I couldn't watch it. Danny was texting me the entire time.
I didn't know that it was possible to send that many winky faces within less than an hour.
Did you?
Also, it bothered me how fun it was to text him, despite the amount of winky faces he sent. He also could be fun to talk to in person. I don't like that fact. Oh well. All I knew before I went to bed is that tomorrow would be an interesting Wednesday at school.