Just Best Friends

Chapter Six

The next few days were pretty boring. Nothing monumental happened.
Nothing exciting or interesting or funny. Just boring school.
Then Friday came around and I was practically shaking with excitement.
All day long Ryan barely talked to me, he just winked and smiled.
Ruben looked even more annoyed then ever.
Chase was excited too. He finally got to talk to me for the first time in days!
Jessie was about to explode she was so excited for me.
It was amazing. And I couldn't wait until after school.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After Spanish Ryan met me by my locker.
Ruben, of course, was right there with him.
"Hey Lyla." He smiled.
"Hi!" I giggled and closed my locker door.
"You ready to see the Avengers?"
"HELL YEAH-I mean totally!"
"Cool!" He laughed. "Ready to go?"
I slung my bag over my shoulder.
"Yep!" I smiled awkwardly.
"Let's go." Ruben rolled his eyes and walked away.
"He's kind of also going. I should've mentioned that earlier. We were originally gonna see this together and hang out but I thought it would be fun to bring you!" He smiled and started walking with me out to his car. "He isn't too happy about it, but he can deal." He shrugged.
"Good." I giggled as I got in the car, sitting in the back because Ruben was already in the front.
Which felt really awkward.
"Dude, come on. Let her sit up front." Ryan groaned as he got into the drivers seat.
"Nah. Don't feel like it. Plus, I got here first." Ruben shrugged.
Ryan opened up his mouth to speak but I interrupted him.
"I'm fine back here." I smiled sheepishly.
"See? She's fine. Just drive to the movie theater." Ruben spat.
"Fine." Ryan sighed, then turned back and smiled at me.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The movie was great! The popcorn was perfect!
Ryan even did the cliche thing where the guy yawns and stretches to wrap his arm around the girl's shoulder.
It was perfect!
And Ruben?
He sat on the opposite side of the theater the entire time.
Which was also perfect.
We got back at like 6 or so since we went to a movie right after school.
And instead of dropping me off at my house like planned, he wanted to hang out afterwards!
And in that moment, I had wished that I knew how to verbalize keyboard slams and fangirling.
It would be a lot better, however, if Ruben weren't there.
We all sat in Ryan's basement, How I Met Your Mother playing in the background.
"Well I'm gonna go get some snacks!" Ryan announced, smiling. Then he ran upstairs to go get the said snacks.
Ruben sighed, clearly annoyed by my presence.
Which annoyed me.
"Hey. I know you basically hate me but it's not gonna be any fun if you're gonna be an asshole the entire time I'm here." I snapped at him.
He turned his attention to me, confused.
He almost looked hurt.
"Hate you? I don't hate you. Why would you think that?" He protested.
"Well your actions. The eye rolls. Scoffing. Walking away. Your rude mannerisms. The words you say...need I go on?" I sassed.
He laughed at that, "and I thought you were smart." He shook his head. "It's actually kind of the opposite." He whispered.
Wait, what?
I totally didn't hear him right.
I was dreaming. Or hallucinating. Or going insane.
Maybe all of the above?
"Wait what?" I asked.
"Nothing." He quickly shot back. "It was nothing. Forget I said anything."
The Ryan walked back in and sat in between us.
"I'm back and I bring snacks!"
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The rest of the night was awkward. Really really awkward.
So I left at seven instead of eight like planned.
I flopped facedown onto my bed when I got home, thoughts swimming in my head as if my brain were a pool for insane thoughts.
Did Ruben like me?
Did that make me like him?
If he liked me, is that why he was an asshole to me?
I texted Jessie about it, all she had to say was "Oh shit. That's....whoa."
That totally helped.
So I just grabbed my headphones and blasted my music til I couldn't think about anything but the music.
Which eventually put me to sleep.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Come Monday I had put what Ruben said to me in the back of my mind.
When I walked into fourth hour algebra and slid into my seat, I was surprised when Ruben sat on the side of me where Ryan had sat last week. Ryan was too. He sat directly in front of me.
Chase sat where he usually does, on my right side. Which was nice and comforting, because it was the one normal thing about this situation.
Then Amelia walked in.
She saw Ruben sitting in her seat and was pissed.
"What the fuck are you doing in MY seat, Ruben?" She spat.
"Uh we don't have assigned seats. It looked like a nice spot to sit." He shrugged and smiled smugly.
"Well I always sit there, shithead. So find a different one. " she quickly retorted.
"Amelia, take your seat." Mrs. Smith stated coldly.
"Yes Mrs. Smith," she quickly slid into the seat next to Ryan, snapping her gum viciously.
The rest of algebra was confusing.
And it wasn't because of what Mrs. Smith was rambling on about.
Ryan would turn his back to Mrs. Smith to talk to me and then he'd get yelled at. He almost got a detention.
Chase kept going on and on about his book, which actually seemed really interesting!
But he continuously interrupted by Ruben.
Ruben kept trying to play footsie with me and then he'd wink at me. Every time Chase opened his mouth to talk to me, Ruben would poke my shoulder with his pencil and start to talk to me about the band on my tee shirt or the one on his.
We surprisingly have a lot in common.
Which freaked me out.
And when Ruben sat by me at lunch, my jaw almost hit the floor.
He gently set his tray down and I assumed it was Chase because I could tell by the height that it was probably him.
Then I saw that Ruben had sat next to me and smiled, "Hey Lyla."
"Uh hi?" I sputtered, completely confused.
Then he started to make conversation as everyone else sat down at our table, also in complete shock.
"So you said you like All Time Low right?"
"Like them?" I asked, "no. I LOVE THEM!" I giggled.
Wait...
What was I doing?
"Really?" He beamed. "Me too!" He laughed. "We should see them together when they come around here next. It would be a lot of fun." He winked.
Then, Chase sat down on the other side of me.
But he didn't know it was Ruben sitting by me.
"So Lyla what were you saying earlier abou-who the hell is that and why the fuck is he sitting here?" He huffed.
Oh dear lord.
He was pissed and swearing.
Shit was about to hit the fan real hard.
Ruben just laughed it off, "Well hello to you too, Chase."
Chase turned directly to me "Why is he here?"
I didn't have an answer.
So I decided to wing it.
"Um he's talking to me about bands?"
"Specifically All Time Low at the moment," Ruben clarified.
Chase turned to him and sent the deadliest death glare I've ever seen.
The worst part?
It was coming from Chase.
Was he getting...jealous?
Nah. Just pissed that I'm talking to a guy that isn't him.
Okay that kinda sounds a lot like the definition of jealousy...
Then he turned back to me, "But we talk about that kind of stuff. Why are you talking to him about that kind of stuff?"
"It's a similar interest that we share, Chase. I don't see why it's a big deal." I shrugged as Ruben awkwardly ate his food and the rest of the table carefully listened in.
"What?" He spat.
"I said I don't see why it's a such a big deal that I'm talking to Ruben about a band that we both love." I spat back. Why was he starting to act so rudely?
It was annoying. He hadn't ever done that before.
His jaw dropped, "You don't know? Oh please, Lyla. You know that you know. You know exactly why this is a problem."
No. No I didn't.
Then Ruben awkwardly stood up, "I'm gonna go now..." Then he passed me a little slip of paper, "Call me sometime?" He smiled.
"Yeah!" I smiled back.
Then he walked away.
"What the hell was that?" Chase was freaking out.
"Me talking to someone?" I was clearly confused, and he was just now getting it.
Now I understand why Amelia says that boys are stupid.
Even if they probably have a higher IQ than Albert Einstein, they're just so dumb.
"Someone? SOMEONE?" He was bubbling up like a volcano.
And an eruption was just waiting to happen.
"Yes, fucking someone." Okay now there were two volcanoes about to erupt at our lunch table.
"He isn't just fucking someone." Uh oh. His voice was rising.
Here comes the eruption.
And now he was basically shouting at me.
"He's an asshole! A grade A asshole! You've even said that yourself! Plus he probably doesn't give a shit about All Time Low. He probably just wants to get in your pants. He's probably using you. Maybe it's some sort of master plan Ryan made up because he's probably an asshole too! Jeez. They're assholes. Both of them. And I can't fucking believe that you're not believing me when I say this because it's obviously the fucking truth!"
Damn. There was that explosion.
"Excuse me?" I spat, my voice also raising, "how do you know that? You don't know shit. Just because you don't know them like I do doesn't mean that he's an asshole. Neither of them are!"
Well there was my explosion.
"Are you that dumb? God, I thought you were as smart as me! You barely even know them! You're just defending both of them because you think they're hot, aren't you?" He crossed his arms.
"He's got a point. Plus, Ruben always has been an asshole to you until today." Amelia shrugged.
"Well you don't know shit. Maybe he has been nice to me in the past! Yeah that's right, as in before today! So get your heads out of your asses, they don't make very good fucking party hats." Then I stood up and left, swinging my bag over my shoulder.
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That night after a rough last two class periods, I flopped onto my bed and decided to call Ruben before I could change my mind.
"Hi Lyla!" He answered after two rings, I could practically hear the smirk on his face as he said it.
"Hey Ruben! I'm sorry for what happened at lunch today...I didn't think that would happen. Chase usually isn't like that. I've never seen him that angry." I sighed.
"It's fine. I've dealt with worse in the past."
"It really isn't fine. And wait what?"
"Well, I mean how long have we known each other, Lyla?"
"Since like kindergarten, but I never really noticed you until seventh grade."
"Well there was a reason for that. Because, well, I was nerdy and kinda weird." He laughed awkwardly, "So long story short, I got bullied really badly. Then I got sick of it one day. I fought back. I was bigger, taller, and stronger than them. It was easy. Then it became easier to pretend to be an asshole than to be the freaky, nerd who gets beat up all the time."
I remembered that day of the fight.
In the winter of seventh grade, during lunch, everyone heard shouting and trays clattering.
It was the "cool kids" and Ruben, who at the time was nicknamed Ruby because of the red converse he wore every day.
Except instead of "Ruby" being beaten to a pulp, even if he was easily already six foot and they weren't even close to that height,
he was beating them up. Badly.
I remember someone had to pull him off of them, and I saw his face when they did.
He looked devastated at what he had did.
At least that's what I had always thought...until he called me a whore.
But now things were different again.
"Oh my god I'm so sorry." I whispered, not expecting that to be why he acted like an asshole. I expected something like someone broke his heart or that he had a bad home life.
"Don't be sorry. It isn't your fault. It isn't your fault at all. Please don't be sorry." He muttered.
"Okay. Well I still feel bad. That sucks."
"Yeah. It does. Anyways, let's talk about something happy!" He laughed slightly.
"Okay," I giggled.
"Hey do you remember that one day in Spanish when Ryan got your number?" He asked.
"Of course I do!" I smiled.
"Do you remember when you giggled?" He laughed.
"Of course I do. It was mortifying. I hate my laugh but my giggle is so much worse." I groaned.
"Do you remember when Ryan said it was adorable?"
"Yes. Yes I do. Where are you going with this?"
"Well he was right. It's probably the most adorable sound I've ever heard."
And at that I basically swooned.
My heart stopped.
My jaw dropped.
I was shocked.
I was also scared,
I could feel my heart slowly falling the longer the conversation went on.
But I don't wanna fall.
I don't wanna fall in love.
And I need him to catch me before I do.