Just Best Friends

Chapter Eight

"C'mon Ruben!" I laughed. "All you have to do to bring your grade up a lot is learn how to spell these words correctly because you understand it." I handed him back the worksheet we had to do for Spanish homework. "You just need to remember accents and put the letters in the right places!" I giggled.
"Really?" He beamed, "Thank the lord. I thought I was completely failing." He laughed.
"No! You're not failing at all!" I smiled. "You need to give yourself some more credit. You're really smart."
"Thanks," he blushed. "Okay, let's do something more fun than conjugating verbs in Spanish and remembering where to put the accents." He laughed.
"Hmm...like what?" I giggled.
"Wanna watch Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and convince my little sister Ashley that it's hilarious?" He smirked.
"I'd love to." I giggled and stood up as he did the same.
He gently grabbed my hand and pulled me to the couch in a different room.
Just like his kitchen had been, it was really nice.
Hardwood floors, nice and clearly expensive furniture, pretty paint.
It looked like something out of a magazine.
He sat on one of the two couches, sitting across from his sister and patted the spot next to him, gesturing for me to sit next to him. Which is what I did.
"Hi Ashley..." He dragged out his words and she snapped her little blonde head in his direction.
"What do you want?" She sassed.
"For you to watch the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air with Lyla and me...?" He smiled really big and hopeful.
"Is she your girlfriend?" She cocked her head to the side.
"W-what? Oh uhm no." He laughed nervously.
"W-we aren't dating..." I muttered awkwardly.
I wish we were. I thought to myself.
"Oh." She chirped.
"Why do you ask?" Ruben scratched the back of his neck awkwardly.
"Well you were holding hands and laughing and smiling and you don't bring girls around here often." She shrugged, "Plus you two would be cute together. But anyways, I'll watch it with you." She sighed.
Ruben smiled and put it on the tv. "You're gonna love it!" He squealed.
"If you say so," she rolled her eyes.
I giggled, both at the show and their relationship.
It was cute. And she's sassy.
I like it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We ended up watching two episodes before she just got up and left.
"I can't take it. This show isn't good. You're both insane. Have fun being insane together." She jumped up from the couch and ran upstairs.
I'm guessing she ran up to her room.
"Well I guess we're alone now," I giggled.
"Indeed we are." He laughed and stood up. "I'm getting kinda hungry. Want some popcorn?" He wiggled his eyebrows.
"I'd be up for that!" I giggled.
He grabbed my hand and pulled me off of the couch, "To the kitchen we go!" He dragged me into his kitchen again. "Microwave popcorn or should we use the popcorn popper?"
I hoisted myself onto the top of his counter with ease, "Hmm. Popcorn popper. It's cooler than microwave popcorn."
He smiled, "I was hoping you'd say that." Then he started to make the popcorn using the popcorn popper as I swung my legs back and forth like a giddy, small child.
He finished making it and poured all of the popcorn into a big bowl, "You know, my parents wanted to get rid of this. But I refused to let them." He laughed. "Ashley thought it was dumb because she thinks microwave popcorn is a lot better and healthier but it's actually the complete opposite."
"Really?" I smiled. "I love popcorn poppers. And you're absolutely right. This popcorn is better for you and it tastes infinitely better," I grabbed a piece from the bowl, then grabbed the bowl and ran, giggling the entire time.
"Oh no you don't!" He laughed and ran after me.
"Oh yes I do!" I giggled, glad that I was ahead of him. "And you're never gonna catch me!"
I actually believed that he wouldn't.
But not for long.
He quickly caught up to me and stopped my by wrapping his arms around my waist.
"Looks like I caught you," he smirked.
"Looks like you did," I laughed.
He rested his chin on my shoulder, "This is really nice."
"It is," I whispered, smiling like a fool.
He was gonna kiss me. I could feel it in my gut. I could feel it in my bones.
But by the time he had turned me around and was leaning in,
his phone rang.
He was clearly annoyed as he fished it out of his pocket.
"What do you want, Ryan?" He sighed.
Well that was disappointing.
"Yeah. We're together. No no not together together." Then there was an awkward silence as a smirk crept up onto his face, "Really? You really think so?"
Okay, I was very confused by this point.
So I just leaned up against the back of the couch and pretended to be interested in my cuticles.
How are some girls interested in them?
They're boring. I don't see anything interesting about them.
Because I was so focused on trying to not eavesdrop by staring at my cuticles and wondering why some people found them interesting, I didn't even notice when Ruben put his phone back into his back pocket.
"Sorry about that," he spoke up, making me jump. "Ryan needed to talk to me about something."
"Oh it's fine!" I smiled reassuringly.
He then grabbed the bowl of popcorn that was comfortably resting on my hip.
"Want to eat this now?" He wiggled his eyebrows.
"Duh." I laughed.
"Good," he smiled as he pulled me onto the couch with him.
Did I say pulled me onto the couch?
Oh, silly me.
I mean that he basically pulled me onto his lap.
We were sitting really close.
Really close.
Really really close.
That made my heart beat faster than it ever had before.
He awkwardly crept his hand closer to mine until he eventually intertwined his fingers with mine.
I smiled up at him after he did that, hoping he would smile back.
But he didn't have to.
He was already smiling bigger than a kid on the last day of school.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next day I strolled into algebra, still high from yesterday afternoon and what had happened.
I haven't stopped smiling since he dropped me off at my house last night.
I probably smiled in my sleep.
Ruben walked in and sat down next to me shortly after I sat down.
He was smiling too.
Unfortunately, Chase walked in right behind him.
He was a mess.
His hair was disheveled, the bags under his eyes very clear, and he looked very upset.
He looked worse when he saw Ruben and I sitting next to each other.
He slumped into his chair next to me, audibly sighing.
Ruben didn't seem to notice that he was upset.
But he could tell that I was upset.
He quickly grabbed my hand, looking at me with his eyes full of concern, "You okay? You were all smiley a few seconds ago."
I didn't know how to say anything without upsetting myself or Chase any further so I just nodded my head in Chase's direction.
Ruben looked over and instantly understood, quickly squeezing my hand reassuringly.
Chase saw us holding hands because our hands were resting gently on my desk.
His face fell even further.
I sighed and wrote down the notes Mrs. Smith wanted us to keep in our notebooks for the upcoming test.
I made sure to write it down word for word, just in case.
Plus, then I was thinking about easy math and not Ruben or Chase.
Math seemed to pass by a lot quicker than usual and I jumped up as soon as it ended.
Ruben did too, quickly grabbing my hand to walk with me to music.
Chase looked so upset and lost.
It was shattering my heart.
It was my fault he looked like that.
I could tell.
I could feel it in my gut.
Ruben just quickly walked with me to music, leading me through the hallways.
We got there even quicker than I usually do.
It's nice to have a tall, "scary" guy to lead you through the hallways.
You get places very easily.
He sat down next to me and smiled at me again.
"Wow we're here even earlier than I usually get here," I laughed.
He grinned from ear to ear, "It's nice to hear you laugh after seeing you so upset."
I smiled in response, which made him grin even more.
Ms. Blake saw the entire interaction and was smiling bigger than I had ever seen her. Everyone else filed into their seats, Ryan and Jessie among them.
Ryan saw us and smiled more than Ruben, Ms. Blake, and me combined.
Jessie's jaw dropped so far I thought it might actually hit the floor. But she quickly smiled and slid into her seat next to me.
"Oh my god are you guys a thing?" She whispered into my ear.
"I don't think so..." I whispered back.
"Well you should be. The way you two were smiling at each other and holding hands when I walked in was more adorable than a cuddly, sleepy, puppy."
I continued to smile throughout the rest of music, Ruben doing the same.
We strolled into the cafeteria, got our lunches, and sat down at our table.
Even though we were sitting down and starting to eat our food, Ruben and I were still holding hands and smiling.
Chase walked over to the table, looked around, then sat down on the other side of me like he usually does.
He didn't have a book with him.
He wasn't eating, just pushing his food around on his tray.
I sighed, seeing him sad like this made me sad.
He almost looked heartbroken which broke my heart.
Ruben quickly noticed and squeezed my hand really tight as Amelia and Jessie sat across from us.
We all quietly and awkwardly ate our food, even though Ruben and I occasionally would look at each other and smile or laugh.
"Okay are you two like dating now? Because it seems like it. Plus, half the school thinks you are. The other half thinks you two are fuck buddies. " Amelia spoke up, waving around her fork as she spoke, flinging little bits of alfredo sauce in Jessie's direction.
Chase looked up at her as she said this and somehow managed to frown even more.
"Amelia I love you but I swear to god put your freaking fork down I don't want pasta and alfredo sauce in my hair." Jessie laughed.
Ruben however had dropped his fork in shock when she said it, "Wait what? We aren't, w-we aren't either." He sputtered.
I quickly nodded my head in agreement, "We're just friends." I smiled awkwardly.
"Just friends my ass," Chase spat. "You guys have been all buddy buddy for the past few days. I'm surprised you haven't started eating each other's faces yet." He sighed.
He didn't sound angry.
Just sad and almost jealous.
"Chase..." Jessie started.
Amelia just rolled her eyes and turned to me, "So now do you see why I never liked this kid?" She pointed her fork in Chase's direction.
"Wait what?" Chase gawked.
"Okay okay let's not start World War 3," Ruben spoke up before shit hit the fan. "Let's get a few things clear, Lyla and I, we...we aren't dating. We aren't fuck buddies either. We're just friends." He sighed, saying it as if it was the last thing he wanted to say. "And not everyone is going to like you, no matter who you are or who they are." He shrugged.
I smiled at him, earning a smile back from him.
"Okay I don't care if you guys are dating," Jessie shrugged. "But you really should be."
Chase stood up and left. He just got up and left, clearly pissed and upset.
Normally I would've run after him,
but at this point I didn't know what I could say or do to make things better.
Luckily, our friend Patrick got up from the table and ran after him.
Ruben squeezed my hand again, sensing I was upset and hesitant to do anything.
I looked up at him, smiling as soon as I saw his reassuring smile.
He made any bad situation better with just a simple smile.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In English, Amelia wasn't even pissed that Ruben was sitting where she usually sat again. Instead, she smiled at us and sat where she had sat the day before.
Ryan snagged the seat on the other side of Ruben.
Then Chase walked in.
He didn't look sad anymore.
He just looked pissed.
He sat next to me like he usually does and just shook his head, muttering something under his breath that I didn't hear.
But Amelia clearly heard, as she snapped her head around as soon as he did so.
"What the fuck did you just say?" She snapped.
Oh dear lord not again.
"I didn't say anything," Chase shrugged in response.
"Don't pull that shit I know you said something. I sure as hell hope you didn't say what I think you said." She sent eye daggers at him, venom dripping from every word she said.
"Do you really want me to say it?"
"I think everyone is interested in knowing what you said, and I'd love for Lyla to hear what you have to say." She smirked smugly.
He sighed, "I said that I can't believe that Lyla is falling for an asshole and not a guy like me."
Ruben looked annoyed as Chase said it, rolling his eyes and sighing audibly.
My jaw dropped and I quickly slapped my hand over my mouth, shocked that Chase would think anything like that.
Much less say it.
"Wait, so you mean she shouldn't be with an 'asshole' that clearly makes her happy, but instead she should be with an actual asshole like you?" Amelia cocked her head to the side.
"That's the opposite of what I said. Don't be dumb." Chase rolled his eyes.
"Guys can we not do this now? And not here?" I bit my lip nervously.
"Totally!" Amelia chirped, smiling at me.
"Whatever," Chase just crossed his arms and rolled his eyes.
Ruben quickly leaned towards me and whispered in my ear, "Are you really falling for me?"
I bit my lip harder, almost hard enough to make it bleed.
This was the last thing I wanted to admit.
Especially not now or here.
"I-I think so..." I whispered back nervously, regretting saying it as soon as the words fell out of my mouth.
He squeezed my hand reassuringly again, "Well, I think that I'm falling for you." He whispered back.
//
A/N
If you think that I thought of the ending while listening to the song fallingforyou by the 1975, then you are absolutely, 100% right.
Also, if you think that I'm going to include as many song references and lyrics in here that I can as long as it goes with the story,
you're right again.

Double update because I really don't like the last chapter all that much so posting this one too makes me feel better.