Just Best Friends

Chapter Nine

I looked him directly in the eyes after he said that.
"Really?" I whispered, biting my lip so I wouldn't make our conversation or my growing smile too obvious.
"Really. I promise you," he whispered back, smiling more than I had ever seen anyone smile.
My heart was about to fall out of my chest, the butterflies in my stomach were flying faster than a jet,
but I loved every second of it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After Spanish Ruben was leaning up against the locker next to mine, rambling about Sleeping With Sirens as I poked textbooks into my bag so we could study.
We may not be fuck buddies, but we're starting to become study buddies.
"Kellin Quinn has a great voice. No matter what song of theirs it is, his voice is on point."
I giggled and closed my locker door, "Did you just say on point?"
"Maybe..." He laughed as he grabbed my hand. "Anyways, what are we studying tonight?"
"Spanish and Algebra mainly," I shrugged.
He groaned, "So basically the two most boring classes we have?"
"Yep! Well, they're classes that have the closest tests! We have to study them."
"Well, we don't have to," he smirked.
"But we should," I booped his nose.
"D-Did you just boop my nose?" He laughed.
"Yes. Yes I did," I giggled as he pulled me through the crowded hallway out to his car.
"That's adorable. Damn, you're really adorable."
I blushed, internally cursing at myself for always being able to blush so easily.
"Okay," he started as we both got into the car. "What should we listen to today?"
"Do you have any suggestions, Mr. 'I Make A New Mixtape Every Weekend'?" I giggled.
He laughed, "Do you listen to Twenty One Pilots?"
"Listen to them? Who doesn't listen to them? Wait, I know a lot of people who don't listen to them." I giggled more.
He selected a mixtape from his backpack and slid it into the slot, "Let's listen to Vessel then."
"I adore Vessel. It's so great. All the music they have is great."
"I have to agree," he nodded as he pulled out of the parking lot.
"It makes me want to learn how to play the ukulele," I giggled.
He laughed and turned up the volume as Ode To Sleep started;
I wake up fine and dandy
But then by the time I find it handy to rip my heart apart and start planning my crash landing
I go
Up, up, up, up
To the ceiling, then I feel my soul start leaving
Like an old man's hair receding.

As we drove home, we both jammed out and screamed the lyrics as loud as we could to every song, all of the windows rolled down.
We walked into his house, laughing and complaining about studying.
"I really don't want to conjugate anymore verbs ever," Ruben groaned as he threw his bag down onto a chair in the kitchen.
"Well if you don't conjugate them then you won't be speaking the language properly," a woman teased as she walked into the room.
She walked over to me and pulled me into a really warm hug, then pulled away. "I assume you're Lyla," she laughed. "I'm Michelle, Ruben's mother. He sure has told us all a lot about you." When she said that, Ruben blushed redder than the signature red converse he always wore.
"Mom..." He groaned, nodding his head in the direction of the other room.
"Oh! I should leave so you two can study," she giggled and smiled at me. "It was nice to meet you, although I presume we'll be seeing more of you." She winked.
"It's nice meeting you too!" I smiled, waving as she left the room.
His mom was almost more adorable than he was.
And that's saying something.
He breathed out a sigh of relief as he sat down at his kitchen table, "Sorry about her..." he laughed awkwardly.
"Don't be sorry!" I giggled as I sat in the chair next to him, "She's really sweet."
He laughed and pulled out his Spanish binder and I did the same.
"Okay, let's conjugate these verbs."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I'm so glad that math is so easy. Especially compared to conjugating verbs in Spanish and putting the right kind of accent on the right letter for the right word. I mean, you could be saying either assholes or years but it all makes a difference because of one accent! Why don't they just have two separate words like they do in English?" He laughed.
That rant was adorable.
Absolutely, completely, adorable.
And hilarious.
"I'm not quite sure," I giggled. "Neither of us created the language." I shrugged.
"If either one of us had, it would make so much more sense." He laughed.
"How's the studying going kids?" His mom peeked her head through the door.
"Great! We just finished!" I smiled.
"Amazing! Well it's about dinner time...why don't you stay for dinner, Lyla? We'd love to have you." She smiled.
I looked at Ruben, who seemed to be trying to not blush, "I'd love to stay for dinner!" I smiled.
"Great! I'll start making it." She giggled and walked into the kitchen.
"U-Uh why don't we go into the music room?" Ruben said awkwardly, grabbing all of his stuff.
"Sure!" I smiled slightly, putting my textbooks away in my bag and slinging it over my shoulder.
"Great," he carefully grabbed my hand and pulled me up the stairs. "You're gonna love it. I just know it."
"I will?"
"Yep! You definitely will," he stopped at the very end of the hallway. "You ready to see the coolest room in the world?"
"Hmm, I think so."
"Okay," he smiled as he opened the door.
He was right.
I did love it.
I definitely loved it.
They had multiple electric guitars, a few bass guitars, two drum sets, various percussion instruments, a few acoustic guitars, a violin, a cello, and even like flutes, saxophones, and a tuba.
It was beautiful.
"Whoa," I muttered.
He just stood leaning in the doorway, smiling, his arms folded across his chest.
"I knew you'd love it."
I turned back to him, "Oh did you now?"
"Yeah! I see the way you are in music and when we're in the car listening to music together. You really love music. I can tell. You get this look in your eyes...like you're absolutely in love and nothing could bring you down. Like, pure happiness. It's hard to describe, but that's what it is," he rambled as he awkwardly scratched at the back of his neck.
That was, whoa.
It was so...whoa.
"Really?" I smiled awkwardly, my brain not registering a proper way to react to what he had just said.
"Yeah!" He smiled, "it's kind of really adorable."
Before I could say anything, Ashley ran into the room.
"Ruben, mom wants to know if pasta is okay. With like garlic bread and all that stuff." She chirped.
"I'm okay with that!" He looked at me, "Is that okay?"
"Definitely!" I smiled.
"Good!" She sighed and scurried back down the stairs.
Ruben then flopped down onto one of the beanbag chairs, placed conveniently by the acoustic guitars.
"Come on, you can sit down." He laughed.
I sunk down into the beanbag chair next to him as he grabbed the nearest acoustic.
"You know, I really wish I knew how to play this. I feel lame that I can't. Well, I can. Just not as well as I wish I could," he chuckled, putting it back where he had found it.
"Oh you can't be that bad. You've got to be better than me. I don't know how to play at all," I giggled.
"Really? It isn't too difficult," he shrugged. "I learned pretty quickly."
"Good to know! Maybe I'll start to learn," I shrugged.
"You should." He smiled.
"I will," I smiled back.
Then Ashley ran back in, "Dinner is almost ready!" Then her blonde little head whipped around and she tore back down the stairs.
We both stood up and he linked my arm with his, "shall we go downstairs and eat dinner?" He wiggled his eyebrows.
"Yes. Yes we shall," I giggled.
We then skipped down the stairs and through the hallways, arms linked.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"So Lyla," his mom set her drink gently down onto the table, "I've been told that you're really smart." She smiled.
"Well I guess you could say that," I blushed. "I wouldn't call myself Einstein or anything like that, though."
"I disagree," Ruben pointed his fork at me, smiling. "You're very very smart. You need to give yourself more credit," he winked.
"Oh you're just saying that because I told you that before!" I laughed.
"Okay maybe partially. But you are very smart," he shrugged.
His dad, who had shown up right before dinner in a very nice suit, shook his head laughing. "This is adorable. You two are adorable."
"You really are," his mom nodded.
"Are you sure you're not dating?" Ashley flopped her fork down onto her plate. "It really seems like you are."
Ruben just looked down at his plate, biting his lip to hide his smile as he blushed.
"Oh really?" I turned to her, laughing.
"Really," she nodded as she picked up her fork and started eating again.
"Wait you aren't dating her?" His dad looked at him, gesturing between the two of us.
"Uh no?" He said it like it was a question, not a definite statement.
"Oh," his dad shrugged. "I really thought you were. It really does seem like you are."
His mom nodded, still eating.
I awkwardly ate my food, not knowing what to say.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The rest of dinner wasn't half as awkward.
Thank god.

Ruben dropped me off at my house as soon as dinner had ended.
When he pulled into my driveway he grabbed my hand, looking me in the eyes.
"Hey, I'm sorry for the first part of dinner...I didn't plan on that happening," he laughed awkwardly.
"Don't worry about it!" I smiled, "It was funny. And cute. Even if it was unexpected and awkward."
"Okay," he laughed. "Just wanted to make sure you weren't terrified to come back to my house ever again."
Laughing, I tucked a strand of my hair around my ear, "Don't worry! I had fun!"
He sighed in relief, "Okay, cool. See you tomorrow?"
"See you tomorrow."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Why can't you just be happy for me?
I sang in my head, sitting down at the lunch table.
I was alone.
It was awkward.
Thankfully, Amelia sat down next to me, making it feel so much less awkward.
"Why is no one here yet? I'm usually not alone when I get here," I sighed.
"They opened the taco bar today. Everyone is in line for that." She sighed, nibbling on her pizza.
We sat in silence as we both chomped on our pizza, waiting for the rest of the lunch table to arrive.
"Hey!" Ruben slid next to me, setting his tray down.
What a shocker-he had gotten tacos.
Jessie sat down on the other side of Amelia, slamming her tray down.
"GUYS, JOHN TALKED TO ME!" She practically screamed.
"NO WAY!" Amelia and I both screamed.
"YES WAY! He talked to me while we were both in line for tacos because he was behind me and oh my god I can barely breathe."
"Jessie this is really exciting but you need to breathe. You can't die on us," Amelia laughed.
Jessie took a deep breath, "Okay. I'm all good. We're all good. Okay."

"Why is everyone freaking out? Is it that Harry Styles guy again?" Chase sighed as he sat across from me, annoyance clear on his face as he set his tray down.
For two reasons, probably.
1) He couldn't sit next to me because there wasn't a spot next to me.
2) Ruben was sitting next to me.
Speaking of Ruben, he spoke up after Chase said that.
"Wait, do you listen to One Direction?" He asked, looking at me.
"A little," I laughed, blushing slightly.
"Oh. I didn't know that!" He smiled slightly as he went back to eating his tacos.
Phew. I thought he was gonna get all judgmental because I like One Direction.
Music a lot different than what we listened to together.
"Wait, so was it about Harry Styles?" Chase questioned.
"Nope!" Amelia chirped. "Different guy. Don't worry about it, Einstein."
Chase glared in response.
"So, how are the tacos everybody?" I started, trying to make the situation less awkward.
"Well they're fine. However this experience would be a lot better if some people weren't here," Chase glared at Amelia.
"Well aren't you just a little ray of sunshine today, Chase?" Amelia snapped back.
He rolled his eyes, "You aren't much brighter than I am, Amelia."
Amelia started to open her mouth to tell him off but I cut her off before she could.
"Let's not pick any fights," I looked between the two of them. "Let's have a peaceful lunch for once. Please?"
"Yes please," Jessie groaned. "Literally every single lunch has been so vibe killing and I hate it."
"I'd have to agree," Ruben shrugged.
"Thank you both!" I sighed in relief.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The rest of lunch was peaceful and quiet as everyone ate their lunches.
The next few classes I didn't see any glares sent to or from anyone.
Although I could've sworn that I saw Amelia staring at Chase when he wasn't looking and vice versa.
Did they like each other?
Nah. No way.
Right?