Effortless

Thirty-five

Three weeks had passed by in a flash. Some would say that Javier and I were joined at the hip. Where he was, I was, and vice versa. Whether it was during school or after school we were at each other's side and it happened naturally.

As a result of him always being around me, he and Paxton started hanging out with my friend group. Kailey was overjoyed at the fact that Javi and I were getting along and made me promise to never have a problem with him again. Luckily for her, I had no plans of constantly being at odds with him again.

I thought it may have been a little weird with Justin there since Javi and Justin didn't seem too fond of each other. It wasn't bad, though. They weren't buddies at all but they didn't bicker like Justin and I tended to.

I hadn't acted on my feelings because I did not want to mess up what we had going on. Things were going great and I had no desire to mess it up. It all felt too good to be true. Javi kept acting with me in ways that made my heart race. He would tease me and make jokes that made me flustered. He knew what he was doing to me and that made him want to do it more. Knowing all of this, I still couldn't bring myself to admit anything to him. Because what if everything really was me misinterpreting? What if it really was him just being my friend?

It was passing period and Ricky and I were walking in the hallway together. We were walking to our next class and had ended up finding Bella on our way. She was sitting on a bench against the wall and scrolling on her phone.

"What are you doing?" Ricky asked her.

Bella flinched as she looked up from her phone. "Oh, nothing. I just didn't want to be the first one to walk in class so I'm waiting it out."

"Of course." Ricky chuckled. Bella's next class was right down the hall so she definitely would have been one of the first people in the room.

"Where's your shadow, Eli?" Bella wiggled her eyebrows.

I exhaled as I felt my lips curl into a smile. "I haven't seen him yet today."

She was smiling too. "Well, do you know what time he wants us to get to his place?"

Javi had invited us all to his house after school. He had told me before that he wanted to get to know my friends just as they wanted to get to know him. There was only so much time during lunch to talk, so he figured inviting everyone over would be ideal. I had no idea what he had planned for us all to do at his house but I was excited regardless.

"Whenever you want to show up, I'm pretty sure." I shrugged. I would be there before them either way because I was riding from school with Javier.

"That's not a real answer." Ricky deadpanned.

Bella pointed down the hallway. "We can ask him right now. He's over there."

Ricky and I turned our heads in the direction that Bella was pointing. Javier was a little ways down the hall, standing by a locker and out of the flow of students. I could tell that he was talking to someone but I couldn't see who it was.

I stood on my tiptoes to try and get a better view. There were so many people in my way which made it really difficult to see. I kept trying until Ricky put his hand on my shoulder and pushed down to get me off of my tiptoes.

He had a better view from where he was standing. "He's talking to Diane."

I could see that Bella was taken aback but she immediately tried to hide the confusion on her face. "Uh, why?"

That was a great question. What the hell was he talking to his ex for? What could they possibly have to say to each other?

"Don't jump to conclusions." Ricky warned.