He's a Fanboy?!

He's In The Back

italics are flashbacks. i hope you still remember where the flashback is from lol
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"Clearly," I mumble back.

"Which means you can't give up, because otherwise you'll ruin Brayden's life!" Luke shakes my shoulders.

"Right. Of course, that makes total sense," I drawl sarcastically. "so what do we do now?" I glance back at Brayden and see his hands still noticeably jammed in his pockets. He turns the corner and I lose sight of him.

"Phase two of stage one," Luke hastily pulls me to a table and shoves me into a chair.

"What was phase one?" I ask, slapping his arm away.

Luke makes a gesture in the general direction Brayden went. "This. Observing him. Anyway, stage two: Clarify."

"Clarify what?"

"Make up your mind. Do you want to go after Brayden or do you want him to be lost in his little paper world forever? Let me remind you, Fen, you don't exist in that world."

I think about what Luke had said to me: Brayden isn't happy with who he is around them. But he is with me. And there's no doubt that he makes me equally happy.

Memories of Brayden opening up to me flash through my mind: "I'm scared that I'll be sucked into the 'golden' world. That, no matter what, I'll never love anyone as much as I love being the center of attention. And then, even though I'll be surrounded by crowds... I'll be all alone."

I don't want him to be all alone.

I can't be the reason it happens.

"What's stage two?"

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"It's been three days since we did anything productive. It's time. Stage two: Ask him what the hell went wrong, you idiot," Luke snakes an arm around my waist, guiding me out of the classroom as the lunch bell goes off. "Library?" he asks, and I nod.

"It isn't that easy," I groan. "what am I supposed to do? Just walk up to him in the cafeteria in front of everyone and ask him why he's ignoring me?"

"That's exactly what you're supposed to do. Why not?" Luke pushes the glass door open. "Doing it there will give him a slap in the face, which is exactly what he needs."

I walk backwards, facing Luke. "Really? Because, usually, when he's with those people, I get the opposite effect," I take a seat. "He'll glare at me, or laugh, or tap Callie on the shoulder and point at me as he smirks." As I shudder, Luke sits at the opposite end of the table.

"You have to be confident. March right up to him and glare at him the way you do to me when I call you babygirl." I glare at him. "Yeah, like that!"

"What about you? What are you going to do?" Somewhere inside, I'm willing to do it. The cold hard truth is that I have nothing to lose and everything to gain. But I've never done anything like this. I've never done anything that would threaten my reputation or go out of my comfort zone.

Well. That isn't true. My entire friendship with Brayden is out of my comfort zone... Not to mention Luke.

"This one's all you. I'll wait for you in the hallway, sweetie."

I glance at the door, then at Luke's piercing eyes, then at the ground, then finally back at the door. "We just got here. I didn't even get to read yet."

"You can listen to Brayden read bedtime stories when you're married and have a baby boy named Luke," he places his hands on his hips. I make a loud, grunty, inhumane noise, but stand up again. "Fine. Commence stage two."