Animal

.:11:.

"Do you know what I can't stand?" Jada chirped as she stabbed her fork into her food and lifted it.

"Here we go."

"Shut the fuck up and listen," she added, glaring at me and waving her fork around.

I held my hands up in surrender and gave her a look. "Well exqueeze me," I mumbled under my breath, trying to keep my amusement hidden.

"Exqueeze you indeed," she said with a nod, then stuck the food into her mouth. She cheered, swallowed, and said, "Anyways, as I was saying, do you know what I can't stand?"

I gave her a shrug, setting my own fork down on the now empty plate and pushing it to the side. "What can't you stand?"

"Assholes like him." Jada jerked her index finger towards her left. I turned my head and gazed across the diner and following her direction. My eyes landed on a figure about five foot five, wearing dark jeans, a leather jacket, and had their hair slicked back. He was leaning against a booth and flirting with a girl that had red hair and glasses. She giggled at something he said, a blush forming her cheeks.

"To be fair, you don't even know him, Jada," I said, turning my eyes back to her. "You shouldn't just judge him based on what he's wearing-"

"It isn't what he's wearing," Jada cut off, frowning at me and glancing angrily at the guy again. "I know his type. Yes, maybe I judge a bit on clothes. But I can tell what he is up to."

"How so?"

"Notice how the girl across from the red-haired one is placing her hand on his side casually?" she asked me, jerking her chin back to the group.

I gazed at them and did notice that this time. Her hand was trailing up his thigh and back down, while his body shifted closer to her. However, he kept smoothly talking to the other girl.

"Holy fuck." I snapped my attention back to Jada. "What's he up to?"

"He's a fuckboy," Jada told me, scowling at her food. She didn't look to be hungry anymore, as she hadn't touched it in the last minute we've been talking. "I dated a guy like him once, thinking he was the real deal. Two years later, I found him fucking my best friend."

I couldn't believe it. Jada had experienced something I myself had gone through. This made my respect grow for the girl in the booth across from me, as well as my liking of her. I smiled at her.

"Why the heck are you smiling at me like that?" she asked nervously, furrowing her dark eyebrows and staring back. "Is that funny to you or something?"

"No!" I responded quickly, the smile dropping from my mouth as I vigorously shook my head to pacify her. "No that's not it at all. You see, I sort of went through the same thing." I told Jada about Tommy and everything that happened with my relationship.

By the time I had finished, Jada seemed to be debating on whether to be angry or whether to be sympathetic. Her face scrunched up with different expressions, working on which was better than the other. Eventually, she said, "I hate him."

I smiled a little at her words. "I hate him too."

-:-

Jada and I got back onto the bus after lunch, settling down. There were only about fifteen minutes left before the bus left again anyway, so we decide just to go back to our seats and get comfortable.

"Mckenzie." I turned my eyes to Jada who was propping her shoulder up on the armrest of the chair. "Can I ask you something?"