Nice Guys Finish Last

Chapter 4

"Dude, don't even try. You're not qualified. Just like I'm starting at sixth grade words, you should start at level 1 girls. A.K.A. - desperate girls," Rohan replied.

I lowered my head a bit. I understood completely what he meant. I guess he was right. Just as I was surrendering to my low self-esteem, Jay cut in.

"No, don't think like that. No girl thinks like that either. Especially not Maria. Under that pretty hair and clothing, she's a kind girl. We were best friends in sixth grade, but then she was swarmed with boys when she hit puberty. I was always awkward around boys, so I tended to avoid her. She thought I was angry at her, and she was hurt for a while, but we soon forgot each other. Now we have an acquaintanceship of sorts. I know Maria. She won't like you no matter how many girls you date or how cool you look," Jay said. I was pretty surprised at that mass of information on the spot like that. 

"And Rohan," she said, turning to him while he attempted to put his arm over her shoulder, "How would you know about Maria? You've never dated her."

Rohan looked a bit taken aback by her comment and his arm retracted.

"How do you know that?" Rohan asked slowly, or rather, cautiously.

"I've been around for awhile. You might not have seen me until now, but I've seen you. I knew how you were and I've been watching, hoping never to see Maria in one of those groups of girls that hang around you. Thankfully, Maria hasn't been," Jay responded quickly. It wasn't necessarily a hasty reply, but more of a focused, straightforward, and a bit curt one.

"What's wrong with girls hanging around me?" Rohan asked, and then added, "Ah - Jealousy..."

That was not the right thing to say at that moment, because Jay looked pretty annoyed right then.

"I need to go," she responded. She removed his arm from her shoulder (I had no idea how long it had been there) and left the room.

"Real smooth! She's your tutor, not your girlfriend, so treat her accordingly!" I shout-whispered at Rohan. He just shrugged a bit.

I decided to do as I usually do and make amends for him. He's not the kind of guy to apologize. I followed Jay and caught up to her when she was already pulling out of the library parking lot. I ran in front of her car and held up a finger. No, not my middle finger. I told her to wait a second and walked around to the driver's side. She lowered the window, looking less annoyed than she did before.

"I'm glad it's you who came, not Rohan." She sighed. Then, after an awkward pause, she said, "Do you think we could talk?"

"Uh, yeah, I guess. Um, now?" I asked, slightly gesturing that she was in a car and I was standing in the middle of a parking lot.

"Oh, yeah. Get in," she said. I awkwardly looked around and asked, "Now?"

"Yes, now," she said, smiling a bit.

I walked around the car to the passenger seat. I wasn't sure if what I was doing right then was right, but I felt that she just needed someone to listen to her. I guess that wouldn't be too hard. I pulled open the SUV's door and sat in the seat. "So..." I began rather uncomfortably. 

"I like Rohan," she said, after too long of a silence.

"Oh. I get it," I said. I couldn't understand it, nor could I help it, but I felt my heart sink. I didn't get it, I liked Maria! Why was I sad that she liked Rohan? She could like him! Who cares? I didn't!

"Or at least I used to," she said, cutting off my thoughts.

"What?" I looked up at her again.

"That's why I agreed to tutor him. But after I met the real Rohan, I got sick of him in a fraction of the time it took to like him," she continued. "That's how I knew Maria didn't date him. Because - I know it's creepy - I used to watch him, see which girls he was with and stuff. Ugh. I'm disgusting myself," she said.

"Don't be disgusted. You probably admired a trait in him, it's okay," I replied. She smiled, and lifted her head up a bit to look at me. Then, unexpectedly, she turned to face the windshield and began driving.

"Um, I'm still in the car. Should I get down?" I asked rather quietly.

"You want me to drop you off at your house?" she asked.

"Why? Where are you going?" I asked.

"I'll tell you when we get there," she replied as she smiled at me. We then got into a few small conversations that aren't really worth mentioning. A few minutes into an awkward silence, we arrived at a Seven-Eleven. 

"So, we're here!" she said, obviously in a better mood than before.

"Yes, I see, but why?" I asked her while smiling. 

"To get slurpees...Why else?" she said as she got out of the car. I pulled the handle, pushed the door out and stepped into the small parking lot of the Seven-Eleven. I caught up to her and we walked into the small road-side shop. We both got medium-sized cups and went to the slushy machines. 

I filled mine with a coca-cola slushy. I hate mixing flavors.I feel like it ruins the taste of each flavor. Whenever Rohan comes here - generally with two or three girls, too - he gets a large cup and fills it with every flavor, he says it tastes better that way. I noticed Jay fill her cup with just cherry coke. Ha. Yet again, Jay confuses me thoroughly.

"He was staring out the window," Jay said softly, while struggling to put the cap on the cup, "that's why I came here... I couldn't talk to you freely with that stupid face staring at me. I don't even know why I liked him,"

"You liked his confidence," I said, much too quickly. Gosh, I'm an idiot. 

"What?" Jay asked.

"Well, I assumed that - it's not like you're me and I'm not implying that you liked him for the same reason I liked him... No! I didn't like him, no...no. No, I don't swing that way - I was trying to say..."

"By 'what', I meant... How'd you know?" Jay responded, smiling at me. I guess she didn't mind that I was so awkward. 

"Well, when I met him in middle school, on the first day of 7th grade, he was immediately so sure of himself, even though he was new. He never, even for a moment, doubted that he'd make friends," I said. In honesty, this was the first time I'd told anyone about my friendship with Rohan...

"How'd you become friends?" Jay asked, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. She looked up and down my body as if looking for a body part similar to Rohan's. This, of course, made me feel infinitely uncomfortable. 

I moved a bit and continued. "Well, I was assigned to guide him around the school, tell him about our policies, and give him the basic guidelines, so yeah. We just hit it off."

"So, you're not as gross as Rohan? That's really good to know." She smiled pleasantly and I stared at her as we both put down five dollars for the slurpees. 

"That's alright, I got it, Tyler," she said as she smiled, "Anyway, I owe you for being much cooler than I expected." We laughed awkwardly. I think we both knew that cool was never the correct word to describe me. 

"Nah, I owe you for tutoring my buddy... And putting up with him," I said as she smiled, then looked down.