master of none.

006; she's got a boyfriend anyway.

          "THERE'S CENTRAL VALLEY HIGH'S NEWEST HEARTBREAKER." Cassidy announces loudly as she nears me while I'm sorting through my locker.

I let out an annoyed sigh, which in response, she nudges me on my shoulder. "Hey, I'm just messin' with you."

I shut the locker, and put the lock back on. "I see Miles told you what happened." I muse as I spin the dial to zero.

"He called me as soon as he got in the house." She says with a laugh.

We start to make the walk to English, something I've been dreading since I woke up this morning. I haven't talked to Miles since the little incident Friday, and he hadn't made much of an effort to, either. I knew I was acting weird and irrationally, so I had to get a grip before I do something stupid again.

"So do you like him?" She nudges me once more, which causes me to pause.

"No, I just —" I shrug. "I don't know, alright? He's cute, yeah, but I barely know him. It's too soon."

She raises her brows and purses her lips, a playful look on her face. She was far more relaxed about this than I thought she would be. I expected her to yell at me, or even hit me considering he was her best friend. But so far, she wasn't taking this seriously at all. I wasn't complaining, though. The less karma on my end, the better.

"Who even dates anymore?" She hypothesizes. "All people do these days is take the friends with benefits deal. Committed relationships are so old school. They don't even last long anyway — someone'll just cheat in the end."

I shrug. "It's still too soon for anything."

This causes Cassidy to scoff. "You don't need to know each other's favorite color to have sex. It's not that complex, Evan. I promise."

"I know that." I say quickly, because little does she know I've been down that route before. "It's just — I just got here. Besides, are you suggesting that I should sleep with your best friend?"

She snorts. "It'll get him to shut up about you, that's for sure."

Her response leaves me stumped, and she doesn't elaborate further. She walks ahead of me and opens the door of the classroom, and walks in with me in tow.

"Miles!" Cassidy shouts as she races towards his seat, and hugs him from behind. "How are ya?"

He turns around to respond, but when he catches sight of me, his smile falters. Cassidy immediately notices the tension between us, and clears her throat as she's taking her seat.

"So, we should do something after school." She offers in attempt to clear the air. "Like see a movie, or get food."

"No thanks." Miles says quickly.

I run a hand through my hair. "Can't, I'm working late."

Cassidy awkwardly shifts in her seat, and folds her hands on her desk. "Then I guess I'll just spend the night in."

It gets uncomfortably quiet after that, and I let out a sigh as I take my seat in front of Miles. This wouldn't be happening if I had just kept my shit together. Miles wouldn't be upset, and Cassidy wouldn't be stuck in the middle of it all.

▲▼▲▼

          When I walked into Nick's that day, I didn't know what to expect. I wasn't expecting an angry Lyla, but I can say with a guarantee that I wasn't expecting one that woke up on the right side of the bed.

She's smiles while she waits on customers; she even greets me as I'm walking to the back to get ready for my shift.

I get to the small locker room in the far back of the restaurant, and throw my bag in mine. I grab my black apron and tie it around my waist, and pin my name tag to my shirt. As I'm pulling my hair up into a ponytail, I hear a familiar voice behind me.