Invisible

Diner

I sit back down at my table with my friends.

"Who even was that?" Jason asks.

"Ethan." I say.

"Oh, a new boyfriend?" Aiden laughs.

"Will you shut the hell up? He's nice. And not my boyfriend." I say through gritted teeth. 

"Why you getting so defensive? It's a joke, man." Aiden is still smirking.

For the second time during lunch I stand up and walk away without saying anything.

"Hey, Connor! Come back, man." George calls. I don't turn around.

I make my way back to Ethan's table and sit down across from him. He looks at me with a shocked expression. His eyes are silver blue. His almost black hair was somehow both neat and messy. It looks pretty good.

"What are you doing?" he asks, quietly, while taking out one of his earphones again.

"Sitting." I don't smile or look up. I hadn't bought any lunch but I wasn't going to get it now. So I take out my phone and start scrolling.

"You came back," he mumbles, looking down at the table.

"Yeah. You're nicer than my other asshole friends."

"You don't even know me though."

"I can just tell."

There's a pause, then he opens a bag of chips and pops one in his mouth.

I can't help but smile. I don't really know why. I was just smiling. I felt good.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I walk out of 10th period, and rush to my locker. I get my books as fast as I can, and scan the hallway. I'm looking for that messy-yet-somehow-still-neat black hair. I spot him only about 10 lockers down from me. How have I not noticed him sooner? I walk towards him, but stop myself before I talk to him. I awkwardly stand behind him. Today has been so weird what am I doing?  Before he turns around and sees me standing there staring at him awkwardly, I just walk away, and out the door.

When I get to my house, I walk to the cabinet, grab a bag of chips, and head up to my room. Opening the bag of chips, I shove one in my mouth, then take out my phone and text Kayla.

C: Did you know who Ethan was before today?

K: No, I still don't really know who the hell he is.

C: He's super nice. You should get to know him.

K: You're not thinking of letting him into the group, are you?

My phone starts to ring as she calls me. I quickly answer.

"Connor. You are being actually insane. He's an invisible! He sits alone at lunch, he doesn't talk during school. He has no friends!"

"I honestly don't understand why. He is so nice, nicer than you, and Aiden, and the rest of the group," I kind of snap.

There's a pause, then she says quietly, "So you know him for one day, and you already like him better than the people you have been friends with for 6 years?"

"I didn't say I liked him more than you guys, I said he's nicer than you guys. And that's a good change every once and a while. Just... please get to know him," I hang up the phone. I get a text from her.

"Fine."

I picture Kayla talking to Ethan tomorrow, and I can't help but smile.

I pop another chip into my mouth, and take out my laptop to work on my research paper. 

I copy the link of my finished paper and paste it into an email to my teacher. I click send just as I hear the back door creak open.

"Connor, I'm home!" my dad calls from downstairs.

"Hi," I answer as I stand up and walk out of my room.

"Where do you want to go for dinner? I'm too tired to cook." 

I lean over the banister, "Uh, want to go to Matthew's Diner?"

"Sure, let me get changed and we can go." He starts to climb the stairs and I walk back into my room.

Dad puts on casual clothes, and we both hop into the car.

When we get to the diner, it's packed. Luckily there's only one group of six waiting, and there's an open table for two, so we don't actually have to wait. The waitress grabs two menus, and starts walking us through the diner to the back corner. She sits us down, and I scan the seats around us. Right next to us, there's a table of three. A father, a daughter, and a son. I do a double take when I realize who the son is.

"Ethan! Hey," I say. He turns to me, surprised at first, then he gets a bit panicked.

"Oh, hey Connor... funny meeting you here," he awkwardly scratches the back of his head and looks away.

"Hi, I'm Mr. Westfeld," my Dad says, and reaches his hand out, in between Ethan and his dad, not knowing who was listening or going to shake his hand back. Mr. Rice is the one to shake it. Ethan still isn't looking up.

"Hey," I lean a bit forward so I can see him better. He looks at me. Into my eyes. "I'm actually glad I saw you here. Kayla said she wants to get to know you, but I don't think you have any classes together. So I was wondering if I could have your number?" He turns red. "You know, so I can give it to her."

"Uh, sure," he mumbles, then awkwardly fumbles around for what I'm assuming is a pen and paper.

"Here," I chuckle as I hand him my phone. "Just make yourself a contact."

I watch him as he enters his number. I don't realize I'm smiling until he hands it back to me.

"So, I'll leave you alone to eat in peace now. Though I might text you later." In my head, I wink to him after I say that, though of course I don't do that in reality.

I turn back to my table and open the menu. I always get the same thing, a classic cheeseburger with fries, but I check the menu anyway.

Throughout the entire dinner, I keep stealing glances at him through the corner of my eye.