Peace and Grace

17. Jealousy?

I'm jealous.

Again, thanks a lot emotions.

But why am I even jealous? It's not like Warren and I are close and I feel like Layla's stealing him away, like she undoubtably feels towards Gwen with Will. And Layla is one of my closest friends, so I don't want to be jealous of her. What the hell is up with me?

Maybe it's because I've seen Warren's kinder, softer side, and now he's unveiled that to Layla as well, and, I don't know, it felt special when I was the only one out of my friends to have seen that side of him...

This sounds so ridiculous.  I need to stop. 

This becomes difficult to do, however.  Because, One, I have class with Warren, and Two, we continue to sit with him at lunch during the following days. I'm beginning to think he acts like this bothers him more than it actually does. I sense that, somewhere deep inside him, he's glad for the company. He must have been really lonely. 

"Hey Warren." Layla plops herself down across from him again.

"Did I do or say anything to make you think this is okay?"

"Hey, you wanna hear something funny? I was just about to ask Will to homecoming, when, wouldn't you know it, I told him I was going with you instead."

"What?" cries Warren.  I almost do the same. 

"Hey Layla, did you do the history homework?" Maj sits down on Layla's other side.

"What do you think you're doing?" Warren demands.

"It's called sitting."

"No one sits here but me."

"You let Naddie sit here. Yeah, explain that one Hothead." Maj goes back to discussing homework with Layla while I slide out of the booth.

The cafeteria is offering chocolate cake for dessert today, which I've discovered is really quite good as far as high school cafeteria food goes, so I get up to get some. I'm suddenly feeling very overwhelmed and so naturally I want some chocolate.

So Layla and Warren are going to homecoming together now? Since when? 

I'm honestly proud of her for telling Will she's going with someone else, but there's also some part of me feeling, well-

Jealous.

Again. 

When I return I find that Zach and Ethan have now joined us. The sidekicks are once again surrounding Warren and he does not look happy.  I sit down beside Layla, suddenly very focused on my cake. I'm so distracted I don't even smack away Zach's hand when he reaches in to steal some icing. 

"Does anyone else need a date to homecoming?" Warren asks. 

Ethan slowly raises his hand.

Suddenly, Layla bursts into a fit of over-exaggerated laughter. I notice it's because Will is walking by. She's trying to make him feel like he's missing out.  "Oh Warren that's so funny! You sure are cray-zee!" Warren just stares back at her. Layla's smile falls. "Please, I promise I'll make this as painless as possible."

"So you're not doing this cause you like me or anything, you're just doing this to get to Stronghold," Warren clarifies.

"Yeah..." Layla now looks guilty. 

Ah, now I see what's happening. But still, this does little to make me feel any better for some reason. 

"Then I'm in." Warren's face breaks into a grin. "But I'm not wearing a tux." With that he rises from the table and leaves, purposefully bumping Zach with his bag as he does so.