Senior Squad

18| "Let's Be Real Here."

Aria

"So, I hear you boys had a nice weekend?" I took some bites of my taco salad while getting the scoop from two of the three guys in our group on this lovely Monday afternoon. "Is that right?"

Johnny and Lyle exchanged annoyed eye rolls which made me smile. "I'll take that as a yes."

"I wouldn't say it was nice, more like relaxing." Johnny insisted.

"Ditto." Lyle agreed.

It was great to see them not hating each other, though part of me always found that a bit humorous. Not the prank part, but their exchanges always gave me life. They both dug into their food and I heard another tray plop down next to me.

"What's up, my homies." Dominic joyfully expressed to us though he stopped once his eyes locked with Lyle's. "Or homos."

Lyle groaned and clutched his juice bottle while Johnny placed his arm on him in an effort to calm him down. At the same time, he turned to the very smug Dominic and said, "Hello to you too, jackass."

Dominic snickered and I shifted the conversation back to myself before one of these guys exploded. The last thing we needed was for pies and shit to be thrown.

"How was your weekend?" I asked Dominic.

He took a bite of his double bacon hamburger before responding. "It was alright. Yours?"

"Super busy."

"I see."

At that point the awkward silence definitely kicked in. It wasn't so much that we had nothing to talk about, but the fact our bonds were still questionable combined with the noise of the cafeteria, didn't make for the most solid social experience. We're also missing our last link. Speaking of which, where was she?

I looked around all over. I even stood up to see if she was at the table where she sat prior to meeting us, though she was nowhere to be seen. Eventually, my curiosity got on Johnny's nerves as he wrinkled his nose and asked. "Um, do you need help? You look like you're being stalked."

"Or trying to find your car." Dominic added on.

"No, I'm not being stalked." I answered with a half-chuckle before turning to the guys. "Hey, have any of you guys seen Elise around? We've got about two weeks to get our thing set up and I've barely seen here once."

"Nope." Johnny shook his head.

"Not today." Lyle followed up.

"I saw her." Dominic casually replied.

"You did?" My ears perked up when he answered.

"Yeah." He shrugged. "Or was that Kim? I don't know. I mix up bodies and names all the time."

"Okay, well where did you see her?"

"At her locker with some guy on the football team. Total prick."

"Was it Logan?" Johnny asked.

"No, I was thinking of that Goliath motherfucker. What's his name, with the shaggy hair–"

"Calvin." Lyle answered as he munched on his food. Lyle was about to continue speaking when a familiar face walked in, only to walk back out.