The Guy Next Door

23

Ava's POV

"Hey Sugar," I heard someone say from behind me. I looked up to see Alex standing behind me.

"Hey," I replied, my face breaking out into a smile as soon as my eyes fell on him.

He placed his tray next to me, sitting down at the table before leaning over and giving me a quick kiss on the lips. I felt a blush creep up my cheeks as the whole table fell silent, all their attention suddenly focused on the two of us.

"Okay, what have I missed?" Emily suddenly asked, breaking the silence as I let out a small laugh.

"Nothing. We're not together." I told her.

"Well when did this happen," she lifted her hand and gestured between both Alex and I.

I shrugged, taking a bite of my sandwich but choosing not to reply.

Emily stared at me, her eyes wide in shock as if she was unable to believe what she had seen. Grace suddenly broke the silence with a loud squeal.

"Oh my gosh! I've been shipping you two from the beginning!" She clapped her hands together in excitement. "I can't believe it's finally happened!" She added.

I rolled my eyes at her over-excitement but couldn't help the small smile that found its way onto my lips. I looked down awkwardly at my food, mumbling under my breath. "We're not together."

Emily's head suddenly shot to look over at Grace as she joined in the squealing and I felt my face heat up further. "Okay you can stop now." I laughed, looking back up at them as I realised that the whole cafeteria was beginning to turn their attention to us to see what was going on.

The two of them thankfully stopped gushing about Alex and I as Ryan spoke up. "Nice one Reed." He smirked, looking me up and down. Grace playfully batted Ryan on the arm as he let out a low chuckle and I looked to the side to see Alex staring at me, with the same smirk plastered on his own face.

I shot him a small smile in return.

A loud scraping sound suddenly made me look back to the table, my eyes falling on Mason. He pushed his chair back, before standing up and storming out of the canteen.

"Someone's jealous." Grace suddenly said, rolling her eyes. I gulped, suddenly feeling bad as I realised that I hadn't had a chance to fully explain myself to him yet. After the fight and everything that had happened this week, that was the last thing on my mind.

"He needs to fucking get over himself." Alex muttered under his breath.

I turned to Alex, hitting him lightly on the arm before pushing my own chair back and standing up.

"I'll be right back." I told everyone before turning around and following Mason out of the canteen.

"Wait." I heard Alex call after me but I ignored him, knowing he'd only try to stop me leaving.

I headed out of the canteen, my eyes immediately falling on Mason down the hallway as I slowly walked towards him.

"Mason?" I said quietly as I reached him and his head instantly shot up to look at me. "I'm sorry." I apologised.

He stared at me for a moment before I continued. "I never meant to lead you on, I just think that we would be better off as friends." I explained.

After a second or two, he nodded his head, looking to the ground as he spoke. "So you and Alex are a thing now?" He asked.

I shook my head. "No, not exactly."

When he didn't reply, I spoke again. "Mason I'm really sorry. We have a really good friendship and I'd like to keep that but I just don't think that me and you would work out..." I trailed off.