The Atlas Of Love

- two -

"Oww! Jae-in, are you crazy?"

There is only one person in this college that calls me by that name.

Enter Dean Torres.

My buddy from Highschool and also a member of an infamous band which I'd rather not talk about.

He uncovered my eyes as I looked up at him apologeticly. Kara got up and settled down beside Nick, making space for him.

Dean groaned in pain, sitting down next to me. "I'm sorry." I hugged him tightly, as if that would make the pain go away.

"It's alright. It was my fault." He said dimly. Across me, I could hear Kara and Nick snickering.

"By the way, Xander's joining us for lunch." He informed.

"Cool. Haven't seen the dude in a while. It's time he came around." Nick said, finally eating his burger.

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat, thinking of ways to deal with Xander around his current love interest as I was pretty sure that he'd have company.

Kara seemed to notice this, but the two boys were oblivious. I gave her an assuring smile, shaking my head. She was reluctant, but smiled in return.

And as if on cue, Xander Collins strides in, a blonde Barbie in one of his arms and his lunch tray in the other. They whispered into each others ears, laughing as they made their way to our table.

She was much shorter than me. Maybe she stood 5'3", which made it clearly visible how uncomfortable it was for the both of them to whisper to one another. I could see how Xander had to bend down in an uncomfortable position to whisper to his lady love.

Xander noticed me gawking at them and his lips tugged up in a smile.

I looked away immediately, busying myself with my food when they came closer.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Xander exchange his "bro-nods" with Nick and Dean, before swiftly sliding in next to me.

His Barbie doll's lip twitched unpleasantly upon the realization that she wouldn't be able to sit next to him.

"You can sit next to him, I'll move." I offered with a smile, ready to move away from the person beside me.

"You don't have to." Xander said casually, making me turn to him.

"What?"

"Dean can move. He's sitting on the side anyway. You can sit next to me." He explained.

Dean let out a sigh, moving to sit down next to Kara on the other side of the table.

Lunch did not feel the same. I mean it would've been fine if it was Xander alone but with his Barbie doll, whose name was Madison as he introduced, things were slightly awkward. Scratch that. Extremely awkward.

The five of us were loud and we'd talk crap and exchange all kinds of information over lunch, but with miss blondie over here, we knew better than to spill around her.

As I finished my food, I was about to grab the bottle of water which was kept in the middle of the table until some beautiful, long, artistic fingers beat me to it.

I turned to frown at Xander. He had this cocky grin on his face, opening the bottle.

He winked at me, gulping down the water. I rolled my eyes, trying to stop the urge to kill him, right here, right now.

"This kind of reminds me of those days when you two were together." Kara spoke dreamily, leaning on the table.

"Excuse me?" I snapped.