Little Talks

.: Chapter Three :.

"I can grab you a slice of pizza if you want." he offers.

"That would be great."

He gets in the closest line and is immediately approached by two girls. One is dressed like she is a yoga instructor, and the other wears a sweatshirt and a pair of jeans. From only a couple of yards away, I can tell they're trying way too hard to flirt with him. He subtly makes them stand where he can see me and I can see him, and catches my eye. He obviously needs saving.

Somehow over pure eye contact, we devise a plan.

I unzip my comfortable, airy red jacket and tie it around my waist, then put my hair in a messy bun. Without my dark brown hair and eyes, white shirt, red jacket as a belt, jeggings, and white Converse, I feel like a basic bitch.

I walk over to the left Cam with my eyes trained on the girls. I wrap my arm around his waist like he did to me in the halls, and he puts his arm around my shoulders. Both of the girls turn pale.

"Who's this Cam?" the yoga instructor-looking one asks.

Cam and I look at each other, and then back at her.

"This Alliah, my girlfriend." he says it so casually I almost believe it. Both of the girls look dumbfounded. I smile at them. The four of us are the only silent ones in the cafeteria.

"So who are you guys?" I ask, making their cheeks turn bright pink.

"Oh, um, we're-" The yoga instructor stutters.

"I'm Carla and she's Lucy. Nice to  ya." the sweatshirt girl, Carla, says casually. "Lucy here was getting horny for your mans, so I'd watch out for him."

Cam let's out a tired sigh. "Luce, I've told you this already. Stop trying to get with me. The more you bother me the more I'll dislike you."

"But we dated in second grade! We must still have that connection."

This girl is either delusional or desperate. Well, actually, I think she's a creepy mixture of both.

"C'mon Lucy, you heard him." Carla says, pulling Lucy away. Lucy gives me a death glare all of the way back to her seat, where she and Carla sit alone.

"Well, there's your competition." Cam jokes.

I look up at him. He's only around three inches taller than me, so he must be around six feet tall.

"I'm trebling." I say sarcastically. "What would I be competing for?"

"Me, of course." he pretends to flex his other arm and strike a brooding pose.

I jab him in the stomach and we both start laughing.

"Grab me a pepperoni slice, would you?" I ask.

"No problem."

I start walking away, but he grabs my right hand and pulls me into a tight hug.

"What the heck are you doing?" I say, my voice muffled by his chlorine-scented cotton sweatshirt.

"I told them that I was dating you, right?" he whispers next to my left ear. "We have to make it believable." So I reluctantly hug him back.

That felt like it went zero to a hundred baby real quick. Also, I hate hugs. This better be at least somewhat believable.

Maybe twenty seconds go by and I'm tired of the hugging.

"Can I go now?" I say again, this time looking up at him, so he can clearly hear me.

"Hmm, I'll think about it."

I grumble and look off to the side.

"Actually Alliah, look back at me." he says. I look up, and he kisses me on the forehead.

What the-

I push him away from me, probably as red as a tomato. It's kind of hard to get away, because he's too strong.

Goddamn these buff-ass swimmers.

I start walking away from Cam, still facing him so he doesn't pull me back again.

"Just get me a slice of pepperoni, alright?" I say, trying to keep my cool. I point toward the people ahead of us in the lunch line, which has only moved a yard. "Step up so nobody gets in front of you."

He finally has nothing to say, he only scratches the back of his head and steps to his spot in line. I almost feel bad.

I turn back around so I can see where I'm walking and I can feel all of the eyes in the cafeteria trained on me.

I hate Cam for giving me all of this attention.

What did I do to get it?