Sweetie You Had Me

Sweetie You Had Me Chp. 2

Before I knew it, class was over. Pretty much all of the class had left, and it was just me, Jake, and Ryan heading for the door. It was Jake on one side and Ryan on the other. If Jake walked closer to me, so did Ryan.

"Uh..." I flickered my eyes back and forth between them.

I felt so small. It was like suffocation. They were both tall, and, naturally, I was short. Worst combination. They both kept looking at each other. It was obvious they had a problem with one another.

"Yeah, Rowland, you're suffocating her," Jake sneered a little.

I saw anger flare in Ryan's eyes. Jake kind of roughly put is arm around me and tugged at my shoulder. I saw Ryan look at me like I was mad for ever saying yes to him. I'd get yelled at later, for sure.

"You hungry? Cause I sure am." Jake said, a tiny bit of irritation nagging at his throat.

I knew he was talking to me, but the whole time he was looking at Ryan. Jake began to walk faster, tugging me along.

"I'll talk to you later, Ryan. I promise."

That was all I managed to get out to him before we paced through the doors of the lobby and continued toward the dining hall. I could see the look on Ryan's face that he was upset. He shouldn't be upset, though. He knew I would never desert him on purpose. He would always have me.

Once we walked outside and could no longer see Ryan, Jake took his arm off my shoulders and we continued to walk. We entered the dining hall and hopped into a line to get our food. He led me to a small table with two chairs, and pulled one out for me. He sat on the other side. I had just started to dig into my pasta when he spoke.

"So, 'Alyssa', right?" he laughed a little. I smiled and nodded while shoveling a forkful into my mouth. "Yeah, your friend made that pretty clear."

I looked up from my plate and swallowed. "So, why'd you ask me to lunch?" I asked, pretty curious to hear his response.

"Well you know, I've never talked to you before, and you don't seem like the kind of girl who gets asked out a lot. No offense, sorry."

"More like 'never' gets asked out. And that's okay. Thanks for asking me."

"No problem. Also, it's nice to have a new opinion. Talk to a face that doesn't know you yet. Too many girls know me, and for all the wrong reasons."

He started to push some of his food around on his plate a little, as if embarassed. Jake was a big party guy who was known for being able to sneak anything past campus forces. He was probably guilty for hooking up with a lot of girls on and off campus as well. There were probably many reasons for him to be embarassed.

"So, ah, I hope you don't mind me asking, but why do you hang out with that guy so much?"

"Ryan," I said a little defensively, to make sure he actually knew his name, and never called him Rowland again.

"Yeah him. He's a little uptight. I don't think I've ever seen that kid talk to anyone the way he talks to you. Or even talk to anyone for that matter."

There were reasons for him to be uptight. I could tell him Ryan's life if I wanted to just so he could understand why Ryan was the way he was. He was guarded for many reasons that I don't think Jake could understand.

"We're best friends. For a few years now. That's what we do. And he's kind of shy."

"Kind of? That kid is like seriously guarded." I was starting to get annoyed that Jake kept calling him "that kid". "But seriously, he watches you like a hawk. To me it looks like he wants to be more than what you guys are right now, if you're getting what I'm saying. I could smell the jealousy when I asked you to lunch."

Actually, Jake was starting to make me think. Maybe Ryan was jealous. I'd always known I liked Ryan a little more than just a friend. Just everything about him. We knew everything about each other. He was the only one I ever really hung out with, and it never got annoying or boring. He was the best person to be around.

Jake and I continued to talk about anything and everything: classes, what we were planning to do after college, our personal lives, friends, family. It was nice. He may have been a little edgy in the beginning, but he smoothed out and I ended up not regretting my decision on going to lunch with him. I actually had another guy friend, and it was the least likely candidate. We talked for a while until I checked my phone.

"Oh, we have to go."

"Ah, that's right. I knew we were forgetting something."

We walked out together and headed towards the psychology building. "Hey thanks again for asking me to lunch," I said right before we entered class. "It was nice."

"Hey, no problem," he smiled. "I had fun. We should do it again sometime."

I nodded my head and smiled. I sat down in my seat and he took the seat next to me. Class instantly began.