The Life I'm Running From

11\ A Lunch Date...ish

The next morning I got up later than usual to exercise. I spent about a half an hour on the treadmill before I went through my other, less fun, routine exercises. When I exited the training room, Danny was eating breakfast at the table. She seemed lost in thought.

I poured myself a glass of water. "How was your date?"

"Amazing." Danny sighed, leaning her cheek on the palm of her hand. "It was perfect."

Raising an eyebrow, I sat down across from her. "You seem happy."

She nodded. "Mark was so sweet. He took me to this classy restaurant, and he paid for it all."

"Nice." I flicked a crumb off the table. "Did you kiss?"

Danny went red. "No! It was only the first date."

"You have very different standards than most of the world," I muttered. She clearly didn't hear me, so I cleared my throat and asked, "Is there a second date?"

Danny giggled. "Yeah. He asked me out again when he walked me up to our apartment. He went through the whole elevator ride just to walk me to the door. Such a gentlemen. We're going out again on Tuesday."

I chugged my glass of water. Danny's date had gone well, and I was happy for her. Mark liked her, and she liked him. Why couldn't my love life be so black and white? I had no clue if I really liked Harley, and then there was poor Peter caught in the middle without realizing it.

"Hey, could you ask the school if I can take the bus?" I stood up and set my glass on the counter.

Danny blinked out of her dreamy state. "Huh? I guess. Why do you want to take the bus?"

"It's cold outside."

★彡 ★彡 ★彡 ★彡

The crazed excitement of the football game had—unfortunately to people like Charlie—not vanished on Monday. The football team were heroes in the halls, and they couldn't go anywhere without being clapped on the back. Cheerleaders fawned over them, the teachers loved them. Well, not Mr. Bluffe. He told the football players that the football game was no excuse for not having their homework in and almost the whole team got detention. Due to that, they were all MIA at lunch, so it was significantly quieter without the cheering and congratulations.

"How long do you think this post-game buzz will last?" Adriana asked as we sat down at a table.

Skylar shrugged. "Probably a week."

I sat down next to Charlie, who groaned audibly. "It's just a stupid football game. I don't think I'll be able to stand it if one more person stops in the middle of the hallway to congratulate a football player."

"It's not that bad," I pulled out my sandwich. Danny had forgotten to buy turkey last time she went grocery shopping so I had to suffice with ham instead. Yuck.

Charlie sniffed. "Easy for you to say. You weren't late to Chemistry. Miss Hayleen gave me and Skylar a week's detention."

"Yikes. Lunch or after school?" Adriana asked.

"Lunch except for today."

Skylar tugged at one of her braids. "It sucks, but I have news," she said eagerly. "There's a rumour around school that Harley likes someone."

I immediately felt Adriana's gaze on me. Refusing to look at her, I instead looked at Charlie who commented on how rumours aren't usually true.

"I'm pretty sure this one is true. One of the cheerleaders heard Harley's friends Carter and Devin talking about it." Skylar turned pink and looked down. "Is it too much to hope that he likes me?"

Adriana locked eyes with me. "Sorry, but I don't think he likes you Skylar. I heard he liked someone else. Someone blonde."

"Well I heard he liked someone from another school," I countered, ripping off pieces of turkey from my sandwich.

Charlie frowned at us. "I haven't heard anything. But, if it makes you feel better, I think Hayden from my Chemistry class likes you."

"He's dating someone." Skylar sighed. "It's alright; I knew Harley didn't like me. I don't have luck like that."

I tightened my ponytail and subtly glared at Adriana. She was the one who didn't want Skylar or Charlie to know. Why was she calling me out like that? It wasn't my fault Harley might like me.

"In other news," Adriana said, changing the topic, "Ryan asked me out to lunch tomorrow."

"What?" Charlie's mouth dropped open. "When did you two talk?"

"Yeah, when?" Last time I was with Adriana was the football game, when we saw Ryan with his arm around another girl.

Adriana smiled. "We ran into each other at Starbucks. He mentioned that he recognized me from school, and I said I recognized him too... and then we ended up talking for over two hours."

"Two hours?" Charlie stabbed one of her pelmeni(basically a Russian dumpling) with her fork. "Thank goodness he asked you out, or we would know for sure that he didn't like you."

I squinted at Adriana. "I thought we—you saw him with someone else."

"They're just friends. He said she's basically a sister." Adriana paused. "Actually, I'm not just going to lunch with him. His brother, David, is coming too."

"Food fight David?" I asked the same time Charlie said, "It's not a date?"

Adriana shrugged, and dug her fingernails into the cucumber slice she was about to eat. "I don't know. He asked if I'd come to lunch with his brother, and I said yes. He said I could bring a friend if I wanted."

"Double date?" Skylar suggested.

"Probably not." My blue bomber jacket was slipping down my shoulders, so I pulled it back up. "He probably was asking you on a date, but got too nervous so he panicked and mentioned his brother."

Charlie snapped her fingers. "I bet that's it. It happens in TV shows all the time."

"You think so?" Adriana played with the ends of her hair. "Maybe. But anyways, which one of you wants to go with me? If it was just Ryan I'd be fine, but his brother will be there and I don't want to go alone."

I pursed my lips. Could be interesting, to meet the notorious burrito food fight starter.

Charlie shook her head. "Detention."

"Ditto," Skylar said.

That left only me. "I'll go. Where are we eating?"