How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)

The Spider Incident

"You were a chapter in my book, and I was merely a line in yours."

— p.b.p

___

Lunch period was a different experience for everyone. For some, it meant getting to sit with friends, catching up on anything and everything. For others, it meant sitting at a table alone, looking at a phone or reading a book to pass the time. And while it did passed the forty minutes they were cooped up in the lunch room, those in that situation weren't the happiest of people.

Back when he wasn't friends with Bethany and Kiel, Owen sat alone. Not because he didn't have friends — he had online friends — but simply because all the other kids were busy sitting somewhere else. Owen was nice to everyone, but none of his classmates would sit with him. Probably because he only talked about books, and fictional characters, and theories about books.

That time had been lonely, but he'd gotten used to it. Owen was okay with it. He had his mom, he talked to people all day at the library, and had the occasional conversation with kids from school. Usually it was about homework. And more usually, it was about his strong dislike for anything math related.

But he didn't realize what he'd been missing until he met Bethany and Kiel, until he finally had people who'd sit with him at lunch. Kiel, Owen knew, had never sat alone in his life. He'd never had a problem making friends and becoming popular, because everyone loved him. Bethany, like Owen, had sat alone for much of her life. And her situation had been even worse — she'd never even had friends until Owen.

He was glad that he had friends to sit with, now. For years, lunch period had never been something Owen looked forward to. There were so many tables and the cafeteria was always incredibly loud, not to mention how intimidating being there felt sometimes. He'd always dig into his latest book, drowning out the noise of students' chattering. While he still often read during lunch, at least he could do it beside Bethany and Kiel.

Pushing open the cafeteria door, Owen stumbled after the crowd of students, all of which were heading to different destinations. Some to tables, which were usually assigned, and some to the lunch line. Instead of bringing a bagged lunch from home, Owen always got food from the cafeteria. There were more options, and he wasn't sure if his mom was very good at making anything besides a sandwich.

Pausing at his usual table — which was empty for now — Owen dropped his backpack on a seat before rushing to join the lunch line. Luckily, the line wasn't too long today. That was one reason Owen liked rushing to the cafeteria; he'd rather get here earlier than wait in a twenty minute line. He'd been there before, and it'd never been fun. Especially when he couldn't exactly hold up a tray with one hand and a read a book with the other.

Five minutes later, Owen was walking back to his table, carrying a tray of food in both hands. The cafeteria food was never that good, and sometimes wasn't very edible, but Owen really didn't mind. On days like today, mac 'n' cheese was on the menu. Who would he be if he turned that down?

"Hey." Bethany greeted him as he slid into the seat across from her. She was pulling a sandwich out of her lunch bag.

"Hi!" Owen said, smiling at her. He plopped his tray of food down. "Uh, where's Kiel?"

"He just got into the lunch line."

They looked over to see their friend standing among the line of students, looking distracted. He glanced over at them, giving them a wink from across the room. Owen waved in response. He and Bethany turned back to each other.

"Yeah, he's gonna be there a while," Bethany said, an amused smile on her face.

"I was only there for like, five minutes," Owen said. "And I got mac 'n' cheese, so it's a great deal."