Gem | Daniel Desario

[15]

"so... this is your room?" joey asked while Layla plopped down on the couch with a sigh, throwing her jacket in the box beside her packed with her clothes. Joey stood in front of the couch, looking down at all the cigarette holes that were burned in. he immediately thought back to his house, which was the type to have white sofas and spiral staircases. "and you're okay with that?"

Layla didn't like how Joey had all these questions or how his face twisted up in disgust and sadness. Her mind wandered off to Daniel and how he didn't ask anything when he first went over. She liked how he didn't judge because he too knew all too well.

"um, I don't really have a choice?" Layla pursed her lips when she noticed Joey did not want to sit down on the couch. She looked over to the small wooden table in the kitchen where she ate her meals. It was worn out and on its last legs. Her dad had tapped up one of the table legs that came off during a fight. Good as new, he said. Then she looked at the carpet floor that had beer stains on it. She had never felt more judged and ashamed in her life than she did now.

her friends never judged where she came from.

eventually, Joey sat down on the couch beside her, but on the very edge. he took out his notebook from his bookbag and opened a fresh new page. "we should get started." he turned to look over at her. "I guess just... tell me about your life?"

Layla stared up at the ceiling for a second to think, then looked back down at him. "well, I'm an only child, my parents aren't divorced but they should be, I don't have any hobbies, and... yeah." Layla finished off by crossing her arms and leaning back, watching as Joey wrote everything she said down, which wasn't much. her life suddenly felt as if it wasn't much. it all summed up to two sentences in his notebook. he lightly tapped his pencil against the notebook, staring at her with no expression. "so how are you gonna draw me?" she scooted closer to Joey. She needed the distraction.

he looked at her with such a great hard thought. she wasn't used to that kind of gaze and immediately wanted to hide back in her shell. She wasn't sure what it meant, but she wanted the soft gaze that another boy gave her. the boy who shouldn't be on her mind.

Joey's hard stare was itching her skin, burning it. he looked back down at his sketchbook and started drawing away. "this is just a quick sketch, but I was thinking something like this..." he took a small pause before eventually turning his sketchbook around to show Layla the quick drawing. it was her, sitting on a couch with cigarette burns and multiple hands reaching out towards her.

"who's hands are these?" Layla grabbed the sketchbook out of Joey's hands to get a closer look. he drew her with such emotionless dead eyes. She didn't even know that was possible, to draw something that empty.

"your parents, your friends, and your own." it was such a reflecting thought to Layla.

"Okay you next, tell me about you." and began the story of a shy preppy boy and his preppy life.

=

It was the next couple of days and everything was awkward. Daniel and Layla haven't talked to each other. Something shifted and no one liked it. The trio hung out more with Joey and Daniel started showing Kim more affection again.

"This stuff is so cool." Jacob's amazed voice brought Layla back to life, slightly turning her head away from Daniel to her friend in front of her. Jacob was looking through Joey's sketchbook, flipping each page with amazement. Joey was leaning back on the chair, a slight smirk on his lips. Joey would never admit it, but he loved attention and praise, and most of all, he loved winning.

Layla twirled her plastic spoon in her pudding, letting her mind drift away again. It ended up back on Daniel, as it always had. She just didn't understand why everything was going back to how it was in the beginning. Her eyes wandered off to the table a couple of rows in front of her, where the freaks sat. To her surprise, Daniel was already looking at her. They held eye contact for a couple of seconds, but then Kim wrapped her arms around Daniel's and away he went. A big sigh left her lips and back to the pudding it went.

This continued until one day.

Layla was walking by the bathrooms when suddenly her arm was pulled and she was dragged into the boys' bathroom. "Hey!" she snatched her arm back and looked up into those brown eyes. "Daniel?" her heart raced and his did too.

"hey, Evans."

"what are you doing?"

Daniel didn't even know why he did what he did. It was the spur of the moment. He saw her and before he knew it, he was grabbing her arm and dragging her to the bathroom. "how is it going with freakazoid?"

Layla rolled her eyes, leaning against a wall. "you ignore me for days, only to drag me into a nasty bathroom to ask me how's it going with my new friend?" Daniel ignored her at first, twirling around a pencil that was just tucked behind his ear. He sighed, tugging on his beanie.

"you make it hard." he started. Layla just looked at him confused and annoyed. "what are you doing with him? do you like him?"

"do I like him?" Layla repeated and then let out a dry chuckle. Does she like him? No. He made her feel itchy and judged and not warm and fuzzy as Daniel did. "does it even matter? You ditched me." Daniel stayed silent, looking down at the floor that was practically littered with toilet paper. "whatever." Layla pushed herself off the wall and began walking towards the door when Daniel pulled her back.

"hey, c'mon. I'm sorry." He held onto her arm. "it isn't easy seeing you throw yourself at him."

"throw myself at him? you fucking asshole." Layla pushed at his chest. "do you want to know why I even became his friend." she pushed him again. "because I need a fucking," and again. "distraction," again. "from you." with one last push, he was against the wall. he grabbed her waist and turned her around so she was against the wall this time.

"why?"

"so I'm not a horrible friend to-" she stopped herself. she couldn't say it. "you do things, Daniel. and I can't help..." she drifted off. She can't say it. He can't say it, but he couldn't stop himself either. His hands went to her cheeks, rubbing his thumb so close to her lips. "i can't." she whispered, looking deep into his eyes.

"I can," he mumbled and began leaning in but before his lips could touch hers, the bathroom door slammed open, and in came three boys, pushing each other and laughing their heads off. Layla mentally cursed them off and quickly slipped away from Daniel's body which was pressed against her, practically running out of the bathroom.

Fuck, she said in her head, rushing down the hallway to the exit. Fuck, she repeated all the way home. Fuck, fuck, fuck.

"fucking shit!" she screamed into her pillow. "fuck."