the third person

07

ARTHUR

Hannah and Andrei have been bugging me to text Blaze since I told them he gave me his number. It's pissing me off. 

"For the millionth time, Hannah-"

"Why are you playing hard to get?" Hannah rolled her eyes. 

"I'm not playing hard to get, he's straight."

"I'm not asking you to ask him out, I'm asking you to ask him if he wants to hang out with us! Not even you alone!"

"And you don't know that," Andrei cut in between slurps from the strawberry Slurpee.

"Have you seen him?!" I questioned incredulously. 

"Uh-huh." Hannah and Andrei shared a look.

"Hannah?" Andrei muttered and she looked up from her phone. "Don't you have his number? Weren't you in that friend group before?"

"Uh yes, I do. I was."

"Why'd you leave it?" I questioned, grabbing the bookmark from the nightstand, putting it in, and sitting up straight on Andrei's bed. I looked down at both of them on beanbags. 

"Sometimes walking out is the one thing that will find you the right thing."

I groaned at that. "I am the swiftie, why are you quoting her?" 

She shrugged. "Why don't you ask the other twins?"

The other twins are referred to as Kai and Mei. I replied, "They're just with me because they're Asher's friends, not mine." 

"You sit with them every lunch."

I shrugged. I hadn't known them both for long but sometimes true friendship appears randomly. I don't exactly trust them with my everything and I have told them quite a few lies about myself. But as I sat there and looked at them; Hannah was absorbed in her phone, texting someone and smiling to herself, scrolling through Instagram, and Andrei, who remained absorbed in his world and his Slurpee. 

Hannah wasn't attractive looking, but she was smart. Not crazy smart, just smarter than average. Her pale skin and black hair in a messy bun, thick glasses, and scarred fingers from guitar string cuts, and her posture and introvertedness showed everyone the gamer girl that she was. 

Andrei, on the other hand, the biggest extrovert I've ever seen. He understood what I wanted to say before I even said it. Sometimes I felt like we had the same brain cells. But I am the kind of person who does things based on what my head says, Andy listens to his heart. Andrei had Russian origins, his eyes were the lightest shade of brown, his skin was pale and his lips were permanently etched in a smile. So much so that when he didn't smile, he looked weird. His hair was ginger and was permanently styled in the typical James Dean wannabe hairstyle.

Ok, I'll bite. Andrei is my ex. 

The one who broke my heart and the one my brother doesn't want me hanging around with. I don't know why but I guess it's in my personality that I give people second chances. I know sometimes it's like giving someone a second bullet to shoot you because they missed you the first time, but he's not interested in me anymore and I've moved on. At least, I think so. And it's nice to have a friend who knew you once that intimately. He knows me well. 

I think.

"He says he's not sure," Hannah spoke suddenly, her rough voice making me jump.

"Who? What?" Andrei voiced my thoughts for me.

"Blaze. I asked him if he thinks he's gay, and he-"

"You did what?!" My voice comes out before I can stop it.

"Hey chill, he's my friend."

"Bro, you can't just ask someone if they think they're gay."

"What do you mean? You can."

I groaned at the ceiling.

"That's an open line for you." Andrei chuckled as he aimed his Slurpee at the dustbin next to Hannah. We all watched him close his left eye and lift his hand.

He missed.

"Open line for what?" I asked as Hannah chuckled, only to be kicked by Andrei.

"C'mon man, just text him. A single 'hi' is not going to give him any ideas. If not, you'll only end up making a friend. What's the worst that can happen?"

"What if he's homophobic?"

"Then his murder is legal. Go on."

I sighed and picked up my phone from the nightstand. I looked at both of them hesitatingly. Hannah shrugged and Andrei gestured at my phone, asking me to continue.

I clicked on his number. The keyboard opened on its own as if inviting me to text. I typed out 'Hey, Arthur here!'. Then halted for a moment and deleted the exclamatory mark. My thumb hovered over the send button, then I took a deep breath and sent it.

I looked at Hannah and Andrei, Hannah gave me a thumbs-up and Andrei clapped quietly. My phone suddenly pinged and almost slipped from my hands. He'd replied.

"Why is he online?" I murmured.

"For you, maybe."

I shot Hannah a glare. 

'hey, Art!!' was the message. I closed the phone before I could start overthinking the exclamatory marks. Andrei grabbed it immediately.

"That's all? 'Hey' is all you're gonna say?" When I nodded, he glared at me. "Ask him how he is."

"Bro-"

"Stop 'bro-ing' and do as he says, man," Hannah muttered.

I took my phone and texted as directed. 

'Oh, I'm great, thanks for asking! wbu?'

'I'm fine too!'

'wyd'

'just hanging out with friends'

'oh ok'

'have fun'

"Awesome! Progress!" Hannah laughed as I put down my phone.

"Sure." I rolled my eyes with a smile on my face.

I haven't had a lot of times when I can say the smile on my face was real. But right then, at that moment, it was. And I was proud of myself.