Monsters and Men ~ Rosenwalker & Richpez

Chapter 4

"Of course. And I love you."

Zoey smiled. "Good." She whispered, leaning up and kissing him again, pressing against him.

Joe moaned, wrapping his arms tighter around her. "You know you're hard to resist, don't do this to me at school." He teased.

"I do know that you can't resist me." She whispered, before stepping away from him, smirking. "But it doesn't hurt to remind you." She turned, looking back at him as she walked away. "You coming?"

Joe ran after her, beaming as he took her hand. It was if an enormous weight had been taken off of his shoulders. She wasn't mad at him, and now they could enjoy lunch and then physics together. All was right in the world for him.

xXx

"Well that's awfully romantic." Brian teased.

"Fuck off, someone's gonna hear you." Joey scowled as he opened his bottle of Dr. Pepper.

"I'm sorry, it's not even in the slightest bit romantic that you're going to sing a duet of 'Can You Feel the Love Tonight?' with your crush. That is a perfectly unromantic event that will occur in your life."

Joey flicked Brian off, but the grin on his face said it all. "Thank you for getting on my ass to not be shy and just talk to her. Did you take your own advice?"

"Um, kind of? We're singing a duet together. But unlike you, my crush has a girlfriend and probably doesn't play for my team."

"You never know." Joey shrugged. "And if he doesn't, it's not the end of the world. You'll find a handsome boyfriend."

"Not handsomer than him." Brian mumbled miserably to himself. "I don't know why I bothered asking him. Even if by some miracle he turns out to he bi, there's no way I can compete with that beautiful pristine rich girl."

"And that's the can do attitude that'll keep you forever alone." Joey stated, always the optimist. "Have you guys set up a time to rehearse yet?"

"Nah, we didn't even fully pick out a song. We narrowed it down to like, our top five choices."

"So, hit him up. Ask him if he's free during seventh hour while we have our free period or something. That's when I'm meeting Lauren to rehearse."

Brian but his lip. "I don't know... that seems kinda forward, don't you think?"

Joey rolled his eyes. "It's forward to ask the guy to rehearse with you after he asked you to sing a duet with him? Brian, have a red vine." Joey reached into his bag, pulling out a box of the red candies. "Everything will seem simpler if you have a red vine."

"That is insane logic, you fucking weirdo." Brian laughed, taking the candy.

"No, being too shy to ask Joe to rehearse with you is insane logic. Just text him. The worse that'll happen is he says no."

Brian sighed, knowing fully that he wouldn't be able to survive Joe saying no. He pulled out his phone as Joey helped himself to a red vine. "What do I even say?"

Joey outstretched his hand, Brian handing him his phone. After a moment, he showed it back to Brian. "Look okay?"

Brian leaned over to read the text. 'Hey, are you free 7th hour? Figured maybe we could work on our duet. Or at least, pick a song.'
"Damn, that even sounds like me." Brian said with a laugh.

"I know you well my dude." Joey teased, pushing send.

"Wait, no!" Brian yelled, tackling Joey. "I hadn't made up my mind yet!"

"I know, that's why I sent it." Joey laughed, pushing Brian off of him.

Brian groaned, burying his face in his knees. "This is a nightmare. He's gonna know that I like him."

"You're worse than I am about Lauren, you know that?" A moment later Brian's phone buzzed, his heart practically leaping out of his chest. He picked up his phone, only to drop it. Joey laughed as Brian scrambled, picking it up and reading the text:

'Hey! I should be free; I gotta drive Zoey home but we have 6th hour off so I should be back by 7th. Might be a little late but we can also work after school before rehearsal if you want?'

Brian read the text to himself a few times, before his face burst into a smile. He quickly texted 'Sounds good, I'll be in the choir room whenever you get back. Cya then!' He then slammed the phone down, feeling giddy with excitement.

"What'd I tell ya?" Joey said, looking a little too pleased with himself.

"Shut up. It's not actually that big a deal. We're just rehearsing." Brian said, trying to convince himself more than Joey so that he would calm down. It was just a rehearsal.

A moment later his phone buzzed again. Brian picked it up and read Joe's reply.
'can't wait :)'

'Damn Joe Walker.' Brian thought to himself. 'If he knew the power he had over me just by typing a stupid smiley face, he'd never feel unwanted again.'