Tell Me What You Hate About Me

30: Stranger Things

Sierra and I, like pretty much every other college student, didn't have much room in our dorm, but the space between our two sides of the room was the perfect size for her, Jack and his guitar, Dominic, and me to hang out like normal people. As far as I was concerned, we were just about as normal as it got, but some people thought our endeavors with talismans and magic made us special in some way.

I wasn't sure what Sierra had in mind for our friendship meeting or whatever she wanted to call it, but so far, our activities were limited to sitting on the floor on our phones and not talking. And that was perfect by my standards.

"I'm gonna go pick up the pizza if anyone wants to come with me," Sierra said.

"Pizza? Why is it always pizza? Who actually likes that shit?" Dominic said.

Why was his complaint not surprising? I smiled and shook my head. "Of course you don't like it. Does it make you feel cool?"

"It doesn't make me feel like anything. If anything, it makes you feel cool because you finally fit in," he replied.

I looked over at Sierra. "We shouldn't have invited him."

"That's what I said, but you texted him anyway," she replied.

I forced a smile. It wasn't my fault that the talisman liked it when he was around. That had nothing to do with me.

Dominic didn't reply to that. He understood that I was only trying to save us both some trouble.

"I'll come with you, Sierra," Jack said to put us back on the original conversation.

Abandoning me so I was alone with Dominic? I bit the inside of my cheek. That was not what people did at friendship meetings.

Before I could protest, the two of them stood up and headed out to get the pizza that Dominic would whine about.

No wonder he was so thin. He was allergic to enjoying life.

I sure hoped Sierra was enjoying our hangout, because it seemed so forced to me. The four of us didn't have to be friends just because we all got wrapped up in a magical talisman and people outside our little circle didn't like us. All that did was make us a band of misfits like the Guardians of the Galaxy or the Fellowship of the Ring or something.

At least I didn't have to pay for the pizza. I didn't get paid much for my work in Sherwood at Butterfly's shop, mostly because I was righting the wrong of destroying most of her merchandise.

"You think they're fucking?" Dominic said Jack and Sierra's footsteps were drowned out in the hallway

My heart dropped at the suddenness of the question. "What? No. Jack's obsessed with me."

"So people never move on after they get rejected eighty times?"

I hesitated. It had been a little bit since I caught and ignored Jack looking at me, but that could have just been because we weren't spending as much time together since the talisman became a thing.

But Sierra just said that I was the first person to be her friend, so it wasn't possible. And even if it were possible, I didn't care. It didn't affect me.

I shook my head. "Well, maybe, but not them. Sierra's annoying, and Jack literally looks like a lumberjack. I love him, but it's true."

"Then we'll see if they're back in a reasonable amount of time," he said. "That'll be telling."

"Because then the only possible conclusion we could come to is that they're fucking. That would be the only explanation." I mentally rolled my eyes. What a pain in the ass. "So what do you want to do until they get back from only getting pizza?"