No Strings Attached

4

"You did what?" Jane asked me, shocked, and I blinked at her forceful reaction.

Naomi waved her hand and Elliot cut in. "No, ignore her; she's obsessed with him."

Aiden cleared his throat. "Will is a dick," he stated simply.

"Yes, but he's a hot dick," Jane put in, and everyone rolled their eyes. "What?" She asked, but everyone just shook their head.

"And you wonder why you have so much trouble finding a good boyfriend," Naomi admonished, shaking her head. Jane just quirked her lips, taking their criticism and took a sip of her soda through her bendy straw. Then, she changed the topic of conversation. "Anyway," Naomi finally said as she turned back to the topic. "I can't believe you actually said that to him!" She looked around at her other friends to see if they had the same reaction as her.

Elliot and Parker nodded. "Classy move," Parker said, flashing me a wink and pausing, as if he expected me to laugh, or react in some way. Instead, I shifted in my seat slightly at his action, but kept a pretty straight face, unbothered by his comments towards me.

"What do you think, Aiden?" Elliot asked the other boy, who had stayed fairly silent during this entire interaction.

He shrugged, seeming pretty even. "What do you mean?"

Elliot rolled his eyes. "About what she said," he reiterated, as if he should already know. Aiden's lips quirked up slightly at the ends.

"I think...." he said, pausing, resting his head on his hand.

"For the love of God, spit it out. You don't have to act like the philosophical genius we know you are all the time," Jane said, half aggravated and half joking.

"Oh shut up, Jan," Aiden said, purposely pronouncing her name wrong. She scowled, and he narrowed his eyes and threw a grape at her. I tensed, expecting another grape war to ensue, but instead she just popped it in her mouth and chewed victoriously. She beamed widely after she swallowed before speaking again, wiggling her eyebrows. "So?"

"I think it's refreshing," Aiden said, letting the word slowly roll over his tongue, as if he were tasting it. Then he finalized his answer: "I'm not particularly fond of him, either," he said mildly.

"I second that. And I like her," Naomi added, and they all nodded, as if they were meeting to discuss me without my presence.

"I'm here," I said dryly, and Aiden chuckled, reaching up to scratch the nape of his neck with his hand awkwardly.

There was a moment's pause before Jane spoke again. "Come on though, Will could be nice," she defended the boy weakly, though everyone was shaking their heads.

"Have you ever even talked to him before?" Parker asked her.

She shrugged. "Once, he smiled at me in the hall."

Aiden stifled a laugh midway and began coughing. Jane shot him a weird look as he shook his head in response and then took another sip of his drink to calm himself down.

"He's about as nice as my crazy neighbor's dog," Elliot deadpanned.

"His neighbor's dog has rabies," Parker confided in me quietly, and I nodded slowly, as if this were a normal conversation. It was nothing if not entertaining, and though I wasn't trying to make friends, I decided that I didn't mind spending time with them. Sitting with them kept me from being bored, and they were pretty easy to get along with.

"You can't say that, he's way nicer than a dog with rabies." Jane continued to protest as she pulled her hair over he shoulder.

Naomi rolled her eyes as she asked her another question. "Really? When has he done anything remotely nice?"

Jane blinked, trying to think for a moment. She fiddled with her thumbs as she tried to think of any time when she had noticed him being kind to another person. "Uh, uh...uh."

"Yeah, hit it Fergie," Parker cut in dryly. Suddenly, I couldn't contain my laughter anymore. It bubbled up out of my stomach and spilled out of my mouth. Maybe it was because I hadn't laughed in so long, or maybe because I tired, or I was in a particularly good mood that day. Maybe it was actually funny. Or, maybe, god forbid, I was beginning warming up to these people. I couldn't tell, but I hoped it wasn't the last one.

In any case, I couldn't stop laughing and clutching my stomach as it started to dully ache. My eyes even started watering. When my giggling finally subsided, I straightened, wiping my slightly wet eyes from the tears.

Almost instantly, I was greeted with five pairs of wide, shocked eyes that were staring at me as I finished attempting to calm myself down.

"What?" I said, suddenly feeling self-conscious.

"So," Aiden said, his eyebrows raising as he made eye contact with me. I froze, unable to move as I stared at his dark eyes across the table. "She can laugh."