Finding You

chapter 7

"First, I'm not crying. And second," I said as I opened the door, "Zyler did."

She was surprised to hear that. That much I could tell by the look on her face. "Oh. That freak." She thought for a moment. "I'll tell you what. As many boys that I've dated, I can say that dwelling on the sorry loser is not a good idea. Got any other interests?"

I actually did. But she wouldn't be happy. "Yeah. Austin kind of asked me out yesterday." I braced myself for her jealousy.

She told me her feelings for him last year. "Oh. He did, did he? Don't worry; I got over him last week. Turns out he's never dated. Those aren't keepers. Well, for me. Now, let's go find that lucky duck and hooky up!"

If there was a better friend than Savannah out there, I would love to know who it was. Because I definitely don't know.

I gathered my pride and followed her out of the door and into the hallway. When we got to the lunchroom I felt ten times better.

Savannah pointed to a table of rather cute guys and I saw that Austin was among them. He saw us coming and gave us a big smile.

"You guys comin' to sit with us today?" he said when we approached the table.

"Yeah, I guess so. Who are your friends?" Savannah said, eyeing the guy next to him.

While they introduced themselves to her I looked at Austin. "Um, I guess I want to ask you something. Savannah wouldn't let me get out of it."

He smiled and gazed at me. "Sure, what is it?"

"Well, I'm not doing anything today, and I was wondering if maybe we could hang out and go to the movies." I was crossing my fingers. But the worst didn't happen.

"Oh, yeah, that's a great idea. Except I don't know of any good movies that are coming out. But sure, I'll pick you up?"

I didn't say anything. I could only nod. I kind of wanted to be with Zay. I missed him, a lot. Even though I barely met him.

I looked over at Savannah, who was enjoying herself. She was laughing her head off with the guy I think was Ethan.

I talked to Austin about some movies, but I wasn't really focused on him completely. I kept looking over at Zay, who I found that every time I looked at him was looking at me back.

He looked upset, so that didn't make it any better. Even though he totally dissed me earlier, I had a feeling he was jealous. He would look at me and then look at Austin, and look at me again.

And that made me feel a little bit better. I liked the thought that he was jealous of me. Austin caught me looking at him. "Oh.. I see. Did you and Zyler have a thing?" he said making me wish we had.

"Um, I guess in a way. But not really." He was watching me when I said that, and I think I saw him smile. But I looked away before I could be sure.

"If you don't feel comfortable, you know, going with me, you don't have to." He said it so sincerely that I almost agreed. I did feel uncomfortable, but I also couldn't go back to him.

"No. I'm alright," I lied. I was ready when the bell rang. I got up and threw my lunch away and was about to walk out of the lunch room when Austin called my name.

"Hey, Amber! Eight, okay?" It took me a second to figure out he meant that's when he would pick me up. I nodded and gave him a forced smile.

I couldn't find Savannah anywhere so I went to my science class alone. Well, I thought I was alone. Then I saw Zay coming toward me out of the corner of my eye.

What would he need? I certainly didn't want to talk to him now, I thought to myself. He stopped me, and I found I was actually glad to see him.

"Are you going anywhere today? You know, after school?" he asked me.

How much I wanted to say no, and to ask him if he wanted to do anything. But I went against the sweet suggestion in his voice.

"Yes, I am going somewhere. Why would you care?" I tried to sound irritated, but probably sounded desperate.

"With who?" he asked again avoiding my question.

"Austin." As soon as I said his name he cleared his throat and said ok, as if he was expecting that.

"Why?"

"No reason." I looked at him for one more second before turning around to leave. He didn't stop me again, so I went to class.

I smiled to myself. I couldn't help still being attracted to everything about him, even though I was somewhat annoyed at the way he was acting.

I sat down at the first seat I saw when I got to the classroom. The teacher was talking about something, and most likely something important, but my mind was elsewhere.

I thought about Austin, Zay, and the date I would be going on with Austin.

"Amber, pay attention please. I've called your name three times," the teacher said interrupting my thoughts.

I looked up and gave her a small nod. That nod meant nothing. I put my head down on my desk and fell asleep until the end of class.