Only His

Chapter 6

After that hug, Evan and Ryan went to class and I spent the next 4 periods thinking about how good it felt to have his arms around me, his warmth radiating into me, his body pressed against mine... Snap out of it, I tell myself. It was a one time thing anyway.

Eventually the bell for the last period rings and I gather my things. I decide to go to my locker first and then find Evan. I don't see him anywhere while walking towards my locker. After I'm done putting the books, I take out my phone to call him but then realize that I don't even have his number. Mentally face palming myself, I look around hoping to catch a glimpse of him somewhere among all those students.

However, my efforts are futile and I just decide to wait outside in the fresh air instead. I see Ryan passing by but Evan's nowhere in sight. I guess I'll have to interact with him instead.

"Hey, Ryan, wait!" I call after him.

He turns around at my voice and spots me. "What do you want?"

"Now, now, is that anyway to greet a friend?" I tsk at his behaviour.

''I suppose not but since when are you my 'friend'?" he says, making quotation marks around 'friend' with his hands.

"A friend's friend is a friend, right?" I say but get confused myself after saying that.

''...And I just lost track of what you're saying," he says. I decide to drop it and just get to the point.

"Where's Evan?"

He shrugs. ''I don't know."

''You're his bodyguard, how can you not know?" I raise my eyebrows. I mean, bodyguards are supposed to go with you everywhere. He gets paid for that. Or does he? Eh, who knows.

"A little correction there. I'm his childhood best friend who volunteered to be his bodyguard," he says, looking proud of himself.

This makes much more sense. Him and Evan were pretty friendly around each other. Besides, if they hired an actual bodyguard, it would be a guy with some muscle, right? Whereas Ryan was just a tall, lanky dude.

"Oh, so did you go like "I volunteer as a bodyguard"?" I joke, referencing The Hunger Games.

"Exactly! It felt awesome." Ryan grins.

"I figure it would. Anyway, can you call Evan and ask him where he is?" I say, finally getting to the point again.

"Yeah, okay." He takes out his phone but frowns. "The battery's dead."

''Can you give me his number then?" I take out my phone and he agrees. He dictates me the number, pocketing his own phone.

"Well, see you later," he says a little too cheerfully before walking away.

"Wait, don't you want to know-" I start to say but he's gone. His behaviour was more odd than usual. I shrug it off and dial Evan's number.

"Hello?" He answers on the second ring.

''Where are you?'' I ask.

"Um, at Pizza Hut?'' He answers unsurely, making it sound more like a question.

''So am I like supposed to come there?'' I ask, confused. I thought he was going to take me from school. I didn't have my own car and Leo already refused to drive me today.

"Uh, sure?'' He again makes it sound like a question.

I let out an irritated breath. "Look, if you're busy today or something, we can hang out some other time," I manage to speak calmly.

"I'm sure I would love to hang out with you and all but who the hell are you?" The voice at the other end of speaker says.

Well this is awkward. I'm pretty sure I dialed the correct number. "Um, is this Evan?''

"No, this is Patrick." A pause. "Sorry, I couldn't resist. This is Pizza Hut. Would you like to order a pizza?"

"Oh crap. You couldn't have just said that when you answered the phone?" I laugh. My cheeks heat up in embarrassment. Ryan did this on purpose. He was so dead.

"I'm new here. Anyway, do you still want to hang out?" The pizza guy asks.

"No. For all I know you could be a 40 year old pedo," I say, serious.

"That's a shame. It was nice talking to you. Bye." He hangs up the phone. Why do bad things always happen to good people? I can never go to Pizza Hut now or I'll always be reminded of this.

I decide to just go home now since there's still no sign of Evan. On my way out, I bump into someone. "Sorry, I didn't see you," I apologize. But when I look up to see the person's face I realize it's Evan. ''Where were you?'' I ask him.

"Sorry, I had to take a really important phone call regarding the filming," he says, pointing to his phone in the other hand. "I did send Ryan to tell you though and ask you to wait for me in my car."

So it's decided. I was going to punch Ryan in the face next time I see him. ''He did nothing of the sort. In fact, he gave me Pizza hut's number saying it was yours. And let me tell you, it was one embarrassing conversation."

''He what?'' Evan says in between fits of laughter.

"Oh, shut up," I mutter.

"Okay, let's go," he says, finally managing to control his laughter.

He leads me to his car where I see Ryan already seated in the front seat, playing a game on his phone. I send him a glare when he sees me but he just smirks. I get in the back seat while Evan walks over to the driver's seat.

"He's coming with us too?" I ask Evan, pointing to Ryan.

''Yeah, he's my bodyguard now so he kind of has to."

I'm starting to think this was a really bad idea. With Ryan here, what couldn't go wrong, right?

''So excited to be third wheeling with you guys, whoo," Ryan says sarcastically.

"Evan, your best friend will be killed by me some day," I say, still annoyed by the pizza hut incident.

"Evan, she's threatening me. Do something about it," Ryan says, poking Evan in the shoulder.

"No."

''I feel so betrayed. I refuse to be your best friend." Ryan pouts.

"Oh, whatever am I going to do without you?" Evan drawls.

I tune out there pointless banter and lean my head against the window. It was going to be a long day. Might as well get some shut eye. And so, wondering about where we're going, I fall asleep.

***

Dylan O'Brien as Leo Williams.

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