Nat.
"So have you talked to that girl Dylan lately?" Alex spoke around a mouthful of egg salad sandwich. The cafeteria was buzzing as per usual, kids talking much too loudly and boisterous; trapped in classes all morning always produced the same result. It was like finally setting a pack of caged, wild, animals free.
They sat at a rectangular table housing one long bench on each side, managing to fit a group of ten, the table cluttered with trays and food. Nat was between one of his friends Peter, and Madison, with Alex directly across from him, a smirk on his freckled face.
Madison had been deep in some conversation with the group of girls who spread along her end of the table, her "girl squad" so to speak - but turned curiously at the mention of Dylan. Nat sent daggers, and swords, and whatever else he could convey with his glower towards his best friend.
"No, not really." He shrugged his shoulders casually, feeling Madison shift against him.
"Who's Dylan?" She asked politely enough, her bright eyes curious, one single eyebrow raised in question. He could feel every pair of eyes at their table swivel towards him; finally a topic of interest!
Nat gave her his biggest smile, running a hand across her back lightly, "one of my mum's friend's kids."
"A hot kid-" Alex interjected, a smirk the size of all of Europe playing on his lips. At the moment, he really did appear to all his soulless stereotypes.
"I never said that she was hot, you twat." The words were pushed through gritted teeth.
"Well, is she?"
"What?" Nat felt his ears warm and hoped that the button up shirt of his school uniform covered the heat that seemed to be spreading up his neck. He coughed violently for a minute. "No."
"Not at all? I mean I'll take what I can get, but it would be nice if she wasn't a sight for sore eyes."
"She's not a sight for sore eyes." Nat grumbled thoughtlessly.
"She doesn't have to be drop dead gorgeous." Alex rested his elbows on the cafeteria table, chin in hands.
"I'm not setting you up with her."
"Why not?" Alex lifted his light eyebrows, freckled forehead crinkling in question.
"Because she lives in a different continent! She doesn't even know you!" To Nat it made no sense to have a crush on a girl you've never met - or more certainly, had no chance of meeting ever. Why did his friend care so bloody much?
"You haven't told her about me?" Alex feigned hurt, mouth agape, green eyes wide.
"Of course I have!" The taller boy's hands flew up in exasperation, unable to be invisibly strapped down with the rest of him.
"Have you told her about me?" Madison asked, taking a bite of a complex looking salad that she was daintily eating. Her eyes watched him almost amusedly.
"Of course!" Nat had never felt so attacked before, pushing his hair back in irritation. Did he look as flustered as he felt? Why was this such a big deal?
Alex spoke, practically asking to be pummelled, "I thought you said you haven't spoken to her recently."
"Well, not within the past week or so." At least nothing big, he thought, small talk.
YOU ARE READING
The Not so Mindful Mistake
Teen Fiction"You're not real." She said out loud, her room was silent other than the slight hum of the fan in the corner. Her eyes adjusted to the dark, and they scanned the small room, and for a while everything was silent; well other than her steady breathing...
