Shattering Me

18~ the Play's Preposition

Julie Ortega had her eyes on a prize.

"Please?" 

"No."

"Please!" with rising intensity.

"No," he responded flatly.

Julie took her eyes off the road for a moment to pout and glare at her best friend. "Come on, Superboy!" she stretched the words to make them sound more like the pleading that it was. "P-L-E-A-S-E!"

"No. Keep your eyes on the road."

"But why not? It's not like I'm asking for you to come up with a blackmail scheme or something. I just need you to ask him," she assured.

"It's none of my business. Why don't you ask him yourself?"

"I did! He shot me down without a second thought. He said no even faster than you just did," she said as their destination came up on the right. She parked the car half a block away from the Burger King and she continued to pout to the best of her ability.

"If he said no to you, what would make you think that I could convince him?"

"Oh, please. Kyle would jump off a bridge if you were the one asking, Superboy. If you ask him to join the play, he'll actually give it a chance."

Ryan's chest tightened at her choice of imagery. Of course, he hadn't told anyone outside the family about Kyle's suicide attempt, so it wasn't her fault for hitting a touchy subject. "Can we just order in peace? He asked as they got into the short line for food. Not for the first time, Ryan was grateful he'd saved up so much money before moving to Hawaii. The cost of everything was so much steeper than back home it would have been stifling without it.

They ordered a couple burgers and fries before heading over to an empty table. If Ryan had his way, he'd have chosen a table closer to a corner or exit, but of course, Julie grabbed headed straight for one in the center of the room.

"How about this? If you ask him to give it a try, I'll make you a nice yellow banana crème pie." Ryan scoffed. "Okay, scratch that. I will Buy you a nice yellow banana crème pie."

"Why do you even want him to join so badly? There must be plenty of guys in the drama and dance departments that would jump at the chance."

Julie rolled her eyes and casually dipped a fry into her chocolate milkshake, making Ryan's skin crawl. "I know that but...it's complicated," she said.

Ryan cocked a brow. He didn't have to say anything to make it clear that she had to explain.

"There aren't as many boys with both Kyle's level of talent and sex appeal. Tickets will just sell way better if he's on the front poster with Mindy. I promised the producer I'd get some primo eye candy for the leads," she confessed.

He didn't really know how to respond to that. The crafter had never really thought about his roommate's appeal. Kyle had a face, and it wasn't such a bad one. That was as far as his opinion went on the subject, but apparently, Julie believed otherwise.

"Plus, that boy needs to put himself out more. It's not healthy for a boy like Kyle Cane to be single for so long. Mindy Carmichael would be right there on stage with him the whole time. Talk about a power couple!"

Ryan didn't actually know Mindy personally, and he hadn't heard anything bad about her. Yet the thought of her messing around with his roommate made Ryan's stomach turn. Even so, he couldn't disagree.

The Canes may have been a family of scientists, but they were wealthy and powerful scientists. That came along with a certain social status and responsibility. He probably wasn't doing any favors by letting Kyle pass up big events like this one. "Alright, I hear you."

Julie bounced in her seat and squealed loud enough to attract the attention from all nearby tables. She didn't bat an eye at the increase of attention, so the berserker did his part and sent waves of amber terror in each direction to put an end to their staring. "Oh and don't forget about how much fun you'll get to have too. The team of stage designers and artists are really good this year. Just think of the freedom you'll have to work with them."

"Yeah, yeah. I get it. Lots of fun. Much excitement. Join now. Hail Hydra," he grumbled and she beamed.

Jokes and hesitation aside, the fervent crafter really was looking forward to it. He hadn't had much reason or inspiration to draw or sculpt over the last few months and the play promised a chance to change that. When their food was done and time was up, they got up to leave with Julie still smiling victoriously. She was undoubtedly marking this win on her imaginary scoreboard.

"I don't know what you're smiling about. I will do nothing of the sort until I get my nice yellow banana crème pie," he channeled the spirit of his roommate and grinned before turning to leave.

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I suppose the benefit to having trouble uploading this chapter earlier is that now I can give you guys the good news. Shattering Me is getting really close to completion! I really would love to hear your feedback on the story so far so I know what to do when I start editing. I want to turn this story into a great one and re-upload it once I'm done, so any thoughts you have on that subject, leave 'em in the comments! <3

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