The Dangers of Pursuing Red

Chapter 3 - Deals with the Devil (Part 2 of 3)

“Well, I guess I didn’t have much time to get to know each of you at the party, but I hope you don’t mind me sitting with you,” Rachael proposed rhetorically, as she’d already seated herself.

“Not at all,” John smiled naïvely, seeming to be the only one of us who was genuinely happy.

Melissa clung close to me at this point, and I wasn’t entirely sure whether it was because she feared Rachael was some kind of threat, or because she wanted to make Chris jealous. If it was the latter, she was doing a poor job and it was made poorer by the fact Chris looked near-death, stressed and crushed by the amount of pressure and work that his overly-strict parents had placed on him. The last thing on his mind was Melissa.

As you’ve probably guessed, Mel and I had become sort of an ‘item’ following the incident in town. It wasn’t much, as she knew I despised serious relationships, and I wasn’t sure her feelings were completely focused on me anyway. But it was a good distraction from the two people who decided to arrive at our table next.

Laura and Adam, after pitifully managing to avoid us for two weeks (and I rather thought they’d manage to stay away for longer than that) arrived with a blasé, careless attitude, as if nothing had happened, and had the cheek to seat themselves down with us.

“Hey guys,” Adam spoke confidently, before smiling at me. I felt like socking him squarely in his smug face, but he was hiding the underlying boastfulness from his eyes.

Laura gave the game away, however, by nervously making eye contact with me, and then hurriedly averting her eyes back to her lap as Adam kissed her on the cheek.

“Adam mate, you’re back! How come you’ve been avoiding us the past few weeks?” John asked - once again, completely naïvely.

“Oh you know how it is man, young love and all that. I’m sure James and Melissa can tell us all about it, right? Now that you’re together,” Adam smiled maliciously at me, and there it was - the smugness had emerged.

“Yeah, after all this time, we’re back together!” Melissa laughed nervously, but, unlike John, she’d noticed the subtle tension between everybody. Including the way Laura had winced at her reply. But Mel seemed to completely revel in Laura’s misery. I’ve got the man you want, I could imagine her thinking.

“What about you James? Are you happy you’re back with your childhood love?” Adam grinned thinly.

“We’re not making a big thing out of it.”

“Oh but it IS a big thing, James! IT IS!” Adam cackled, and I felt a fresh wave of nausea sink in at the sight of what ‘love’ had turned my best friend into. “Because you, me, Chris and Melissa… Well, we’re the old gang, aren’t we?! And now we’ve got John - don’t worry, we’ll get you a girl soon mate - and Rachael and Laura who can join the gang! Isn’t that brilliant?”

I’d had enough. I rose from my seat, emotionlessly, and slumped off without uttering a word to anyone. Melissa futilely called after me, but she’d known me long enough to see that it was no use. I needed to be left alone. Laura, of course, did not know this. Then again, we’d only spoken a few times and she’d been ignoring me for two weeks straight, so it wasn’t really surprising.

“JAMES!” Laura cried, as I left the canteen and made my way across the college campus, walking as far away from my arrogant best friend as I could manage.

“What?” I replied bluntly, spinning around to face that beautiful ginger-haired girl, who was running dramatically towards me.

“James… C’mon, he’s just…”

“What? He’s just WHAT Laura?! Look, I’m sorry I slept with your insecure, paedophiliac mother, but-”

“- It’s not about that James! I don’t care about that. My mother always messes around with the entire male population. I came to talk to you about what I mentioned two weeks ago. I was being over dramatic, and I was only angry because I didn’t want my mother to corrupt you. It seems ridiculous that I could’ve been so mad. Me and you didn’t… Well, we still don’t even know each other yet. So I want you to give me a chance, I really think we could become friends… Properly become friends this time.”

“Well… That was a reasonably convincing speech...” I wanted to put up more of a fight, I really did, but her eyes swayed me so dearly. I had to give in to the Hollywood ending. “Alright, friends we are… And I won’t have sex with your mother this time, I promise. I’m sorry.”

We both laughed at this, and I realised Laura wasn’t uptight at all. She was so honest, but I wondered at the time why she cared so much about me not being ‘corrupted’ by her mother. It was for that reason I properly apologised, and I could tell by the smile on her face that I’d stupidly forgotten to do that earlier.

“Come out with us all tonight, Adam isn’t angry at you, you know why he’s being off… He’s jealous of you, and he’s worried you’re going to steal me from him.”

                “It’s a bit much though, isn’t it? You’ve been ‘together’ for two weeks. It’s not like I’m being that way with Mel.”

                “I know James, but he’s never had a proper girlfriend before, you know that.”

I nodded my head. “Alright, I’ll let him know I honestly have no intentions of the sort.”

“Come on then, let’s go back inside.”

There was no running this time. We both re-entered the canteen and everybody who was sat at the table rose to their feet. They made their way over to us to avoid the probing eyes and ears of gossipy fellow students.

“James… I…” Adam started, but I raised my hand.

“No need to say anything,” I smiled calmly, taking a deep breath to fight the throbbing pain rising and falling in my chest. Oh God, I still remember that strain far too vividly to be healthy. My airway closed up and I realised I was impossibly choking on a feeling of hollow despair, but a terribly worn smile disguised my emotions. “I know why you fell out with me. I’m not trying to ‘steal’ Laura away from you, okay? I just want to be her friend. I’m with Melissa now.”

Melissa smiled and clung to me delicately, burrowing her head into my chest, as Adam smiled at me in acknowledgement. It was a ridiculously cringe-worthy spectacle, as everybody put aside their differences, and I think John’s confusion highlighted this the most, because all he said was:

“What the bloody hell have I missed here guys?”

We all laughed and patted him comfortingly on the back, as he continued to look at each of us in quizzical wonder.

*****