Just Me - [S. Barber]

Awkard Tension pt.2

Lia, Stanley, Dina, and Sydney Wait in the janitor's closet for a loud explosion to occur.

"Hey, Lee. Can we talk?" Stanley whispers. "Right now?" She asks. "Yeah. Syd and Dina aren't even listening and I think I deserve to know how you feel." He nods.

"Stan, I like you, okay? But you can't just kiss me when you're still going to homecoming with my sister. You don't like me, Stan. You just thought you did in that moment."

Before he could say anything else, the burrito bomb goes off, causing Mr. Whitaker to barge out of the teachers' lounge.

"What the hell— What the hell's goin' on down there?" He shouts. Once he makes his way to the explosion, the four of them take off in their own directions.

Sydney, Stanley, and Lia run to the office, and Dina follows Mr. Whitaker. Sydney immediately stops at the door, fumbling with the keys to try and find the right one.

"Uh, guys?" Lia speaks up, watching as Dina signals them. Stanley and Sydney turn around, before running behind the trophy case.

As the three of them stand there carefully, Lia and Stanley had barely even noticed their conjoined hands. "Are you guys, like.." Sydney eyes them curiously, until Lia pulls her hand away.

"No. Nothing." She shakes her head. Stanley sighs, glancing over. "Okay, He's right there."  He whispers. Soon enough, the smoke alarm sounds.

"What?" Mr. Whitaker turns around in frustration, running back. "Jesus. What the hell's this for?"

They run back to the door, this time Lia attempting to find the right key. Finally, she finds the right one. "Yes!" Stanley cheers silently.

They run inside, just before Stanley slams the door shut. "Shit. He's coming." Lia warns, pulling Sydney and Stanley down beneath the glass of the door.

"Whatever you do, do not panic." Stanley whispers. "I'm panicking." Lia responds, causing him to take her hand once again.

"Don't."

"Gee, thanks, Stan. I don't know why I never thought of that." She says sarcastically. "Would you two just shut up?" Sydney whispers.

They hear Mr. Whitaker placing the key, which is when they all begin to panic. "Your plan is going to shit, Stan." Sydney states. "It's not." He denies.

Suddenly, a loud crash is heard from far. "Oh. I'm too goddamn old for this shit." They hear the man complain from outside the door.

"And fat." Lia states, causing Stanley to quickly cover her mouth with his hand. Slowly, they peer up, watching as he walks away.

"Oh, my god. Thank you, Dina." Stanley whispers. They silently cheer, making their way towards the security footage in the closet.

Sydney reaches for the library USB key, and pulls it out. "Oh, sweet Jesus." Stanley grins.

"Oh, I thought we were screwed." Stanley says in relief as he kisses the footage while they all sit parched up on the lockers. "We were screwed, but holy shit, we did it." Dina smiles.

They all laugh. "Thank you, guys." Sydney says. "Seriously."

"Oh..." Stanley remembers, pulling out a blunt. "Any takers?" He asks. "You're not serious." Dina comments in disbelief. "Oh, yeah." Stanley responds, placing it in his mouth and lighting it.

He passes it to Lia, who then passes it to Sydney. "Since when do you smoke weed." Dina asks Sydney. "Oh, come on,  Dina. Everyone's doing it. Don't you wanna be cool like Me, Lia, and Stan?" Sydney giggles.

Dina chuckles, placing it in between her lips, then snorting from laughter. Lia laughs as she leans onto Stanley's shoulder, causing the others to laugh as well.

"I'm gonna go to the bathroom." Sydney states, getting up. "I'm gonna go get something from my locker. I'll be back, too, alright?" Dina smiles at Stanley and Lia, before leaving.

"Now, can we talk?" Stanley asks awkwardly. "I just remembered that I forgot my alphabet." Lia replies, causing him to chuckle.

"Stanley, do you like Sydney?" She asks. "Uh— I, I mean, yeah." He shrugs. "So why'd you kiss me?"

"I don't know." He admits. "You don't know?" She raises her eyebrows, earning a sigh from him. "You're the one who wanted to talk, so say something." She adds.

"Lia, I don't know what's been going on with me lately but there's just part of me that— I don't know how to say it. You've just been so nice to me and..."

"So anyone who's nice to you is automatically into you?" She asks, crossing her arms. "No, that's not what I'm saying." He says quickly.

"Stan, I'm not gonna lie to you anymore, I've liked you ever since we've moved to this shit town. I don't know what it is about you, but I just do. But clearly, you had it in for Sydney. And that's totally fine! I love being your friend, Stan. You're probably one of the funniest people I know. Any other day I would've kissed you back in a heartbeat, but now.. now that you already asked Sydney to homecoming, now that you already had sex with her, and now that I've had to sit and watch you admire her when she couldn't even reciprocate those feelings, it doesn't feel right to kiss you." She sighs, leaning her head back onto the locker.

"Lia, I— I don't know what to say." He says. "Don't say anything, Stanley. You've said it all." She replies, just as Dina arrives.

"Jesus, you could cut this tension with Jordan Smith's jawline." Dina chuckles. "Alright. I just realized i've gotta head to the bathroom as well, so... see you.."

✰✰✰ AUTHORS NOTE ✰✰✰

You could cut the tension with Finn wolfhard's jawline. So, um.. Stanley officially knows now my dudes. What's gonna happen next? I actually ha no clue since I write all of this as I go along.