Rock, Paper, Scissors

33: Revelation

Nick never showed up at Tyler's house. Maybe he didn't even read the note, in any case, I was drowning myself in ice cream, vanilla ice cream, as matter of fact, that I chose especially considering Nick's. That thought made me drop the spoon. That was it. No more ice cream for me.

But then the real question arose: how was I going to face him? Once again, I overstepped, still I believed he wasn't going to be angry, at least too much, we were friends after all. Yeah, I was definitely overthinking it. So, I turned back to the game the boys were playing, making fun of Noah's lack of ability and waiting for my turn to play.

The next day of school I hadn't seen any of the boys until lunch since Noah stayed at Tyler's. When the bell rang to signal the lunch break, I let out a sigh, determined to act as if nothing had happened. Nick had the right to date whoever he wanted without our knowledge.

As I got to our usual table, I found all of my friends already seated and I saw Nick's girl next to him. For a moment I hesitated but went to seat at my spot. Without realizing it we developed the habit of eating lunch at the same table and seats: Tyler would seat next to Nick; Micah would be between Tyler and Noah and I between Noah and Nick. Today, Tyler and Nick had the mysterious girl between them. My spot was free, however, which for some reason made me smile.

"Hi," I greeted everyone as I sat down.

"Hi, I'm Ava!" the girl spoke with such enthusiasm that almost felt fake and forced, offering her hand to me.

I reluctantly shook it, offering her a smile while feeling my face burn from recalling our first encounter. I quickly recovered as I realized she was probably feeling as embarrassed as me. I sat down in silence, decided to let the others do the talk while I focused on my food.

Then, out of nowhere, all the guys at the table started laughing and Ava soon joined them with a cheerful warm laugh. I didn't understand what was going on. Did I miss something? Had I been focused on eating? I looked around, perplexed, but was glad to find that I wasn't the only one who missed the joke: Nick was not laughing either.

"I need to talk to you," a warm voice whispered in my ear. Nick got up, signaling me to follow him and I obeyed, wanting nothing more than to get away from the maniac laughs.

We went to an empty corridor near the cafeteria. He looked serious. So, he was annoyed with me for barging into his room.

"I'm so sorry, I really didn't mean to walk on you guys before. I have this really bad habit of just... bursting into rooms without thinking, or knocking, with no respect for boundaries, not that is an excuse, but... I'm really sorry and I swear it won't happen again," I pleaded, looking down at my feet, finding the laces of my sneakers suddenly extremely interesting.

"You do have that habit. But your worse habit is jumping to conclusions, making assumptions, and not letting people explain themselves," Nick said, placing his hands on my shoulders. What he said was true.

I looked up at him, embarrassed and searching for the real meaning behind his words, but what I found was that his face softened into a small, yet warm, smile. "Ava is not my girlfriend or anything like that. She's my cousin."

A wave of relief flooded my body, even though I felt more embarrassed than before. I apologized again, not moving my eyes from his. We stood there in silence, simply looking at each other. It wasn't uncomfortable and felt as if understanding, trust, and something else I couldn't put my finger on, was flowing between us.

"We should go back," he said, breaking the moment.

I nodded in agreement and we walked back to the cafeteria, a relaxing feeling in my heart. We had indeed become friends. When I think about it, sometimes I feel like I'm now closer to him than to my best friends of many years.

As we approached our table my cheeks started warming up again. I sat down and, as always, Tyler was the first one to open his mouth.

"The truth has been revealed! I still think we should have used this opportunity for a little fun teasing, right Jules?" I wanted to rip the devilish smirk off his face, but I got it coming. As Nick said, I have a bad habit of jumping to conclusions.

"I'm so sorry Ava, I really thought you were Nick's girlfriend, and I didn't want to intrude. I meant well, honestly."

"Ew, ew, ew! Disgusting! Every time I hear our names and girlfriend or boyfriend together it gives me the heebie-jeebies. Just forget about it okay? And I mean everyone! I don't want to even think about that, just... Ew," she said, scrunching her face in disgust.

"That's okay, I'll make you forget about him. I am much better looking anyway," Tyler flirted, leaning on her with a seductive smirk. She fake gagged and pushed him away. She suddenly became serious and, if looks could kill, a homicide would have taken place right there and then. I didn't have time to notice the center of her attention before a snarky voice spoke.

"Ava! I'm so glad to see you. Did you move back here too?" Rebeca said, not missing the opportunity to touch Nick my placing her hand on his shoulder.

"Yeah, I thought I'd come back to torment you."

Rebeca laughed. "Come on, we were besties once, I-"

"Yeah, that was before I realized you were a manipulative lying bitch! So move along if you have some notion left."

Rebeca's lips twitched before she ordered her posse to follow. I noticed then that Laura was the last of the group and looked miserable. Since Rebeca started school, she managed to overthrown Trisha. In normal conditions, I would be glad for it, since I've always thought she was despicable, but there must have been something good about Trisha because I'd never seen Laura so unhappy.

"Hey, Laura," I called, grabbing her hand. "Would you like to join us for lunch?" She stopped, looking at me hopefully. She smiled and opened her mouth to answer but Rebeca was faster.

"Why would she want to hang out with you? Plus, the table is already full."

"Oh, we can make place for her," I said, pushing my chair closer to Nick. "She can seat right here," I retorted with a wide smile.

Laura looked between Rebeca and me before fetching a chair to seat between Noah and me. Rebeca was fuming and stomped away not before warning Laura that she had made the wrong choice.

Noah was rejoicing, a little rose on his cheeks. I introduced her to Ava, knowing the guys didn't need presentations and the rest of the lunch was relaxed and joyful. While talking to Ava I discovered she'd moved to Nick's house after her father, a navy officer was dispatched to Greece to help with the refugee's situation, and her mother, who's always dreamt to see Europe decided to join him. Ava, on the other hand, didn't want to spend her senior year in a country she didn't know or spoke the language.

I also found that we shared a few classes. I was glad to show her around and help her settle and somewhat felt ecstatic to have a friend who is a girl. I loved my boys, but I realized, after talking a bit with Ava, that I actually had been missing and longing for that kind of friendship. And I hoped this was the start of a great friendship. We already had something in common: despising Rebeca.