Promises, Promises

ch. 13 casey

     "What?! Lucas! I thought you said Friday was okay." Ross stood, after having slammed his hands on the lunchroom table. He narrowed his eyes at his best friend across from him. "What do you have planned that's more important?"

Lucas chuckled nervously and fiddled with his hands, a sheepish smile on his face. He turned to Oliver who nodded him on. "Uh..well, I have a date." Lucas admitted.

"I said important." Ross rolled his eyes, sitting back down.

"Ross." Oliver glared at him, shutting the blond up.

Iris glanced around at their table. She didn't even remember how Lucas and Kayla dragged her to sit with them, yet here she was. Sandwiched between Lucas and Oliver.

Kayla gasped. "Aw, Lucas thats so sweet!" She grinned excitedly.

"Yeah! That's great, man. We hope you have a great time." Adam added, offering him an encouraging smile.

Ross scoffed. "Yeah, yeah sure. Have fun. What do we do with our extra ticket?"

All heads spun to look towards Iris. She could feel the pairs of eyes on her. She looked up from the apple juice carton she was struggling to stab her straw into. Two sets of hands reached out to help her. Lucas made it first, resulting in Oliver shoving his hands back into his pockets.

Iris looked around at their faces again after whispering a 'Thank you' to Lucas. "Um, huh?"

"Horror movie? With your favs maybe?" Ross repeated, smiling charmingly as he gestured to the rest of the group.

"Um..." Iris glanced around at their smiling faces, "I'm not so sure..."

They all sighed, except for Ross who 'boo'ed. Iris pursed her lips, mumbling an apology before she picked up her juice box.

Firstly, horror movies weren't her favorite. She can handle them, mostly. And more importantly, she didn't think she was up to it. Iris wished she had the energy to hang out with them. She wanted to, she truly did. But she pushed off too many assignments and needed to catch up.

"If Iris isn't up to it, she doesn't need to come." Oliver spoke up for the first time in a while, "But the ticket is still here for you if you change your mind."

"Yeah, of course. Just let us know." Ross added, "But you should keep in mind that we'll have a great time!" He winked, still trying to convince her.

"Yeah yeah, I'd like to know more about your date!" Kayla waved her hand in front of Ross' face to silence him, "Do we get a name? Do they go here? How'd you meet?" Kayla asked, smiling proudly at Lucas.

"Um, it's Casey–"

"Ah, that's a pretty name! When do we meet her?" Kayla asked.

"Yeah, it's very pretty." Lucas chuckled softly, looking down at his lap as he let his hair fall into his eyes.

Behind her back, Iris felt Oliver's arm reach around her. She tensed and turned to smack it away, then stopped. He wasn't reaching for her waist; his hand was heading towards Lucas. She watched as Oliver tapped Lucas' side, getting his attention. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Oliver nod Lucas on to continue speaking. Something he had done a couple of times during this conversation already.

Lucas sighed, "Actually," He began to fidget with his hands again, "Never mind. We'll see how the first date goes." He looked up and offered Kayla a small smile.

Beside Iris, Oliver sighed softly, seemingly disappointed. Did he want Lucas to say something else? What more is there to say?

Iris glanced between the two, trying to get a read on them both. Oliver was paying attention to the conversation going on. Though Iris noticed his leg was bouncing, something he did when he was frustrated or lost in thought. Then there was Lucas, laughing along to whatever joke Ross made. But he was tense as he continued to fiddle with his fingers. His nervous tick.