Ghosted (completed)

Your Attitude Is Almost As Stale as That Cigarette Smoke

"Nobody's heard from him," Kingston dropped his tray against the table so hard that food went flying in every direction and I had to duck for cover to prevent becoming a walking table cloth. "I thought you might like to know since you're suddenly so interested in him."

The hostility in my best friend's tone was enough for me to stay silent. He didn't even bother asking for my food, but stretched his arm out and picked a handful of fries from my tray and dropped them all in his mouth. Once he'd finished chewing and swallowed, he raised a thick, dark brow. "I heard from Marcus yesterday at practice."

"Oh, goodie." I stated flatly, not nearly as angry about being ghosted as I should be. It all honesty, with everything else going on, a guy's feigned interest in me was the last thing I cared about.

"Said he had some last minute errands to run and his phone was dead." King shrugged a shoulder carelessly.

"Last minute errands like Elaina Bowers party?"

Though his lips twitched a little, my best friend remained stone faced, which hurt more than I let on. He was leaving out a huge part of the story, that was evident in his desire to avoid eye contact, which meant he was protecting his buddy.

"He wants another chance." he continued, ignoring my snide remark. "You should give him a second chance, Fai."

"I'm good." I stole his pudding cup and peeled the corner.

He sighed and reached out to lay his hand on top of mine. "I say this because I love you and I'm your best friend, but dude, you seriously need to get laid. You're so uptight."

"King," I narrowed my eyes. "in case you're high or not seeing clearly, I'm not one of your bros. I'm Fai, don't talk to me like that."

"Okay, maybe that was a bad way of putting it." he squeezed my hand. "Seriously though, Fai, you're like mad hot and you haven't dated since like seventh grade."

I shrugged, licking the chocolate from my spoon. "Guys are stupid. You all just want one thing, and when you don't get it, you move on to the next person that will give it you."

"Not all men are like that, Fai." he sounded a little irritated by the response.

I met his dark eyes from across the table. "You're right, but all boys most definitely are. You can't change my mind and you won't. So leave it alone."

He dropped his elbow on to the table and rested his head in his hand with a look of defeat. "You gonna eat that?"

I looked to the mystery sandwich on my tray and shook my head, nudging it across the table and hoping it'd be enough to keep him quiet enough to push the conversation any further.

*

As soon as I stepped outside the school, slipping into my jacket and ready to hunt down my best friend for a ride, I was greeted by a very rare sighting that had stopped most of my peers in their tracks.

Axel St. James stood leaning against a lime green Jaguar scrolling through his phone. Outside of the arrogance he wore like it was just another article of clothing, he looked like an entirely different person. He'd cleaned himself up; messy hair was gelled back, face clean of car fluids, and was wearing a pair of dark jeans with a body hugging black v neck and a Levi jacket over it.

I'd always found it strange how Oliver basked in all the admiration and the girls, having them fall to their knees with his charm and ladykiller smirks-and how Axel acted as if he were above us all. A God walking among us normies without even a glance in their direction.