Thorns

16 - Whitney

Whitney

Ok... Rai wasn't so bad when he wasn't surrounded by his asshole friends. And, ok I have to admit when I'm not being harsh. Or a bitch, granted. It's just hard to relax when you're having dinner with a gang member... Try it someday, and then you can judge me.

"So what do you wanna do? After high school, I mean?" He asked, serving some water to the both of us.

"College, of course. Don't know what major, yet." I admitted, and then cleared my throat "What about you?"

"Me? Oh... well, just... you know: life" He said, shrugging.

"Just, you know, life?" I frowned "No, I don't know. Explain it to me."

"College is out of my list," He said, shrugging again.

"Why? You're pretty smart."

"Wow... Was that a compliment?" He asked, his eyebrows going to his hairline, and I chuckled "Thank you. But no, college is not for me. I mean, four more years stuck in a classroom?"

"Don't hate it until you've tried it, right?" I asked him, my head to the side.

He grinned in a very... huh... Can't believe I'm actually saying this, but it looked like a sweet and amused grin like he was happy about me snapping his own words back at him...

"You really want to go to college, or is it that you're used to people expectin' that?" He asked, there was tension under his eyes.

"I really want to go."

"You don't even know your major."

"So?"

"So that doesn't look like someone that's really interested," He said, relaxing his back on the chair like he was so happy and proud about his discovery.

"You're wrong. Just 'cause I don't know what I want to major in, doesn't mean I don't want to go."

"Whatever."

"Hey." I said, and he chuckled "So you think about being a Cuervo for the rest of your life?"

"So?"

Ah... so he's using my own retaliation technique, now?

"What a great way to throw your life away, but hey, it's yours," I said, shrugging.

"Exactly." He said, his voice hard and pronouncing every syllable "What about boyfriends?"

I looked up at him, surprised.

"What about them?"

"Had any?"

"Some."

"Who?"

"Right. Like I would tell you that" I almost laughed; was he serious?

"Wanna know about my girlfriends?"

"Huh. No. That's... Thank you, but no, thanks." I muttered, my hand up so he would stop talking "Really don't need to know."

"Jealous?"

"Ah! As if!" I laughed, hard, this time "You're really crazy, you know that?"

He was quiet for a long, long time. I looked up. The chandelier above our heads brought this yellow light to his features, and I saw so many shadows and so many... things! Can't quite explain it. I just looked up and it looked like he was one of those uncanny characters you see in suspense movies. You know, the one that is always in the shadows.