the propinquity effect

19

+ 19 +

Lunch would be the most dreadful one hour of your life if it's your birthday party and you know everyone in the cafeteria. They would stare and some would throw "Happy Birthday!" wishes at you even when you only talk to them at your chemistry lab. It was a shameful one hour full of torturous jokes where my friends would say how 'old' I was. Tip to get your friends not to say you 'happy birthday': throw food at them; they would accept it as either a signal or a joke, both would be extremely quiet.

So, for my plan to get over with lunch and not get them say their wishes I went in with Zara. Out of all my friends, she was the quietest and she would never say happy birthday to me. She was also one of the most intimidating people on the face of the planet, so I was safe with her.

Zara had leant on the locker beside me before I even got to step out of the maths classroom. Her backpack slung on her shoulders and she was smiling, a half-smile like she would always do whenever she wanted to. No one knew why she wouldn't smile widely, it was just one of the mysteries we needed to face when we were friends with Zara.

The black-haired girl stretched her arm so I could hug her or vice versa. When I did, I wrapped my arms around her back as she wrapped hers around mine. Her hugs were the most comforting, the warmest and it would last a couple of seconds. She would always say happy birthday to me that way. In a way that no one (except the two of us) knowing that it was her, wishing me a happy birthday.

We walked side-by-side to the cafeteria. If anyone was going near me, Zara would throw them a sarcastic face and they would scurry away from both of us. It was weird how they were so afraid of Zara and never me. It was like: "Alexa is good, she's fantastic but don't communicate with the human next to her."

As we entered the cafeteria, the conversations didn't stop and that's when I realized I had spent a hell lot of time with Luke. When Luke and I enter the cafeteria, all eyes would be on us (or on Luke) and I would feel so self-conscious because of that. What kind of girl wouldn't be insecure when all of the students in the cafeteria were looking at her? Exactly.

Since I dated Luke, I wasn't Alexa Grant the misfits that would hang out with the bookworm, the jock, the punk, and the cheerleader anymore. I became Alexa, the girl that is dating Luke Hemmings just because.

I sat next to Leila, that was picking fries from her tray as she quietly ate. Josh sat next to her, writing something on his old and antique notebook that none of us could even hold. Zara sat next to Jake, who was trying his best to decorate a cupcake saying: "Happy birthday, Lex!" I couldn't believe that boy was straight.

"Happy birthday, baby!" Leila squealed as she clapped her hands in anticipation. Her cheerleader costume was on her as she hugged me from the side, crushing the 206 bones in mu body at once. Her skin was sticky because of the excessive amount of practice she got, but I was okay with that. My boyfriend was practicing too.

"Happy birthday!" Jake said, passing me the cupcake that had my name written as a smile grew on my face. It was somewhat weird, but I was fine with it. They were my best-friends, they should tell me happy birthday so I wouldn't die lonely.

"Happy birthday, Grant. You need to improve your decreasing Physics scores. You got a 60 on your unit test, study harder." Josh tapped his pencil on his notebook. Biting his lip as he did so and I laughed.

The strumming pattern of a guitar and someone hitting the chords correctly made me perk my head up to see who it was. All of a sudden, the french fry I was holding fell to the metal table as I saw Luke.

A guitar positioned in front of him, he was biting his lip as usual. A flannel hung loosely on him and his favorite 'Vans' shirt was beneath it. His hair was up in its usual quiff and he had put on his lip-ring.