I Had A Little Help

5. A Bathroom Discussion

"I'm going to be honest with you, I just don't get it. How did this happen?" The loud sociable red headed friend of Reed's named Jennifer asked. I recognized her from bio, so I knew how butt hurt she'd be about our relationship. She very clearly had a crush on Reed. I felt slightly bad for her, because she so obviously didn't want to believe any of it. I kind of wanted to tell her not to worry and that she'd have him back soon enough. But, she could be a bit more polite about the circumstances, if I'm being honest.

"Yeah, we don't really talk much at school, so it's probably really bizarre looking, but she's been my neighbour for as long as I can remember. We hang out a fair bit after school." Reed lied convincingly, justifying our relationship to his friend group. It was with out a doubt the most awkward lunch period I ever spent, just sitting in the cafeteria with Reed's clique explaining ourselves.

"Oh yeah, I remember you telling me you two were neighbours when I said I had become friends with Diana in history." Carter commented sincerely, helping our case. He had his arm wound around Harper's slim shoulders, both of them looking quite content. I had trouble trusting Reed's statement about them having a few difficulties when they looked like this. Although I was foolishly salty about it, I was a bit humoured and joyous to hear that Carter talked about me to his friends. Also, I was surprised to find out Reed would mention so casually that we were neighbours. I always assumed he'd be more ashamed about it, I know I wouldn't dare mention it for his sake, but it seemed like it wasn't actually a big deal.

"Well, I think you two look cute together." Harper said in her usual sweet harmonious voice, being the least concerned about the relationship in the whole group. A tall and slender brunette with alarmingly blue eyes glared at Harper from the corner of her eye, looking particularly peeved by her comment. I knew that to be Monica, the one who was pissed at Harper for 'stealing her boyfriend'. To be fair, the strong guy who had his arm round her waist did seem rather affixed on Harper.

"I don't want to sound like I'm terribly disapproving of you guys, because I couldn't care less who you date. But, it does feel out of the blue." Monica told Reed in a sharp honest tone. Reed nodded, seeing what she was getting at.

"It's not really out of the blue for us. We've always sort of thrown around the idea of getting together for years now, but we always decided against it. I don't know what was so different this time, but we finally went for it." Reed continued to explain, reaching out to hold my hand. He knew I was really facing some disquietude right now. Though, through all my nerves, I could still recognize how frighteningly well Reed could lie. It wasn't very encouraging to me.

"Are you alright, Diana? You haven't said a word this whole time." Harper asked, sounding a tad concerned. She really was a bit too nice for her own good. At least I could rely on her to not cast me out.

"Huh? Oh, I'm fine. I just tend to fall silent around people I don't know." I answered truthfully, since I wasn't a Casanova at lying like Reed was.

"Yeah, you got really shy all of a sudden around middle school. You use to be a lot more talkative." Reed told me, positively baffling me. I had to resist the urge to not show him an astounded expression. It was probably just another piece of the story he was fabricating, but that part was oddly spot on. I didn't start to be so self conscious and insecure until around middle school. I let it slip my mind, but I did think that bit was very weird.

"So, you've actually known each other for awhile..." Jennifer said, sounding incredibly disappointed. I don't even think she tried to hide it.

"Yeah, we're childhood friends." Reed told her, finalizing our story. I nodded in agreement, desiring to just act subtle, so I wouldn't add any suspicion with my bad acting skills.