I Like Me Better | to all the boys I've loved before

The Lunch Bunch

Even though I had been with peter for like 4 months now (even though it's only been real for 2 days), I had never really gotten used to sitting with him in the cafeteria. Peter himself was as sweet as ever, but his friends were a little...strange.
The whole cafeteria was a zoo no matter where you sat, so I grabbed Chris's hand and pulled her to come sit outside with me.
"Oh no, no, no, LJ. I have to go to band practice, you know this!" She protested, squirming out of my grip. I tried to give her my best 'poor little covey girl' look, but she just rolled her eyes and walked off in the direction of the band room.
"You have a hot boyfriend, go sit with him!" She yelled over her shoulder.

So that's how I found myself cramming my way back through the cafeteria to attempt to find Peter.
I squished my way back to the table they usually sat at, to find Peter, who turned around and in one swift movement, had gotten up and spun me around dramatically.

I laughed nervously, and sat down next to him, pulling a nectarine out of my bag. His hand slid over to rest on my thy, not in a weird or awkward way, but in a comforting, slightly possessive way.

"Aw, how cute," I heard someone say from behind me, and I felt myself wince at the sickeningly sweet voice.

"You know, Peter used to sit with me like that," Gen shrugged, and I felt Peters hand tighten a little as if he was worried she would take me away from him, and I couldn't help but smile a bit.

I realized Gen no longer bothered me. Because I had won. I had Peter, I was in love, and she couldn't do anything to me because Peter wouldn't let her, and I knew that for a fact.

"Oh, calm down, I'm not trying to sabotage your relationship." She moved to lean on one hip.
"I just wanted to introduce my new boyfriend!" She said cheerily, and I was actually happy. She had a new boy toy, which meant she would be distracted enough to leave Peter and I alone. I smiled brightly back at her to show her it didn't bother me.
But when her boyfriend stepped up, my smile faltered because it did bother me.

Josh. Josh was her new boyfriend. My josh. Margo's josh.

And I stopped feeling like I had won. On the one hand, Josh had apparently been gossiping about me with her so I shouldn't really care.

But on the other hand, josh looked like he really didn't want to be there, and I couldn't help but wonder what had happened with them.

"Hey, LJ," He said quietly, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Sanderson." Peter almost growled back, and I was half convinced he was ready to start a fight right here.

He and I were standing now to go throw our stuff away, and I'd never realized how in shape he was compared to Josh, and I figured if they got in a fight, Peter would most certainly kick his ass. 
I could feel his protective, tough-lacrosse boyfriend side coming through, so I gently put my hand on his chest and pushed him back a bit, and just said,

"Peter. Look at me, not at them."
I rolled my eyes as Gen gave her winning mean girl smile and stalked off, pulling josh along behind her.

"Peter, What was that?" I asked as we weaved our way through the people to try and get out. We still had 20 minutes left, so we were gonna go to the bleachers to hang out for a bit.

"I didn't like it. Gen's manipulative and Josh is untrustworthy. And as your boyfriend,"

That word still gave me chills.

"As your boyfriend, It's my job to protect you and make sure you don't get hurt. And that," He said, pointing and circling his finger around Josh and Gen sitting at a table, "Is how you get hurt."
I stopped and looked him in the eyes.
"Well then, Peter K," I said as I patted him on the arm, "consider me protected."