Friends Don't

Chapter Sixteen

Lana and I were headed to class, stopping for a coffee first, and she was keeping rather quiet which was a bit unusual but I didn't pressure her to tell me what was going on.

When we walked into the classroom we headed for our usual seats with Grayson and Derek. I stood waiting for Lana to walk in first and sit but instead of taking her normal seat she sat in the aisle seat where I sit. "What are you doing?" I asked her.

"I just feel like sitting here today."

I looked between her and Derek, who also sat there with a weird look on his face like Lana. Then I looked at Grayson who just shrugged. I stepped in front of Lana and took a seat between her and Derek.

Silence loomed in the air but I could still sense the tension and I felt like I was being suffocated by it. "Does anyone else feel awkward or is it just me?" I asked but neither of them said a word. "Okay then," I said and then faced the front of the room.

After class I walked out and stepped into the cold air. I hated the cold, but in that moment it felt like I could finally breathe. Being in between the two of them for an hour and a half was just too much, even if there were no words being exchanged. I could feel the tension radiating off of them.

"Why did you just ditch me?" Lana spoke angrily.

"What the hell is going on between you two?" I was headed for the dorm with her right on my tail.

"We got into an argument."

"So that's why you came home so early from your date." It made sense now. I knew they wouldn't end their date that early in the night.

We walked in silence the rest of the way. There were too many people lingering around and we didn't want to discuss the issue around them.

When we walked into our dorm Lana threw herself onto her bed, face planted in the comforter. "He got a text from his ex saying she missed him and it made me mad."

"Okay, so I did catch that, but can you not mumble into your sheets."

She rolled over. "I know I shouldn't have got mad at him but I saw his phone and they had been talking."

"Talking about what?" I sat on her bed and laid back beside her.

"Nothing really. She did most of the talking and he just gave really short replies."

"So why are you mad then?"

"I don't know. Because why is he still talking to her if she's all flirty?"

"Did you ask him?"

She nodded. "He said he wouldn't talk to her anymore."

"Do you believe him?"

"Yes, but I can still be mad."

I started laughing. "Yes, you can."

She rolled on her side and wrapped her arm around me. "Guys can be so dumb."

"True that."

I wrapped my arms over hers around me and we laid like that for hours while we laid there in silence.

It wasn't until around five that we forced ourselves up and headed out to grab some food. We went to the diner across from campus and talked about anything and everything, excluding guys. Then we headed back for the dorm to get some home work done.

***

It had been two days since Lana had seen Derek. She went to classes and then straight to our room where she stayed until the next morning for class.

I opted to go out, into the freezing cold might I add since the temperature felt like it was dropping every other day, to get us food. There aren't many people I would risk getting pneumonia for, but she was one I would.

On my way I spotted Derek and Grayson through the window of the gym near the diner. I was going to ignore them but Derek was waving his hand for my attention and when I gave in and paid him some attention, he waved me inside.

Derek was standing behind the weight bench spotting Grayson, but both put a halt to the workout when I came in.

"What?" I asked him.

"How's Lana?" Derek asked me.

"Fine."

Grayson had sat up grabbing my attention. He was shirtless and the sweat on his body brought my attention to him. "Like what you see?" he asked with a smirk.

"Didn't we already go through this once at the cabin?"

"What?" Derek looked between us.

"Nothing." I shook my head ignoring Grayson. He seemed shocked at the cabin. Now? Not so much. Typical. "Anyway, Lana is great."

"Is she still mad at me?"

"Are you still up your ex's ass?" I asked.

He groaned. "It's not even like that, and I stopped talking to her."

I patted his cheek. "Good boy."

"I don't see what the problem is," Grayson butted in.

My eyes shot down to his staring up at me. "Of course you don't. Have you even had feelings for someone before?"

He shrugged.

"Of course not." My hand fell to his chest and I pushed him back to lay on the bench. "Why don't you just stick to working out." His stare was still on me but he didn't say a word.

"Now I'm going to go get Lana and me food. See you boys later."

I headed out and walked down the street just a few feet down to the diner to pick up our order. Then I headed back to the dorm.

When I stepped inside the music was blaring and Lana was up on her bed jumping and dancing around while singing.

I turned the music off and Lana stopped dancing turning around to face me. "Is this what you do when you're heartbroken? I can handle the screams and the tears, but I don't know if I can handle that."

She jumped, pushing her legs out and landing on her butt. "I'm just trying to let off some steam."

I handed her the box of her food and settled on the couch with mine. "I ran into Derek."

Her eyes widened. "What did he say?"

"He asked how you are and said he stopped talking to this girl."

"Damn right," she said before shoving food into her mouth.

After we finished eating I went to take a shower. I was ready for the day that I stepped into the shower and didn't think about our bathroom buddy banging some guy; some guy that I had yet to see her with again since that day. Though I'm assuming she listened to me and cleaned the shower because not long after that horrible show I witnessed, the bathroom did smell like bleach.

After both of us had showered we sat around the room going from talking to watching TV, to talking again. Lana did, finally, text Derek back letting him know she was fine, but then she tossed her phone to the side and didn't look at it again the rest of the night.

***

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