A Guide To Not Falling For The Bad Boy

11

#11 Attention or love

"Do you like him?" A small voice comes from beside me. I figured that I would be alone in the noisy cafeteria, catching others stares. 

I looked up to see Otto. He looked around avoiding eye contact. His hands held a tray with two cheese sticks that looked like they have been run over with a truck. 

"I think so-" I replied. I expected him to walk away, or for him to say something hurtful. But it was better than lying to him. 

He didn't say anything but took a seat in the circular spot beside me. "I just wish you would have told me." He finally said.

"I didn't know it was going to happen. I was just going to go with him to get the video taken down. But it's like when it's only him and I, he changes into not such a bad guy." 

Otto looked at me for the first time since this morning. I held my breath looking into his familiar, friendly eyes. "Okay, it's your choice, but next time can you keep me in the know. I am your best friend, and I have always been. Just because I am not the smartest doesn't mean I can't handle it." 

He was right. Otto has been my best friend for years. He was always there for me and it was my fault when he wasn't there for me. Even now we couldn't make it much passed lunch before we set aside our differences and moved on.

"Have you told me about every girl you have liked?" I asked as the conversation grew more comfortable. 

"Yes… I mean no. I haven't." Otto replied. He took a bite out of his apple sinking into his seat. 

"Otto. I thought you told me everything." I said playfully. 

"Everything but one." He gazed around the cafeteria. 

"Well can you tell me now?" I scooted closer to him. 

He gave me a half smile, which made his nose twitch. "I don't want to jinx it." 

I studied his eyes as if they would give me the answer before I gave up. It would come out of him eventually. And I agree that Otto didn't need any other odds stacked against him. 

"Where is Raine?" Otto asked, when another figure joined our group. His hands were shoved into the pockets of the oversized hoodie. 

"Aw. The two lovebirds made up." Zander places his hand on his cheeks pushing them up to his eyes.

I rolled my eyes. "We are friends. We won't ever be anything more. Isn't that right Otto?"

Otto didn't reply immediately. His head bobbled a little before he said. "Ye- yeah… That's right."

Zander's eye contact shifted to Otto making him uncomfortable. 

"What do you want?" I asked him. 

"I was actually wondering the same thing." He snarled, flipping his hair,"You said it was a mistake to kiss me, but you obviously have some kind of feeling for me because you couldn't tell me otherwise." 

Otto suddenly became very interested in his unappetizing food. 

Zander gazed around the cafeteria before continuing. "What if perhaps you give me one more chance. You and me. The end of next week?" 

"Why don't you just call up one of your other girls?" I said, brushing away a piece of hair. 

"Because they aren't you." He replied.

I looked to Otto as if to ask his permission.  But he didn't look up so I nodded. 

He smiled, giving me an uncall for wink before leaving. 

"Okay. Here me out." Otto said, returning to normal. "I'm going to say something and you aren't allowed to get mad."

"I'm not allowed?" I repeated. 

"No, because I am your friend and you value my opinions. So what if you aren't in love with Zander, but you are just enjoying the attention he is giving you." 

I bit his lip at the sound of the words leaving his mouth. "What do you mean?" 

"Raine made me watch a lot of romance movies and I think I am getting the hang of this whole relationship thing. Remember when we first met him? You hated him. He treats women like trash. He wears too much cologne. The more Raine pushed you on him. The more reasons you realized you hated him. He told you that he would make you his. But what if this whole I am a bad boy with a good heart is an act. What if this is just a part of his plan?" 

Otto stopped talking but I wasn't sure what to say. 

He placed his hand on my leg. "I just don't want to see you get hurt." 

I smiled, nodding. "Thank you." I like this new confidence Otto began to show, even if it was just around me. But I wasn't too sure about what he said. I mean Zander was honest with me on the date. He told me things that I never would have guessed about him. The hurt in his eyes...how could that be fake?

He moved closer wrapping me in his arms. The scent of a fresh breeze on the ocean calmed my spinning head. 

"Now,"he said,"where is Raine?" 

I gazed around the cafeteria that had begun to clear out into the courtyard to hang out before we were signalled back to work. 

Then I spotted her. Raine's bangs were getting long almost reaching the top of her eyelids. She brushed the white hair off to the side annoyed by the nuisance. She met my eye contact before smiling and making her way over.

"Thank God. The duo is back together. I was so worried." She took a seat across from us where Zander had been moments earlier.

"I must say. Those romance movies have truly paid off for Otto." I said nudging him.

A confused look flooded Raine's face. "Do tell…"