One of the Guys (4 page)

Now, I was beyond annoyed at
Sian.

First, she made me feel
uncomfortable, then tried to make me look bad for liking dirt bike
racing, and then looked at me funny for not scrounging quarters
from Logan.
Then
she mocked my taste in music. That was the last
straw.

“
It’s funny you
should say that…” I said with my mouth full. It was nasty, but I
didn’t care. “…My Mom says I don’t have
any
.” I smiled.

“
Ugh! You’re just like them.” She
snarled, tilting her head towards the guys.

“
Oh Sian,
thanks!” I said after swallowing. She looked at me as if I’d grown
another head. “That means
so
much that you think I’m that awesome!” I put my
hands on my chest for emphasis.

Sian scowled.

“
I see you’re wearing Logan’s
clothes. How cute.”

The sarcasm wasn’t lost on me. The
bitch was going down.

“
I see you’re wearing your little
sister’s.” I replied and I almost burst out laughing with the
horrified expression on her face.

“
Listen here, Chase.” She pointed
at me. “My clothes are high fashion and highlight my figure. Yours
make you look like a fat boy.”

“
Come on Sian. Enough.” Lex
snapped, clearly irritated.

“
What?
You’re sticking up for
her
?” She shrieked,
attracting the attention of the other customers.

“
Sian, you’re causing a scene.” He
said.

“
You know what? I’m not standing
for this I’m leaving.” She stood to walk out. “Lex!” She
barked.

“
Fuck.” He muttered. “Sorry guys.”
He said and left with Sian, whining to him all the way
out.

“
There goes the eye candy.” Carl
sighed.

“
Yeah.” Pike agreed. “I’m pretty
sure I could see her bra through her sweater.”

“
Guys!” Logan
interrupted.

“
Oh, sorry Chase.” They said,
although Carl looked anything but.

“
Why are you sorry?” They hadn’t
said anything about me so they had no need.

“
For talking about Sian’s tits.”
Said Carl, and I rolled my eyes.

“
I meant talking about Lex’s
girlfriend when he isn’t here!” Logan clarified to them.

“
Oh, Yeah right.”

Though I didn’t like Sian, and
neither did Lex by what he’d said, I agreed with Logan. It was
wrong of them to talk about her like that. Especially as she was
still Lex’s girlfriend.

That made me wonder what they’d
said about me when I wasn’t there. It wouldn’t have been like what
they’d said about Sian. They couldn’t see through my
clothes.

“
Are you ok?” Logan asked as I sat
in silence.

“
Yeah, I’m fine. I’m glad she’s
gone though.”

“
You don’t look like a fat boy.” He
said quietly as the other guys were laughing about our
argument.

“
I know.” I didn’t believe it
myself, but it still hit a nerve.

“
You…” Logan paused and then Lex
walked back in… alone.

“
Thanks Chase.” He said with a
smile as he sat down again.

“
I’m sorry.”

I was. I didn’t want him to get an
earful.

“
No, I actually mean thanks.” He
grinned. “Her being such a bitch to you gave me the reason I needed
to break up with her.”

“
Oh, ok.” I was
confused.

“
Dude, what happened?” Pike asked,
pushing his mop of blonde hair out of his eyes.

“
She yelled at me for not sticking
up for her. I told her I wasn’t going to when she was being such a
bitch to my friend.” Lex scooted closer to me. “She said if I don’t
apologize, then she wouldn’t sleep with me again. I told her I
wasn’t going to and we were over because she insulted my
friend.”

Lex put his around me and gripped
my shoulder, pulling me in for a side hug.

Then, he stilled.

“
Jesus!” He looked at me in
shock.

“
What?” I thought I’d done
something wrong.

“
You’re actually tiny!” He said
with a huge grin.

“
Ok…” I dragged out the word as I
wondered what the hell was going on with him.

“
You’re pretty hidden under that
jacket.” He said, his eyes looking me up and down, and Logan
shifted in his seat.

“
Not really, I have slim
shoulders.” I lied.

“
Anyway…” He continued, sneakily
side glancing over my body once more. “…You totally pissed her off.
Nobody talked back to her like that before, and when you showed her
a mouth full of pizza…” He snorted. “Hilarious.”

The guys started talking and I
was, once again, ignored. Not that I liked Lex’s attention, it
would just be nice to be included in the
group
rather than in the spotlight
or nothing.

I never used to feel like
this.

I would’ve welcomed the dark
corner, but as I got older, and the guys were talking more and more
about girls, I wanted to come out of the corner to be
seen.

To be noticed.

To actually be wanted for more than
a friend.

I just didn’t know how to do it, or
who would even look at me. After all, I was still the girl that it
sucked to be with.

Only Logan made me
not
feel that way. But…
he was just my friend.

And I loved him.

*****

After the diner,
Pike and Stu came with us and I asked Logan to drop me
home.

“
Are you sure?” He asked. “Don’t
you want to come to the movies with us?” He asked.

I shook my head, no.

I could tell that he still thought
I was mad at him for what happened at the track. I wasn’t entirely
sure myself, but I couldn’t be around the guys anymore
tonight.

It
was
probably PMS, but I was
really
not
in the
mood to listen to their shit.

Getting into the house, I went
straight to my room. Ruffles, my black and white cat, was asleep on
my bed, stirring with a ‘meow’ when I closed the door.

“
Hey, Ruffles.” I said, stroking
her head. “Why are guys such douches?” I asked her. I got another
meow in response before she went back to sleep.

Stripping off my jacket and my
converse; I turned on my TV to watch a movie. Flicking through the
selection, I chose ‘Fifth Element’.

It was my favorite
movie.

The way Leeloo was supposed to be a
strong, kick-ass woman, but really she was just as in need of love
like the rest of us. She saved the world because she was loved by
Bruce Willis. Ok, not actually Bruce Willis, but by his character,
Korben Dallas.

Logan still thought it was Fight
Club, and yeah, I loved that movie but Fifth Element was my
real
favorite.

My Mom peeked her head into my room
and looked around.

“
Where’s Logan?” She asked,
surprised to not see him there.

“
He’s gone to the movies with his
friends.”

“
Aren’t
they
your
friends too?”

“
Mom. They’re not really my
friends. They just tolerate me being there.”

Wow, was I feeling sorry for myself
or what? It was so depressing.

“
Honey, you’ve been friends with
Logan for a long time. I’m sure his other fiends like you just as
much.”

“
That’s where you’re wrong, Mom.
They don’t really talk to me. I feel like I’m not included. I mean,
yeah, they accepted me but I don’t feel part of the group. Also,
they talk a lot about girls now, and they try to curb what they say
in front of me. They shouldn’t have to. I don’t belong with
them.”

Oh my God I felt like
crying.

Crying!

Yes, PMS was definitely upon
me.

“
Chase, they’re
seventeen-year old boys. They’re growing up and, yes, more
interested in girls so they
will
say things. Actually, I was a
little concerned about you with them, to be honest.”

I didn’t see why she should be. It
wasn’t as if they saw me that way.

“
Why?” I asked.

“
Well, you’re a young woman now.
Boys will be noticing you more, if they haven’t already. I’m not
sure I like that you’re the only girl in the group.”

“
Mom! It’s not
like they like
me
that way.” I almost shouted.

“
How do you know?” She asked,
cocking her head to the side.

I groaned.

“
Because they ignore me most of the
time and Logan’s just a friend. I’m perfectly safe,
Mom.”

“
Well… Ok.” She said, seemingly
satisfied. I knew what she was going to say when I saw the look in
her eyes and the smile on her face.

“
How about you and I have a spa
day? We could get our nails done and get a massage…”

“
Mom!” I whined.

“
Oh come on Chase.” She pleaded.
“I’ve been looking forward to doing things like this with you since
you were a little girl.”

“
Mom, it’s not
my thing, you
know
that.”

“
Just this once and then I won’t
bug you anymore.” She said, giving my a pout.

“
Fine!” I gave
in. “Just this once, and then no more.” I said, like
I
was the
mother.

“
Yay! Oh honey, we’re going to have
fun!” She squealed. “I’ll book us in for tomorrow.” And then, she
left me to watch the rest of my movie.

My phone buzzed beside me, and I
saw that Logan had sent me a text.

I was tempted to ignore it, but I
immediately felt bad for thinking that.

Swiping the screen, I read his
message:

L: This movie sucks ass! Wish you
were here.

The smile that took over my face
actually hurt. He was thinking about me.

C: Too bad. This movie is
awesome!

L: Can I swing by
after?

C: What about the
others?

L: I think they’ll cope without
me. :)

C: Ok, sure.

L: CU soon.

Why do I do this to myself? Logan
is coming over soon, we’ll be alone and I’ll want to run my fingers
through his hair and kiss him, just like I always do. I groaned
into my pillow, and Ruffles meowed her distaste for me disturbing
her.

“
Logan’s going to be here soon.” I
told her.

Her tail flicked, and she started
to purr.

“
Hussy.” I said, laughing at her.
She loved Logan a lot.

“
Chase! Logan’s here!” My Mom
shouted about twenty minutes later, and my heart jumped into my
throat.

I quickly checked my reflection in
the mirror and sat back down on my bed, leaning against the
wall.

My room was big enough to have the
bed in the center, with a small table at the end, but I liked it
next to the wall, giving me some floor space to exercise. I didn’t
compete anymore; however, I still liked to keep myself flexible and
I still went to gymnastics to keep up my fitness levels, even
though I was now too top-heavy for some movements.

“
Come up!” I shouted, and then I
heard Logan’s footsteps on the stairs; my heart rate increasing
with each one.

“
Hey.” He said as he walked
in.

“
Hey.” I replied as he sat back on
my bed and, as usual, putting my pillow across his lap.

I tried to hide the fact that I was
taking every detail of him in with my eyes. I swallowed the sudden
rush of saliva in my mouth.

Ruffles opened her eyes and purred
again, lifting her head for a stroke from Logan.

“
Hey pretty kitty.” He said,
getting a meow in appreciation. My cat was such a flirt.

“
So, how was your movie?” I asked,
trying to start the inevitable conversation about the
night.

“
It was awful. I wanted to leave. I
almost did after forty minutes.”

“
Is that when you texted
me?”

“
Yeah. It was boring. I wanted to
talk to you instead.”

“
About?”

“
Anything.” He said with a
shrug.

“
So, you only wanted to talk to me
because the movie sucked?” I teased. I meant it a little,
though.