Living for the Music

I followed Seth blindly towards the cafeteria. He headed straight towards our table and, for once, I followed him. “No lunch?” he asked curiously.

I smiled at Aaron as I sat down across from them. “Already covered.”

I took the paper bag out of my backpack and pulled out the bagel sandwich. “I’m jealous,” Seth remarked. “That looks better than my lunch.”

I glanced at his sandwich, then peered into the bag he was using as a lunch box. “You have chips and chocolate. You win.”

“Shh,” he laughed. “The mobs will attack if they hear you.”

I rolled my eyes, taking a big bite of the bagel sandwich. It tasted even better than I remembered. “Is that really good?” Aaron asked.

“It’s amazing,” I mumbled.

“Can I try some?”

I was loath to give up any of my treat, but he had bought it for me. I held it out to him. My boyfriend took a bite, purposely putting his mouth right where mine had been. I pretended not to notice, but I knew everyone else at the table had.

“So did you finish that project?” Aaron asked.

“Yeah,” I nodded. “Finally, huh?”

He laughed. “I wasn’t going to say anything, but…”

“It sounds amazing,” Seth chimed in.

I glared at him. Couldn’t he just leave it alone? But Aaron just smiled at me. “Cool. Maybe I can hear it sometime.”

I mumbled something noncommittal and took another bite of my lunch. I really didn’t want him to hear it, but if I won there was no way I’d be able to say no.

“Hey, Sophia,” Nicole called. “What did you do to your wrist?”

I grimaced. That was the million-dollar question. “I slipped on some ice,” I replied, carefully adjusting my sling.

“Where?” she asked curiously. I was so sick and tired of these questions. Honestly, did it really matter where the ice was?

“In the park,” Aaron replied. “We were over there after school yesterday, and she went right down.”

“I thought it was at your house,” Seth said casually. I couldn’t risk looking at him, so instead I stood wondering how much he knew, and how much was a lucky guess.

“The park by his house,” I corrected quickly.

“Of course,” Seth nodded. I glanced up in time to catch him watching me. He shot me a questioning look, but I shrugged it off. He nodded, but I could tell he would be waiting for clarification. Well, I hope he wasn’t holding his breath, because it might be awhile.

Sure enough, he finally confronted me in sixth hour. When Aaron went up to grab supplies for our lab of the day, Seth took advantage of the opportunity to lean in and whisper to me. “Are you and Aaron okay now?”

“Does it look like we are?” I laughed.

“Well, yeah. That’s why I was wondering. Because yesterday, you know, he seemed pretty mad at you… and you didn’t seem that happy yourself. And now you guys are-”

“People fight, Seth,” I interrupted. “It makes a relationship healthy. Aaron and I got together last night and talked. And, well, when I fell, he realized that he should probably be a good boyfriend or else I might not forgive him.” I laughed, trying to make it seem like a joke instead of the truth it really was.

Seth’s eyes searched mine, and I could tell he wanted to believe me. “You’re sure?”

“Of course I’m sure,” I said airily. “I know my own boyfriend.”

I hated throwing that word around, but it seemed like the only thing that would make Seth back off.

“What about me?” Aaron asked as he arrived back at the table.

“No, my other boyfriend,” I teased.

He pretended to be angry. “Now Sophia, we’ve talked about this before.”

I burst out laughing at the expression on his face. “Okay, end of discussion. That’s just too awkward.”

Both boys shrugged, and then the two of them settled down to do some actual work, leaving me to watch from the background.