Jellybeans

“Eric?”
“The Freshman? Uhm….”
“Yeah, you’re right, bad idea.” Pause, “How about Juan?”
“…He kind of scares me…”
“That’s the awesome part right? The thrill!”
“….”
“Okay, nevermind.”
The two girls sat at a wire table outside the local cyber café. It was a late, Sunday afternoon as they sipped on their lukewarm coffee.
“Alexander!”
Kayleigh jumped at the sound of her realization. “Who?”
Violet’s eyebrows knit together in confusion. “You know, Alexander… he’s in our AP French class… sits in the back…”
Kay’s eyes still remained clouded as her description of the boy went on.
“Brown hair… always has headphones in… probably doesn’t know a word of the French language…? Any of this ringing a bell?”
“Not really…” She said honestly.
Violet groaned and sat back, tipping her head to stare at the disturbingly cloudless sky. A cool breeze rustled the dead leaves, which clung to their trees with the hand of death. A few stray leaves blew away, swirling carelessly in the breeze as the dispersed and soon fell to the ground.
Something seemed to dawn on the elder girl, as she leaned there solemnly. Across from her, her closest friend. The idea practically lit a lightbulb atop her head.
“Jared.” She tipped her head up to study the girl’s expression.
Her eyes widened. “From Chemistry?”
She nodded vigorously.
Kayleigh paused, thinking for a moment. Jared was nice, rather tall and bulky, but definitely a sweetheart. He was smart, he played basketball, and a very calm person in general.
“Erm…. Well… I guess… yeah…”
“Do you like him?” The brunette leaned against the table, drawing out the vowel in “like” so it sounded more alone the lines of, “Liiiiike”.
The blonde brought her head back abruptly, then looked down.
She didn’t necessarily… like him. He was just a nice guy that she knew, and he happened to be very smart when it comes to Chemistry. She looked at her friend, careful to note the hopeful look in her eyes, the wide smile of triumph, and the disheveled hair from when they had stayed up half the night discussing this very subject.
“Maybe… I could tell her…”
Kayleigh blinked, looked down again, and nodded.
“Yes! Jared, I can so picture you two together!”
She smiled, nodding slowly in agreement. Knowing her friend, they’d be a couple by the end of the week.

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

“N-Nirvana’s good.” Kayleigh mumbled, biting her lip. As she had thought, it was Saturday afternoon, less than a week after Violet found out about her… er… “crush” on Jared. And here they were, sitting in The California Pizza Kitchen, chatting.
Or sort of, Jared was chatting, Kayleigh was attempting to not faint from the amount of blood going to her face at that moment.
But she had already realized, within the first half an hour of this date, she was going to have to pretend to “liiiiike” him for her friend.
It wasn’t that she didn’t like him, they were just… friends. And that’s all she would ever be comfortable with being to a guy.
She twitched slightly.
“You okay?”
“Y-yes! I’m fine, just a bit cold.” She yelped.
He chuckled at her fidgeting and removed his grey hoodie, handing it to her.
She was hesitant, but took it, sliding it over her short arms. She was engulfed.
Jared burst out laughing, she gave him a funny look, “Sorry, sorry. It’s just… you look like a kitten right now.”
She made a squeaking noise in the back of her throat.
He laughed again, leaning his elbows against the table. “Hey,” He said, getting her to look up from her attempt to hide her blush. “I’m really glad Violet set us up, I’ve liked you for a while.”
Kayleigh pursed her lips, looking to her left.
“…Y-yeah, me too…”

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

“And?” Another drawing out of the vowel.
“And… I said yes to the second date….”
Violet screamed, “Yes! Kayleigh’s got a boyfriend, Kayleigh’s got a boyfriend,” She sang, dancing around her own small room.
“N-no, I don’t! Just two dates, how does that make us together?”
The taller girl paused, swinging around the face the blonde currently sitting on the floor of her room. “It just does, that’s how it works!”
“Who says?”
A pause, then Violet erupted in laughter, “Good question.”
She flopped down on the space beside her friend, downing the last of the sour smelling liquid from its bottle. Kayleigh crinkled her nose a bit, but didn’t say anything.
Violet let out a short sigh, “Tis sad, ya know? I’ve gotta get me a boy toy now. I don’t have you all to myself anymore! I’ll be lonely!” She said with mock sorrow.
The blonde’s hunched over shoulders tensed slightly.
“Hm?” Violet took notice to this, “Kay, you alright?”
Her eyes widened behind the black frames, “Y-yeah, I’m fine!” She gave her a strained smile.
A pause of silence made the heavy air in the room even tenser, “Don’t lie to me, Kay.” She said in a surprisingly serious voice.
Kayleigh started slightly at her strong tone. Her head bent to the side, looking as far away from her friend as possible, a slight melting feeling pooling at the bottom of her stomach. “Sorry…”
“No, no, tell me the truth. What’s wrong?”
“I can’t… say it.” “Really, it’s nothing. Just kind of… overwhelmed?”
“That was a question, not an answer Kay.”
“This stupid secrets going to eat away at me forever, and you won’t notice.” “I’m just… sorta nervous…”
“About what?”
“The fact that I’m going to be living a lie…” “…What kind of guy… Jared is.”
“Oh don’t worry about that! He’s a nice guy, so not like that. Come on, relax a bit. This’ll be fun!”
“I wish I could tell you…” Kay smiled, “Yeah, it will.”