Games

“Hey, Hottie,” Dom smirked.

“Hey, Sexy,” Jaime returned, grinning.

“You still dating Tim?”

“Yeah.”

“Damn,” he said with a jerk of his head.

“Why, Dom? Are you interested?” she asked, biting her lip playfully, her eyes twinkling with mock surprise.

“Very,” he said as seductively as he could in the middle of class.

“That’s a shame,” she frowned, but obviously amused.

“Thanks,” he said, rolling his eyes at her. He had thought this conversation was leaning in his advantage, for once.

“Aw, Dom!” she cooed, pinching his cheek.

He couldn’t help but to crack a smile. She giggled and turned around in her seat, pretending to be interested in the lesson. He sighed longingly at the back off her head, which turned out to be so distracting, he wasn’t aware of much else until the bell rang signaling the end of the class period.

Dom meandered out in a daze, almost knocking his best friend over.

“Sorry,” he grumbled, not recognizing her.

“Hey, you,” Anna said, affectionately touching his arm. He blinked at her.

“Oh, hey, Anna,” he said, surprised.

“Have you spoken to Jaime recently?”

“Yeah, just last period.”

“Did she mention anything about Friday?”

“No.”

“Aaron said they were going to the movies, which means she’s flaking on my party,” Anna explained quickly.

“Which I wasn’t invited to,” Dom added, pretending to be huffy about it.

“Yeah, my mom wasn’t about to let a bunch of teenage boys and girls sleep over together. She totally flipped out when I joked about it.”

“I was kidding,” he smiled. “Wait, back up. Why is she going to the movies with Aaron? She’s dating Tim still.”

“I don’t know. He said that Emma’s telling Tim and that it’s innocent.”

“Sure, it is,” he said sarcastically.

“Yeah, I know,” Anna agreed. “And she’s completely blowing off my party for it,” she added with a pout.

“Don’t worry about it, Anna,” Dom said sympathetically, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. He began to walk her to their next class.

“What’s wrong with her?” she asked, still upset.

“Jaime? What do you mean?”

“Oh, tell me you don’t notice,” she sneered. “She plays with everyone all the time.”

“That’s just the way she is,” he reasoned. “It’s her nature.”

“That’s the problem,” she grumped. “You could do better.”

“I’m not doing her.”

“You would if you could,” she replied dully. “We all know you want her, Dom. You could do better. She doesn’t even deserve you.”

“You don’t think anyone deserves me,” Dom noted.

“That’s because you’re better than this them- better than this place. High school, I mean,” she explained as they took their seats next to each other.

“What makes me better?” he asked doubtfully. He wasn’t fishing for compliments. He didn’t need to; he was confident and grounded, despite his dramatized life. He liked himself, but every once in a while he felt as if he would never be enough and that was when Anna was always there for him.

“You just are, Dom. You’re so above all this,” she told him softly.

“Thanks,” he said quietly, giving her elbow a gentle squeeze. Anna just smiled, happy to have lightened his expression; she really did care about him.

When the bell rang, dismissing them for the day, Anna and Dom walked out together.

“I’ll catch you later,” Dom smiled at her.

“Later,” Anna returned, walking off to her locker.

“Dude!” Tim shouted, approaching Dom.

“Hey, Man,” Dom replied.

“What’s up?”

“Nothin’. How is everything, you know, with Jaime?”

“Fine,” Tim smiled. “Why?”

“Oh, no reason,” Dom said quickly.

“Okay,” Tim said slowly, confused.

“So, what are you doing Friday?”