The Past is Only the Future with the Lights On

Banner by: screamMCR

Thanks bunches, hun!!

After being released by the sound of the lunch bell obnoxiously going off, I dropped off my books from second period into my locker, and made my way to the cafeteria. By the time I’d gotten there, just about the whole room was packed full with kids. I weaved my way through the tables and random people standing in my way, trying to get to my usual table.

Once there, I stopped and stood just behind my chair, all three of my friends already sat down, now being faced with a dilemma. Where would I sit? Just because Skyler and I were now ‘official’ didn’t mean I had to sit with him and his friends at their table, right? I was still allowed to sit and eat with my besties. I shot a quick glance over at his table, taking notice that he hadn’t even arrived yet. Happily sitting down next to D, I pulled a brown paper bag from my messenger bag and began removing its contents from it; a chocolate pudding cup, a granola bar, a bottle of water, and a container holding the salad grandma insisted I brought to school today. Actually, it was more like lettuce, because I hadn’t actually put anything on it, due to the fact that I hadn’t planned on actually eating it.

I looked up and was met by a pair of smirking hazel eyes. Knitting my eyebrows in confusion at the boy sat across from me, I tilted my head slightly, wondering what the smirk was for.

And that was when I felt a soft material tracing my leg. My body tensed as realized what it was, and, more importantly, whose it was.

“Stop it,” I told Frank sternly, all too familiar with this picture. He shook his head childishly, keeping that smug smirk on his lips.

I glared at him, getting my own foot ready to kick him in his man parts, when a pair of soft lips came in contact with my cheek. The foot instantly fell to the cafeteria floor as I turned my head to see Skyler’s green eyes staring down at me. The sound of snickering snapped both our heads towards Frank, only to see him pulling the top off of my pudding cup.

“FRANK!” I practically shouted, reaching over the table and trying to grab the plastic cup back from him. He held it back out of my reach and stuck his tongue out at me.

“Thanks for helping out, man,” he said, turning to Skyler. He nodded once, trying to hold in a laugh.

I simply glared between the two, huffing dramatically as I crossed my arms over my chest. “You’re a dirty cheater,” I said to Frank.

I received a grin in response, just as he sunk his spork into my pudding and began eating it. I decided that now would be a good time to say something to Skyler, instead of glaring at Frank, and turned in my seat to face him.

“Hey,” he said, a smile spread across his face, lighting up his green eyes. “Sorry for being an accomplice in the theft of your pudding.”

I laughed and shook my head. “No worries. I’m not that hungry anyways,” I lied. I had skipped on breakfast this morning, on account that I was already running late as is, and then Frank happened to stop by, so there wasn’t much time to grab anything. And its not like me eating it would make that much difference in my hunger. “So…uhm…how is this supposed to work…?”

He glanced between our two tables, clearly understanding the problem at hand that I was referring to. He scratched the back of his head thoughtfully. “Well if you want to sit with your friends, I’d totally respect that. I’ve got some things I’ve gotta do with those guys anyways,” he nodded towards his friends. “So how ‘bout we do something later?” he asked.

I nodded my head in agreement. I was much more comfortable here at my table anyways. Its not that I didn’t like his group of friends or anything. I just didn’t act like myself with them. And I would prefer sitting with these cool kids any day.

He shot me one more smile before walking over to his table just a few feet away. I turned back to Frank, seeing him staring at me with sad eyes, holding the pudding covered spork just above the cup. I stared back, waiting for him to say something.

“…May I help you?” I finally said, lightly laughing at his sorrowful expression.

He stared at me with wide eyes that yelled, ‘What the hell?!’

“What the hell?!” he finally said. I couldn’t help but laugh at my thoughts, knowing Frank far too well. Noting that I was just continuing to stare at him with the same baffled expression, he finished talking. “Tonight…Frankie-Kelly time…Ring a bell?”

I smacked my forehead, remembering our plans to hang out tonight. “Sorry, Frank. I’ll tell him later that I already made plans.”

He nodded happily, seeming to like my answer as he finished off the rest of the pudding cup and I joined into Mikey and Dahlia’s conversation about what our favorite flavors of chapstick were. It worried me a little that Mikey was listing off quite a lot of flavors, but I didn’t question him about it…Whatever floats his boat, I guess. However, when Frank threw in the fact that his favorite chapstick was Orange Soda, I couldn’t bite my tongue any longer.

“How do you guys even know what any of them taste like? Don’t most guys prefer chapstick’s like…Carmex or the non-flavored ones?” I asked my two male friends, actually a bit afraid of what their answers would be.

Mikey looked around the room almost nervously, avoiding meeting my gaze. I looked over at his girlfriend for some answers, figuring she might actually give me one. She was already staring at me, an amused smile on her lips. “He ‘likes the way they make his lips feel’,” she told me, using her fingers to quote what Mikey had previously told her.

“Hey!” Mikey argued, crossing his arms over his chest and jokingly glaring at her. “They taste good, too!”

The three of us broke out in laughter, and, soon, Mikey joined in with us. But the laughter didn’t last long. Shortly after Mikey‘s outburst, we turned to Frank, waiting for his own explanation.

“What?” he shrugged. “Flavored chapstick makes making out all the more fun.” He smirked, and I soon felt his eyes on me. I quickly looked down, trying to hide the unexpected blush that now filled my cheeks.

Pretty soon, the bell sounded, indicating the end of lunch. We cleaned up our table, and said our goodbyes as Mikey and Dahlia walked down one end of the hallway, and Frank and I made our way to the gym.