Kiss My Ass

Carlyle wanted to talk to Alex. His behavior earlier had been completely irrational and it was beginning to frustrate her even more. Especially during lunch, when Alex didn’t sit with her. Which wasn’t normally a surprise when he had a new girlfriend, but the glare that he was sending her across the cafeteria was a surprise. And when Jack and Erika passed her without so much as a second glance, well, that hurt more than anything.

But Lyle had always been the strong-silent type. So instead of letting people see that it bothered her, she kept it in. She ate her lunch in a stoic silence, thumbing through the well-worn pages of her favorite book. Even though it was against school policy, she had hidden one of her earphones with her hair once she took it out from her hair tie, and she was listening to music. Since it was only one headphone, she could still hear everything that her classmates were saying as they walked past her table.

And, yeah, some of them stung.

Okay, a lot of them.

Lyle had no idea that the words of people she barely knew (and didn’t like) could hurt so much. Even though they were lies, it still made her stomach turn. She did all she could to keep the look of disgust that she felt off of her face, but it was hard to hide when she met Ryan’s eyes across the cafeteria. And, okay, the look of disgust turned to one of pure hatred when he winked at her.

+

“She’s practically eye-fucking him across the room,” Amy said, glancing between Lyle and Ryan.

Alex threw his napkin on his tray and frowned. “Can you shut the fuck up?” he snapped.

“Someone has his panties in a twist,” Jack mumbled under his breath.

Alex sent a glare towards his best friend, who just held his hands up in silent surrender. “Shut up.”

Erika sighed. “You guys are being stupid. You didn’t even give her a chance to explain herself.”

“Whores don’t deserve a chance,” Alex spat.

“Yes, Lyle always gives you one,” Erika said, her tone matching his.

“Jack, shut your girl up,” Alex said, “or I’ll shut her up for you.”

Erika didn’t even flinch as Alex glared across the table at her. She had grown immune to his hateful looks in junior high. Though, this particular one was the worst she had seen in a while. “Why don’t you try to shut me up, Alex,” Erika said.

“Erika,” Jack said softly while shaking his head. He didn’t meet her eyes; he was too busy inspecting the food on his tray. Or, well, that’s what it looked like.

But Erika knew the truth. She knew that he just didn’t have the guts to stand up to his best friend. She had thought it was pathetic on more than one occasion, yet she couldn’t even find the guts to walk away from her boyfriend to go to her own best friend. “Jack,” she said, mocking his tone.

“Let’s just…talk about this later, okay?” Jack offered. “After school or something.”

“Will you give Lyle a chance to explain her side?” Erika asked.

“No,” Alex said without a second thought, standing up with his tray. He walked past Lyle’s table, a not-so-subtle insult of ‘whore’ falling from his lips. And he didn’t miss the way her jaw clenched as he walked past. Once he was done throwing his tray away, he walked back towards the door. And when his eyes landed on her again, he definitely didn’t miss the one tear that slid down her cheek.

The only problem was, he didn’t regret saying it, when he knew he probably should have.

+

Lyle could handle the words from her peers. It was simple. She blocked it out because their opinion never mattered to her. She could handle hearing someone call her a whore, a slut, a tramp, or anything of the like; she took it with a grain of salt because she knew that, well, they didn’t know what they were talking about.

But from Alex?

No, that was harder. Because, no matter how much she tried to deny it, she cared about his opinion.

+

By the end of the day, Lyle had a migraine. It could’ve been due to clenching her jaw so tightly for the whole day so she didn’t snap at someone, or it could have been from every single story she heard between lunch and her study hall. But it was more than likely a combination of both. She grabbed her books from her locker, slinging the strap of her bag over her shoulder, and she slammed her locker shut. The sound barely made a noise in the busy hallway, and she could barely hear it over the whispers (though, they weren’t really whispers since everyone could hear the comments clearly).

Forcing herself to hold her head up high, she walked through the hallways of the school. Once she got outside, she intended to walk straight to her car, but that thought flew out of her head when she saw Ryan walking to his own Mustang. She bit her lip and changed direction, walking over to him instead. As she approached, she saw him turn around and his eyes widened.

“Ryan,” she called out.

Ryan ignored her and unlocked his car, climbing into the driver’s seat.

Lyle sighed and walked quicker; there was no way he was going to ignore her. And even though he pretended as if she wasn’t right outside his car, he couldn’t ignore how loud she was pounding on the window. “Ryan, roll the damn window down!” She didn’t care if she was causing a scene; she wanted to get to the bottom of it.

With a loud sigh, Ryan opened the car door, almost knocking Lyle over in the process, and got out. He shut the door and stared at her as if she was insane. “What do you want?”

“You’re kidding me, right?” Lyle asked. “Do you seriously not know why I’m here?”

Ryan sighed, running a hand over his face. “I didn’t—“

“What the hell did you do?”

He shrugged. “What I had to do.”

“Who did you tell that we had sex? Because, last time I checked, I didn’t sleep with you,” she snapped. “So why does everyone in the school think that we did?”

Ryan shrugged again.

“Goddammit, Ryan!” she exclaimed, pushing him back against his car. “Who did you tell?”

“Just…one of my friends,” he said. “He asked how the party was and I said that I took you home and…” he trailed off.

“And?”

“And he assumed that we slept together, “ he finished.

One of Lyle’s eyebrows rose. “And you didn’t think you correct him?”

“I tried, I did!” Ryan said.

“I don’t fucking believe you,” Lyle spat. “Do you want to know why?”

Ryan’s eyes widened. “Why?”

“Because you’re scum,” she told him.

Ryan scoffed and laughed lightly. “You think I’m scum? Do you know who your best friend is? He’s fucked half of our class,” Ryan said.

Lyle shook her head. “This isn’t about Alex, so leave him out of it, okay?” she said. “You’re scum and you’re a pig. Set these people straight, Ryan, or I’ll—“

“Or you’ll what?” he asked, still laughing slightly. “You can’t do a thing. And neither can your friends since, you know, it looks like they don’t believe you anymore.”

Lyle’s jaw clenched. Okay, he had her there. “Set them straight, please,” she requested, her voice growing softer.

“I can’t do that, Lyle,” Ryan said.

“And why can’t you?” she asked; she sincerely doubted that he couldn’t—he wouldn’t.

“Do you know how many girls have flirted with me today? How many guys have invited me to parties this weekend?” he asked.

Lyle blanched. “All of this is about your popularity?” she asked incredulously.

Ryan looked around and his voice dropped. “I have a reputation to protect, Lyle. Surely you understand that,” he explained.

Lyle shook her head. “No. No, I don’t understand that, Ryan—“

“That’s because you’ve never been popular,” he told her. “But please, please understand that I can’t tell them the truth,” he pleaded.

“So in order to keep your reputation, you have to destroy mine?” Lyle asked him.

“Well, when you put it like that—“

“How else would you like me to put it?!” she exclaimed.

“I don’t know,” Ryan admitted.

Lyle sighed, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear. She didn’t know what to be more upset about—the fact that Ryan lied, the fact that people believed him, or the fact that she really couldn’t do anything about it.

“I’m sorry,” he told her.

“No, you’re not,” Lyle said, “or you wouldn’t have perpetuated this rumor.” She turned to walk away but Ryan grabbed her arm. She turned around, hoping that the tears that she knew were building weren’t about to fall. “What?”

“I know that I have no reason to ask you to do this, but…do you think that you could, you know…not deny it?” he asked.

Lyle scoffed. “Are you kidding me?”

“Unfortunately, no.”

“Oh, right, because I’m sure your precious reputation doesn’t need one of your conquests lying and denying, right?” she asked.

“You do understand!” Ryan exclaimed with a smile.

Lyle frowned.

The smile fell from Ryan’s face. “Oh, you were joking…”

“Yes, I was joking, you dipshit,” she snapped.

Ryan sighed. “Please, Lyle.”

“It doesn’t matter, Ryan,” she said, looking him in the eye. “It’s like you said—I have no one. No one will believe me over you. Not even my own friends,” she said before looking down.

“I’m s—“

“If you say you’re sorry, I’m going to kick you in the balls right here in front of everyone,” she threatened him.

“But I am.”

“No, you’re not,” she said, shaking her head. A few seconds passed and she let out a sigh. “You owe me,” she determined.

Ryan smiled. “You’ll do it?”

“I won’t do a damn thing for you,” she said. “But I won’t go out of my way to deny it.”

Ryan leaned forward and gave her a hug. “I owe you.”

“I don’t care,” she said, pushing him away and turning to walk towards her car. She didn’t know why she was agreeing to anything; she didn’t know why she was trying to help him at all. But she hadn’t been lying earlier—she really did have no one. And where was the point in denying something when no one would believe her anyway?

“Lyle!”

Lyle stopped when she heard her best friend’s voice, and she turned to come face to face with Erika. “Hey,” she said quietly.

Erika stopped and looked around.

“Looking for Jack?” she asked.

Erika let out a small laugh. “Um, I told him I’d meet him at his car,” she said.

Lyle nodded.

“I, uh, saw you talking to Ryan,” she commented.

“No doubt the entire school did,” Lyle muttered.

“Yeah,” Erika agreed, nodding slowly.

Lyle’s eyes narrowed. “Did you want something?” she asked. And she knew she shouldn’t have been so mean to Erika. But part of her was still mad that Erika had ignored her all day.

“Yeah, um,” Erika said.

“Well?” she prompted.

“Did you and Ryan really…” she trailed off.

“Oh, you’re going to give me a chance to answer? According to Alex it’s guilty until further notice,” she said.

Erika sighed. “I just…wanted to hear it from you.”

Lyle nodded slowly. “What the hell do you think, Erika?” she asked.

Erika frowned. “I just…never thought that you weren’t the type…” she said.

Yep. Not even her best friend thought highly enough of her to think it was a lie. “Guess things change,” Lyle muttered before climbing into her car.

Things were definitely changing.