If Looks Could Kill, I'd Be Dead

Theta

"Oh. My. God." Sascha looks back and forth between Loren and I. His eyes grow wide. Sascha thinks Loren is hot. Surprise, surprise.

“Hey there, Sasch.” I suppress my guffaw, but the smile is still spread across my face.

“Hi. Theta…?” he looks at me and bites his lip.

“Sascha, this is my new friend, Loren. Loren, this is my best friend, Sascha.” Loren sticks out his hand.

“It’s noice to meet yeh.” He says. Loren gives Sascha a firm handshake.

“Er, yes. It’s, um, nice to meet you too.” Sascha stammers. I try to control myself; I don’t want to burst out laughing and break the news to Sascha that Loren just doesn’t swing that way. At least I don’t think that he does... oh, God. What if Sascha stole Loren from me? (Even though Loren's not technically mine. But still! That would suck...)

I hoist myself up onto the brick wall of the courtyard. Our school has a nice, grassy courtyard near the cafeteria for the students to hang out during free periods or eat lunch. Sascha and I have been coming out here and eating our lunches since we were freshman. It’s unfortunate in the wintertime we have to be indoors because of the snow, but the library is nice, too. I just hold great disdain against the cafeteria. I really don’t like the people there, not to mention it smells kind of funky. Ew.

“So how is your day going so far, Sasch?” I ask him, trying to make conversation.

“Eh, alright, I suppose.” He shrugs. “Nothing amazing. How about you, babe?” he hops up onto the wall next to me. Loren follows, on my other side. I lean back on my palms, touching the soft grass. I love this little raised garden. This is where Sascha and I always sit.

“Well, I met Loren, of course.” I look at my new British mate and smile.

“How about you, Loren?” Sasch asks him.

“Well, I met a few blokes ‘here and there, but that’s ‘bout it.” He replies, stretching out his legs.

While we eat our packed lunches, we get to know each other a bit. Or rather, we get to know Loren. He’s a really nice guy. He’s into art a lot; we talked a bit in photo today and then we have AP art together later. We’re in the same three art classes. Huh.

“So, Loren…” Sascha starts. “Theta and I are going to hang out at the Yogen Früz shop after school.” We are? “Do you want to join us?” he flashes Loren a toothy smile. Loren’s face brightens up when he smiles.

“Yeah… I’d like that a lot. Where is it?” he asks.

“Well, it’s in the city. Theta and I drive there a lot just to hang out.” Sascha’s face lights up in an epiphany. “Hey, this weekend, we should all go to the city! Just hang out there and walk around. Do you guys want to?!” Sascha is all excited. He’s so adorable.

“Sure, that sounds bloody fantastic.” Loren laughs, giving Sascha a look.

“Good.” Sascha giggles. "Want to meet back up here after school to get some frozen yogurt?"

"Sure." Loren and I can just walk back over together after AP Art.

"I'm looking forward to it." Loren says with a smile.

xxx

"Sacha!" I call out to him when I see him after school.

"Theta!" he smiles when he sees us coming. "Loren!" He runs over and hugs us both, unintentionally squeezing both Loren and I together. I laugh.

"Sasch!" I wiggle around. "Let me go!"

"Fine..." he gives me a fake pout, sticking out his lower lip, and releases us from his tight grip. He crosses his arms over his chest, and looks away, attempting to hide the smirk ruining his pout.

"Oh, babe. Come here." I chuckle and take his wrists in my hands. His arms flop to his sides. I wrap his arms around me, and hug his thin frame. "Better?"

"Much." I can hear the smile in his voice. I glance over at Loren who has a small grin on his face, but is awkwardly standing there.

"Care to join in?" I ask him? I hope that he doesn't mind Sascha and I's touchiness. Some people just aren't really touchy feely like that, though both Sascha and I are. I hope Loren is.

"A'wright." He smiles. He comes over and joins in on our group hug. His arms wrap around Sascha and I, who's arms are wrapped around each other. We're laughing and hugging and I just love being with these people.

Even though I've only known Loren for a few hours, already we're quite close. We just click... it's amazing, really. Those people you can just connect with; I've only met a one other in my life, and that's Sascha. You can just relate to them. Even if you both have different stories, or different backgrounds, you're similar, even though you're different. It's hard to explain. People like that are very few and far between.

“So are you ready to go?” I ask Loren once we disentangle ourselves from each other.

“Yes. I can’t say that I’ve had frozen yogurt before…”

“What?!” I ask, astonished. “Really?”

“Well, yeah. In the United Kingdom, we eat a lot of breads and cakes and such.” He replies.

“Huh…” I ponder that a moment. He’s never had frozen yogurt? That’s quite strange.

“Theta, are you driving, or should I?” Sascha asks me.

“Uh, you can drive and Loren can sit in the front. I’ll just take the back.” It doesn’t matter to me.

Once we’re in the car and on the road, I say,

“I’ve always wanted to go to England.”

“Yeah?”

“Mhm. Does it really rain as much as everyone says it does?” Loren smiles, and answers,

“Not necessarily. Usually it jus' drizzles a lot, and then the sun comes out, and then it drizzles again. Usually, it’s jus’ a lot of showers. But it doesn’t rain all the time.”

“Oh? Well, I like the rain, which is one of the reasons I want to go to England anyways.” I smile too.

We’re at the Yogen Früz shop in no time. The shop is very modern looking, and clean. I order my favourite, the blueberry no fat while Sascha orders his favourite, strawberry low fat. We get an extra spoon so that Loren can share ours. We pick a tall table with the tall stools by the window and sit down.

“Try mine first!” Sascha says excitedly.

“A’wright.” Loren says. He gingerly sticks his spoon into Sascha’s frozen yogurt, getting a small bit on the tip of his spoon. He licks it off and swallows it, closing his eyes to grasp the flavour. “Whoa.” His eyes pop open. He takes a bigger spoonful. Sascha giggles. “Oh mah gawd.” He says, his mouth full. “Thish shtuff ish sho good.” As the garbled words come out of his mouth, I laugh.

“Here, try mine now!” I say, thrusting my yogurt cup in his hands. He swallows and takes the cold cup from my hands. He takes a big spoonful and eats it. His eyes grow wide.

“This flavour is even better!” he digs into the blueberry frozen yogurt and eats it with a smile on his face. I roll my eyes, a grin on my face, and go back up to the counter to get another cup for myself.

By the time I get back, Sascha and Loren are already halfway done with their yogurts. I smile. I’m so glad that Loren liked it.

I really hope that he stays with Sascha and I. The only reason I’m letting doubt and irrational thoughts creep into the recesses of my mind is because I see a group of three girls, that appear to be around our age, looking towards us, their focus on the boys. Sascha and Loren don’t notice, but I do. I see the way they’re looking at Loren. I want to go over to them and say, Hey, he is mine. But of course I can’t do that. I’ve only known him for one day. Girls are taking notice to him... But who could blame them? He’s just a beautiful person. He’s the unattainable good looking guy, and I’d be foolish to think that he’d ever be interested in me, someone who is so often overlooked.