Dance With the Devil

The next day I told Nick about my mother during lunch. We had just sat down at our table as I was finishing telling him about what happened last night.

“I don’t know what to do about her. I had never seen her like that in my entire life, I’d never seen her so weak and vulnerable.” Nick paused a moment, then looked back over at me as if he was about to say something, but then abruptly closed his mouth and looked away. At that moment, my best friend since kindergarten, Eli came walking over to our table with his tray filled to the brim with an assortment of greasy, could-kill-you-in-a-second foods. He sat down as I laughed and looked at him. “You’re actually going to eat all of that?” He looked at me like I was insane.

“Duh. I mean come on, a boy’s gotta eat right?” Nick looked at him with a little less humor in his voice.

“Yeah, eat. Not gorge yourself.” Eli shrugged and waved his comment off, as he began to stuff his mouth with a piece of pizza. Nick looked back over to me. “Anyway, maybe you should talk to your mom. I’m sure she just feels lonely right now, and maybe you talking to her would help.” I was about to reply to Nick when Eli jumped back in.

“Talk to your mom about what?” he asked through a mouthful of food.

“My mom and the divorce. She broke down yesterday.” He swallowed the remainder of his food and looked at me slightly seriously. I’ve known Eli since I was still in diapers, and we were now seniors in high school. My mother was like his second mom, he was practically family.

“Aw, I’d hate to see your mom like that. She’s so nice, she doesn’t deserve this.” I rolled my eyes slightly.

“Tell that to my dad.” He got silent and looked away awkwardly. I looked back over at Nick. “Maybe you shouldn’t come over today. I can call you later though.” He sighed apathetically.

“Alright.”

Just then from the corner of my eye I could see the silhouette of a certain young boy walking through the lunchroom doors. He had that classic dark brown emo side swept hair, covered by a red beanie. His lip piercing curved tightly around his lip and his jeans were skintight, along with his Vans that he wore every single day. I knew this boy, I knew him well. He was the spawn of Satan himself. And his name was Axel, and he just happened to be my boyfriend’s best friend.

He came over to our table and hopped down right across from me. “Hey Nick, sup whore.” Oh yeah, Axel has unusual pet names for me, though most of them have a tendency to circulate around words that degrade women. Cute, right?

“Hi Axel.” I looked at Nick, expecting him to say something to Axel on the account that he just called me a whore. “Sup bro.” If there was one thing that annoyed the shit out of me about Nick, it would be the fact that he doesn’t stick up for me whenever Axel decides to be a dick to me, which was more often than not.

“You with her today?” He jerked his head in my direction carelessly. I scowled, though he wasn’t looking my direction. Nick glanced at me briefly before turning back to Axel.

“Uh, no. Why?”

“Cause you’re coming over my house today. I got the new Call of Duty.” And here we go with the nerd talk. Nick got almost as excited as a child opening presents on Christmas morning.

“I thought that didn’t come out for another month?” Alex smirked his stupid little smirk that always appears when he has something mischievous on his mind. Some girls would say it’s charming.

“I know a guy.”

“Well never mind that, tell me are the graphics as amazing as everyone said they would be?” Nick was as gullible as anything right now. I grew uninterested and turned back towards Eli, who surprisingly had been quiet all this time. I reached over to his tray and took a fry.

“You’re being unusually quiet.” Eli shrugged, looking down at his tray. Eli was quite the skinny boy, but man could the kid eat like a truck driver.

“Got nothing to say.” His voice sounded a bit sad, or prolonged, and the fact that he wasn’t looking at me didn’t help.

“You okay?” I asked. He looked up at me with his hazel eyes, though hair slightly fell over them. He gave me a smirk, and then slowly nodded. I may have a boyfriend, but I still notice cute boys. And Eli was a cute boy indeed.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just a lot on my mind, you know?” I kept picking fries off of his tray.

“Like what?”

“Well, Kar, have I ever told you about the girl I like?” I smiled at him.

“No, I didn’t even know you liked someone. Who’s the lucky girl?” He stuck the last piece of pizza in his mouth and wiped his hands on his pants to get the grease off.

“Well, she doesn’t go to our school. But her name is Lola.” I momentarily looked back over to Nick and Axel, who were knee deep in a serious Call of Duty discussion, if such a thing even existed. I rolled my eyes to myself then looked back at Eli.

“Tell me about her.” He burped slightly and continued.

“She’s the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen. She has the prettiest eyes, an incredible smile. The cutest voice I’ve ever heard. I don’t know, just when I see her, my day gets a little better.” I smiled at Eli.

“She sounds like quite a girl.” He looked away momentarily and giggled to himself.

“Yeah she is. But she has a boyfriend, so none of that matters.” Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a blonde haired girl walking this way. I looked at Eli a little sadly.

“Well, I’m sure you’re a better match for her than that guy. And try to stay positive, they might break up someday.” I laughed slightly, as my best friend Aubrey sat down beside Eli. I swear that Aubrey is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. She isn’t short, but she’s a petit girl and she has the sweetest voice.

“Hey.” She said to both me and Eli as she sat down. She then turned to Nick and Axel. “Hi Axel.” She said sort of shyly. I loved Aubrey to death, but I hated the fact that she had the biggest crush in the world on my mortal enemy.

Axel looked at her for a moment, as if to remember who she is, then gave his bad boy smirk. She giggled to herself, then turned back to me. I most likely had a look of disgust on my face, which Eli snickered at.

“What?” She asked innocently.

“Do you really have to like him?” I whispered to her. She laughed. We had had this conversation so many times.

“He’s perfect Karlee.” She nearly gushed. I looked away for a second.

“Yeah except for he’s not.” She sighed.

“You just don’t know him the way I do.” I laughed.

“You barely know him.” She smiled slyly, like she was kidding, but there was also a hint of seriousness in her voice.

“We have a class together, thank you very much.” I crossed my arms at her.

“You stare at the back of his head during history. You two must have such a connection.” She smiled slightly.

“We’re getting on a first name basis.”

“Woah, you kids are crazy. Don’t you go getting pregnant now.” I said just as the bell rang.

“I’ll try.” She giggled to herself. I picked myself and my bag up and began walking, just like everyone else. Though, I walked a bit slower, somewhat waiting for Nick. He always walks me to my next class, but when I turned around, I couldn’t see him anywhere. I tried to look for him in the crowds of people, I tried to look for his hair, but I couldn’t seem to spot him, until, I found Axel’s beanie, whereas right next to him was Nick; way ahead of me. He didn’t even bother to stop and wait for me like he did most days. I stood there, a little shocked. I don’t even know when I would have moved had Eli not tapped me on the shoulder.

“I’ll walk you to class.” He said, knowing that I had just seen Nick walk ahead. Though I actually was kinda upset, I smiled at Eli, and allowed him to walk with me to my next class.