Can't Be Friends

Shawn

“ . . . so Coby raised his hand and told Dr. Whitman that there was no way that was the Z-score.”

I nodded along with Robert Cory's story, not really paying attention. I was too busy thinking about the literature test I had 2nd period. Which led to me reviewing Delillo's White Noise in my mind, and remembering the joke I told Nia the other night about all plots leading to death. Which just ended with me thinking about Nia.

“You can stop not listening now, Shawn. I stopped talking like a minute ago.”

I glanced at my little brother with guilt. “Sorry, kid. I was just thinking about my lit test.”

Robert Cory shrugged. “It's cool.”

We silently walked toward the high school.

Markus was walking away from his car when he saw us approaching. He smiled, dapping me up.

Robert Cory and Markus exchanged a special handshake that was so ridiculous I knew Markus must have made it up.

“What's up, man? Yo, there's this party Friday night. Melanie Crawford told me to put you on,” Markus chuckled. “She wants to see you there.”

I laughed with him, holding the door to the school open for my brother and friend.

“I don't know man. I could get a lot of AP Chem homework done on a Friday night.”

Markus gave me a sideways look. “Or . . . you could go to a party with your best friends and have fun like a normal teenager for once. Nia and Jayna are coming too.”

I started to shake my head, but then I thought about it. Not the AP Chem work, but the fact that Nia was going. There's bound to be alcohol and when Nia drinks, she loosens up a lot. Maybe I could finally figure out what's wrong with her.

I nodded instead. “Alright, man. What time are we gonna head out?”

Markus stared at me, like he didn't quite understand English. “Did you just agree?”

My eyebrows furrowed. “Yeah . . .? What's the big deal?”

Markus smirked as Robert Cory waved bye to us and departed. “You never agree to go anywhere I want. No matter how good my reasoning is. And that 'be a normal teenager' shit I just threw out was mediocre at best, so. Why're you really going?”

I sighed, preparing to lie my ass off. “You're right, man. I need to spend some time relaxing too. I work hard and I could use a break for once.”

Markus didn't seem to believe me, but he nodded anyway. “Alright, well, Trent is gonna buy us some beer so we can pregame.”

“A'right, man. I'll see ya,” I mumbled, leaving him in favor of my locker. I switched out my history book for my statistics workbook. Soft hands turned my world to darkness.

“Guess who?”

I smiled at the feminine voice and turned before guessing. I tried not to display my disappointment on my face when I saw that it wasn't Nia.

Melanie Crawford. She was beautiful, light-brown skin, dark natural hair, brown eyes. But she was kinda creepy.

“Hey, Mel. What's up?”

She smiled at me, white teeth threatening me. “I just wanted to make sure you heard about my party Friday night. I want to see you there.”

I nodded, chuckling. “Yea. Markus and I were just talking about it. Don't worry, I'll be there.”

I flashed her a grin as I slid away, toward statistics class.

I felt stupid for even thinking that would've been Nia. As if our friendship hadn't gone super downhill in the past couple months. As if things were back to normal.

“Hey, Nia.” I smiled, sitting across from her. She had cafeteria food in front of her, which was odd because she'd normally never ingest such hazardous material.

“Shawn, where're Jayna and Markus? They're usually here before us.” Nia looked toward the entrance.

I shrugged. “No sé, amiga,” I mumble, biting into my sandwich.

“You think they're together? Like making out in a back hallway or something?”

I almost choked on a piece of turkey. “Wha . . . I . . . no, what? Jayna and Markus?”

Nia laughed. “Yes. I mean, come on, we all know Markus has been crushing on her for years. And he's a great guy so I don't think she'd be against dating him. They'd be really cute together, he'd be all macho, protective, but a real teddy bear. She'd act tough, but knows she likes having him to back her up. It'd be adorable. Maybe they're just afraid of what everyone, or we, will think.”

I held my hands up. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. You're saying this like it's true. They'd never do that. It would make everything so awkward, it would ruin our friendships.”

Nia looked hurt by my words. “You think friends shouldn't date?”

I shook my head. “No! When friends become romantically involved, it just fucks shit up. Drama ruins everything and all that public affection shit is annoying. Friends should stay friends period.”

Her eyebrows creased. "So how do you meet potential partners then?"

I shrugged violently and resumed eating my lunch.

She nodded, but she looked angry. At that moment, Jayna plopped down next to Nia with a paper bag of her own. Markus slid in next to me a minute later.

Nia excused herself to the library for the rest of lunch, still looking hurt, and leaving her untouched food behind.

Damn, what'd I do now?