Lunch Room (Story Start)

I remember when lunchtime used to be the best period of the day. Food, friends, and no teachers structuring every moment of your time. Hard to beat that. Senior year should have been the best, as both Kaylee and Liam shared the same lunch period. Don’t get me wrong, lunch was still awesome. The only problem was Kaylee’s friends weren’t exactly my friends. It often seemed like the entire varsity basketball team was stuffed into the same lunch period. Kaylee wasn’t the best player on the team, that title belonged to someone like Zoe or Abigail, but she was the heart. As such, they stuck to her like glue and had an annoying tendency to dominate her attention. Today was no different. I spent most of the period picking at my watery mashed potatoes, listening to conversations I wasn’t invited too. A few shared looks at Liam told me he shared the same annoyance I did.

“I hear Steven asked you out.”

My head snapped up as I turned my full attention to the conversation. That had been directed at Kaylee.

“He did,” Kaylee said. She gave an evasive smile, brushing a lock of her blond hair behind her ear as the whole table turned to her. The hair immediately fell back into place, the teal of her highlights blending with her natural blond.

“Well don’t leave us hanging!” one of her teammates said.

There was a few seconds hesitation. Enough to hold everyone in suspense. For a moment, her brilliant blue eyes met mine before moving on to someone else. Not even a second and it was enough to get the heart racing. “I turned him down,” she finally answered. Noises of disappointment and disapproval sounded around the table. They covered my relieved sigh.

“Such a waste,” Zoe said. The long-limbed redhead looked especially disappointed as she crossed her arms and leaned back in her seat.

“Really. Steven is ridiculously hot. Those abs of his,” Abby said, drooling as she reminisced on what I could only assume was a fond memory. More than a few of the girls at the table were nodding vigorously. It seemed Steven had fans. The question now was if Kaylee was one too.

“I mean, sure, he’s got a great body,” Kaylee said with a defensive edge. “But conversation isn’t exactly… hmm… enlightening.”

That got a few snorts from the girls.

“Girl, you date him for the body, not the brains,” Zoe said. More than a few chuckles followed.

Kaylee didn’t look convinced. “Isn’t it the other way around? If I’m going to date someone, I’d like him to be able to hold a meaningful conversation.”

“Overrated,” Abby said. I’d say the reaction of the group was split evenly between the sides.

“Fucking guys is easy,” Sarah said. I was a bit surprised to hear her speak out. The tall blond was usually the most reserved at the table, content to experience the conversation rather than participate. “Finding a guy worth spending time with is far more difficult.”

“A fair point,” Zoe said with a conciliatory nod. “But as Steven’s girlfriend, you get first dibs. Totally worth the trade-off. The guys awesome in bed always have girls trying to grab them.”

“I just hate having to wear a condom with him,” Abby said with a wistful sigh. “Why do all the hot ones have to be fertile?”

“Plenty of handsome guys who aren’t,” Kaylee said. I could have sworn she glanced my way as she said it. Or maybe it was to Liam since he was sitting next to me. Either way, it was wishful thinking on my part. I’d known Kaylee a long time and not once had she shown any interest in me. Not like that anyways.

Zoe snickered. “I mean, you probably don’t have to wear one. Even if his swimmers were twice as smart as him, they’d still get lost.” That got a roaring laugh from the girls. Even Kaylee laughed, holding the back of her hand to her lips in an attempt to restrain the laughter. I felt it was a bit much, but had to admit it was a bit funny.

Beside me, Liam leaned closer to me. “Ever wonder why we sit at this table?”

The answer was Kaylee. She was here, thus, I would be too. I could tolerate the annoyances she called friends. Besides, it was only like this when they talked about boys. Granted, that was a lot of the time, but it wasn’t the only thing. Besides, where else were we going to go? It’s not like other groups were any better. There was a big group of guys in the back corner, but they were arguably worse in my mind. We had even less in common with them since neither Liam or I did sports or after school activities.

“No idea,” I half-whispered back. My attention snapped back to the table conversation when I noticed Zoe looking at me.

“Besides, we have our two token conversationalists right here,” she said with a smug smile. “They are the paragon of conversation.”

I **** a smile, and relaxed my shoulders. “We try. Hard to relate to the conversation topic though. I’m afraid I don’t have much experience with Steven’s abs.”

“Or abs in general,” she said with an obvious once-over. That was a bit of a low blow, even for her. I was in no way fat or remotely out of shape. I just didn’t pump weights religiously like the other guys. Besides, I never once commented how most middle schoolers had larger tits than she did. Even now, it was a tempting low-hanging fruit dangling before me. Especially since I knew she was rather sensitive to that.

Honestly, I had no idea why I ended up being the butt of many of Zoe’s jokes. Maybe she thought I was an easy mark, since I never fired back.

Maybe it was time to change that.