“Ooh. Anytime, anywhere, Jericho.” His fingers slap the edge of the table like a bongo.
I laugh and shove his shoulder. “Are you ever serious?”
“You know I am.” His arm slides over my shoulder and he whispers in my ear, “I do like you.”
Heat rises in my cheeks. It feels good to hear him say it despite the conflicting feelings since school started. And his girlfriend.
“Yeah, but you’re the one dating Becky.”
“I told you, she pales in comparison to you. Do you want to go to the game with me next Friday? It’s an away game.”
“Are you forgetting something?”
He looks at me, confounded.
“Becky?”
“I think I’m at the end of the road with Becky,” he states.
“Why the sudden change, J?”
“It’s not a change in how I feel. I’m just changing what I do about it. You didn’t know what you wanted me to do. And now, I’m asking you to go to the game with me next week.”
I sigh. “How would we get there?”
“I could ask my parents to take us or we could take the bus transporting kids to and from school.”
“I’ll get back to you on that.”
“That’s right. Your parents. Well, let me know.”
Arissa returns, blurting out, “Break it up you two.”
Jason raises his hands next to his head. “I didn’t do a thing.”
She smirks. “Likely story.”
“Jason!” Becky looms over our table, hands on her hips. “You left me alone with your friends!”
“Bec, I—“
“What kind of person does that to their girlfriend?”
Jason stands, setting a hand on her shoulder and leading her away. “Let’s go outside.”
Arissa and I stare wide-eyed at each other as they head through the door.
“No way,” I say under my breath, looking out the front window.
“What?” she asks.
“While you were in the bathroom he said he was ‘at the end of the road’ with Becky and then he asked me out to the game next Friday.”
“He what?” She stretches her neck for a better view through the window.
Becky’s arms wave wildly about as she yells at Jason outside, then she pushes him with both hands. He steps back, palms facing her in surrender, but she pushes him again. He keeps pedaling back and she keeps pushing him. Becky backs him up against a light post in the parking lot and his head turns towards us. She follows his line of sight and locks eyes with me.
“Shit!” I jump out of my chair and scan for a hiding place.
“My parents!” Arissa shouts, dragging me to their table.
I hide behind Andrew and Arissa hides behind Rose. I sneak a look under the table, watching Becky study the restaurant with narrowed eyes and then storming off to the restrooms.
“Girls. What’s going on?” Andrew asks, keeping his eyes on the restroom doors.
“I’m pretty sure Jason just broke up with his girlfriend and now she’s after me because she thinks he broke up with her for me,” I answer.
“I see. Maybe I need to have a talk with him,” he suggests.
“No!” I grab his shirt even though he’s made no attempt to leave. “He probably did break up with her for me, but he knows my parents won’t let me date.”
“Where is she?” Becky asks, high pitched like a squawking bird.
“I don’t know, Bec. Let’s go outside, you’re disturbing everyone,” Jason pleads.
“Oh, I’m sorry.” The sarcasm in her tone is unmistakable. “I didn’t realize I was supposed to be thinking about everyone else when you left me alone with your friends!”
“Bec, please.”
“Whatever, Jason! I’m leaving!”
I wait to peek out until the door clicks closed, taking a seat once I verify Becky and Jason are gone.
Arissa crawls into a chair. “That was insane.”
“Well, after all that, I can say I don’t miss high school at all,” Rose says.
We snicker together, stopping when Jason returns. “Do you mind if I talk to Sara?” he asks, his tone somber.
“Not at all,” Andrew answers, but no one moves.
“Uhm, do you mind if we talk alone here?” He runs a hand through his hair. “Becky is waiting for her ride out front and I don’t want her to see Sara back at our table,” he says, hooking a thumb at the window.
“Right,” Rose says, a sly smile crossing her lips as she stands, glancing at Andrew. “Let’s go raid their pizza.”