“Good point!” Erin nudged Tyler. “Ty’s got a good ass point; bro. Stop holdin’ out on us and let’s see this girl.”

Ian gave me a once-over and an apologetic shrug, but there was something about his body language that confused me. I thought… I thought he knew I was lying about the Tinder thing too, but if he knew, he’d yet to call me out on it.

I dropped my forehead onto the table and grumbled into it. “Cause! Cause… fuck, okay, I’m not gonna show you horny freaks, so stop asking. I wanna keep this private. I don’t gotta show you anything!”

Complaints rippled through our small group, save for Ian, who just continued to study me. I could feel his dark gaze boring into the side of my head.

“You’re like the most un-fun guy right now Luca, or like, you’re completely full of shit, and I think it’s the latter. Maybe he won’t show us cause it is a dude.” Erin waggled his eyebrows like an ass.

A fucking hot dude, like hot as hell.

My face burned. “I don’t really care what you think, Erin. But I do think you’re just jealous or something. How long’s it been since your girl let you hit it, huh?”

“Fuck, yeah! Fuckin… what’s her name!” Steven cackled loudly, snapping his fingers to jog his memory.

“… shit, Nikkie.” Ty offered.

Erin looked around wildly, face beat red. “Shut the fuck up, Lucas.”

“Yeah, yeah, Nikkie!” Ian confirmed. “She’s that girl that’s got two colored eyes. Pretty hot. I got with her over summer break.”

Erin’s face went purple. “You what?”

The table went dead, and Ian’s face twisted in hesitant amusement. “I um… we just hung out? Ya know… like, I got with her and we um, had some dinner, played some games, chilled... anyhow, no harm done!”

I covered my mouth and stared at Ian, not believing his motor mouth let that one go, cause he’d most definitely fucked Nikkie, but the smirk on his face made me think he told Erin on purpose just to piss him off.

Fucking stupid idea, but it was apparently working, cause Erin looked like he was gonna explode; fists clenched so hard his knuckles were white.

“I swear to god Nakamura, if I find out you fucked her, Imma kill you.” He hissed.

I let out a soft sigh of relief, thankful the spotlight was off me for the time being. On the other hand, I was a bit anxious this might actually turn into a fight of some kind. Erin could be a legit hothead.

Ian bolted upright and grabbed his backpack. “Um… no? I mean, even if I did it’s not like you guys were dating or anything, cause yeah… so… I mean she said you was split, so…”  He was totally getting ready to make a run for it.

Sneaky Ian.

“We WERE dating!” Erin jumped to his feet, chest heaving.

Ian’s eyes widened and his hands went up in surrender. “Um, so… that’s new to me, so, I think you should really take this up with her, not me.”

“I’m gonna kill him.” Erin growled under his breath, voice rising with each word. “Right. Fucking. Now!”

“I hear death is an adventure, but I got places to be, so it’s gonna have to wait.” Ian gave a salute and shot out the side of the picnic bench like a bat out of hell. “S-see ya!”

Damn, he was fast. There’s a reason we called him the flash. I noted that he’d left his backpack behind, and I figured he must have thought it’d slow his escape down. I’d grab it for him.

What happened next was nothing short of a blur. Erin was screaming and cursing, spit flying from his mouth as he ranted and raved about how Ian was a dead man, about his apparent cheater of a girlfriend, all sorts of shit. I tried to slink away unnoticed in the chaos that ensued, with the guys trying to calm him down and all.

Meanwhile I started to collect my things, and he appeared to take no notice.

… until I went for Ian’s backpack.

“—and you!” He snarled, jutting his finger my direction.

I jumped at the loudness of his voice. “… y-yeah…?”

 “Did you know he fucked her?”

My face must’ve gone white, cause of course I knew. I just didn’t know they were dating over the summer. Those two were constantly on and off; it was so confusing and none of us could keep up.

 “I-I… no? Ian fucks s-so many girls that I just, well, I really didn’t…”

“You’re a shit fucking liar, Price.” He growled. “Start running, you faggot, and go catch up with your boyfriend. When you find him, tell him Imma nail his balls to the fucking wall alongside yours.”

I wasn’t sure what overcame me in that moment, but I loathed the way he had used the word “faggot”. If anyone was gonna call me a faggot it’d be like, Jae or something, not some straight dude like Erin.

Was I about to hit Erin DeWitt? Maybe?

… if he called me a faggot again? Probably.

I squared my shoulders and took a deep breath. “… call me a faggot one more time.”

Erin scoffed. “Fag-got. Now fucking run before I grind your pretty little face into the pavement.”

My hand moved faster than my brain could keep up, and before I knew it, I’d landed Ian’s chocolate milk square on Erin’s face and shirt. A punch would’ve felt more cathartic, but that would’ve landed me in detention, so, chocolate milk it was.

He cursed and wiped his face off, then glanced down at his shirt in shock, but I wasn’t stupid enough to hang around and wait for him to retaliate, no. I grabbed Ian’s backpack, jumped the bench, and took off, darting my way through meandering students. I could hear Erin screaming my name, well, cursing it, and that made me run even faster. Erin could easily beat the shit out of me, and if he got me to the ground, I’d be stuck there till he decided to let me go.

“LUCAS!”

I heard his enraged voice as I continued my escape, trying to think about where Ian had got to. My intuition told me it was the “rendezvous” point, A.K.A the auditorium. We had an established spot where we could meet up whenever shit went down, or when Ian’s shenanigans caught up with him. It wasn’t exactly secretive, but they didn’t lock the doors this time of day since the theater kids were in and out of there.

The sound of Erin’s voice continued to echo behind me, so I picked up the pace, deciding to place my bet on the auditorium for now. He wouldn’t check there, but he’d definitely check the locker room, the cafeteria, that kinda shit.

I wasn’t as fast as Ian, but my feet carried me swiftly down the halls towards my destination. My mind had gone blank as I ran, and all I could think about was what the hell we were supposed to do now? We had Erin on our asses, and he was the last person on the team I wanted to pick a fight with.

I slowed to a stop, panting as I pushed through the auditorium doors and the sound of Erin’s voice had dissipated. I’d lost him.

The room was dimly lit, only some stage lights on, but I I could hear some chatter from behind stage, and the buzz of activity from some students making props or whatever.
Sure enough, I could see Ian lurking in the shadows to the left of the stage. I jogged over to him.

“Fuck, ya found me!” he exhaled a hushed laugh, and I tossed him his backpack.

“Figured you’d be here.”

“You figure right.” He grinned, dropping down into one of the seats in relief.

I followed him and plopped down as well, both of us sitting in silence for a moment.

“So… that was wild.” He chuckled.

“No, that was scary.” I smacked his arm. “Erin called me a faggot, said he’s gonna nail my balls to the wall. Told me to tell my ‘boyfriend’ he’s gonna kill him.”

Ian rolled his eyes and waved me off. “Erin won’t do shit. He’s all talk, no action. Never seen the guy actually hit anyone…” 

I shot him a look. “He looked pretty pissed…”

“Well it’s not my fault.” Ian scoffed. “Seriously, she did not tell me they were together! I mean, how was I supposed to know? They’re like, always in the middle of breaking up and getting back together, amidst having revenge sex or whatever to piss each other off. She’s crazy but she’s hot, so I took a shot and scored, can’t blame me.”

I just stared at him. “Ian… seriously. What if he beats me up? He’s pissed that I knew!”

“I’m not gonna let him beat you up Luca, chill.”

Ian dropped his head back against the top of the seat and closed his eyes with a contented hum.

I shook my head and grimaced. Part of me really was worried Erin would beat my ass, and part of me was even mad at Ian for not being able to keep it in his pants—he reminded me of a Greek god or some shit, stirring up drama with his cock, but I couldn’t stop myself from loving him. He was my best friend, and I was weak when it came to Ian. Truthfully, I’d let that dumbass get away with almost anything.

His shoulder brushed against mine, and it seemed intentional.

“I know you were lying…” he murmured.

I looked over to find him studying me.

“About?”

“Tinder…” he chuckled. “You don’t use Tinder.”

My heart started pounding so loudly I thought it might explode out of me; sorta like the chestburster from Alien.

“Um, I-I do now?” I shot back. “I’m trying to be adventurous like you tell me.”

Ian scoffed and straightened. “You literally told me last night you didn’t meet her on Tinder, remember? Or did you already forget that lie.”

Fuck.

I stared at him like a deer caught in the headlights, mind going back to our text conversation the other night. I regretfully remembered that he was right, I had said that, but I was lying so much that I couldn’t keep my story straight anymore apparently...