Beyond Goodbye

Treat Me Right

Maya spent the rest of the days waiting impatiently for the weekend to arrive. Jared had stopped looking at her so often but would still pass a smile at her whenever they passed. She really liked the attention now. Maybe she just needed to get used to it.

Poor Mark was very suspicious though. Maya had not told him about the book and he could see the change in her. He didn’t want Jared to come near her, and wanted to be there to protect her from him. He didn’t trust that guy even one bit.

Jared, on the other hand, had done what he wanted to do. It was so easy. Initially, he had been worried about how he would get past Mark, and how he would see right past his book recommendation, but Maya seemed not to have told him anything about their encounter at the store. He was pleased with how things were going. He couldn’t wait for the weekend to come.

Mark was very confused. Damon knew something. He passed Maya and gave her a very amused smile. As if he knew something. Maya saw him and her whole mood changed for the worse.

“Ugh…that guy is so annoying. Why does he like making fun of me?”

“What did he do? He just smiled, just like Jared has been doing for the last two weeks.”

Mark rolled his eyes, clearly annoyed at Maya’s boy problems. He wished he was her boy problem. Unfortunately, that was not possible at all.

“Jared is different.”

“Ohhhh yesss Jared is different. He is an angel sent from heaven above.”

Mark snapped and left angrily. Maya was surprised, and half got up to go after him.

“Hey leave him alone. He will come around. He just doesn’t like sharing his friend with someone else.”

It was Jared. He had held onto Maya’s arm gently and pulled her back to sit. He was sitting on the seat beside her and that touch felt so good! The way his hand felt on her arm. It was giving her goosebumps as she looked back at him. She could see his eyes and a soft smile playing on his lips.

“Sharing?”

“Yeah…Mark seems to have realized that you have other people’s attention now and they surely will become your friends. You have such an attractive personality. I'm surprised I took so long to notice!”

Jared was calling her personality attractive? Wow..Mark should hear this! He would be so jealous.

“But you have barely spent time with me. How can you think I can be a good friend to you?”

“I've been looking at you, Maya, for a very long time. Only recently did you notice it. Look what a friend you are to Mark. How can anyone doubt your ability?”

Jared had been looking at her for a very long time? How come she never knew about this?

“Then why is it that I noticed just recently that you were looking at me?”

Maya was smart, and Jared realized even though she was head over heels for him, she would not be easily fooled. He had expected her to fall at his feet the moment he smiled at her, but that hadn’t happened. He knew Maya was not easy bait, and he had to be careful if he wanted to have some fun.

“Well, I guess you must have noticed the moment I decided to become friends with you. I've been trying to get new friends who weren’t interested in my popularity and like me for the guy I am. I wanted a little sincerity in life, and I realized it was you who would give that to me.”

Jared had a sad smile on his face. He looked so hopeful, Maya felt sorry for him. It must be so hard to be surrounded by people who don’t have their best interests at heart. Jared could see he was getting to her. He figured it out then. He could not win her with compliments. She was a kind person by heart, and he would have to appeal to that kindness. All he had to do was appear as sad and alone as possible and she would drop everything to save him.

“I want you to be my friend….I I I mm..mean if you want to, of course.”

Jared pretended to stumble on his words and acted nervous. Maya was blown away by how vulnerable he was looking, those blue eyes gazing into hers with so much hope. Of course, she would be his friend. It didn’t cost money, and it would be nice to have Jared in her life. Maybe it could lead to something else later….

“Oh Jared, of course I would love to be your friend!! Who wouldn’t want to be?”

Jared put his hand on hers and smiled shyly. Ohhh he looked so handsome, she wanted to scoot over and kiss him right there. Maya blushed and smiled too.

“Okay, so what is the first thing friends do?”

Maya blinked. She didn’t know what to answer. Did he read her mind? Did he know Maya was thinking about kissing him? But friends don’t kiss, do they?

“What?”

Jared laughed. Oh how nice he sounded. And those perfect pearly white teeth. She wanted to peek inside his mouth. She stopped herself. Get a grip Maya, don’t make a fool of yourself. And don’t ruin this once in a lifetime opportunity you have with Jared.

“Give me your number. I'll text you and we can talk over the weekend while reading the book. I'll read it with you. What do you say?”

Wow! Mark was a good friend but he was not fond of reading, and she would finally have a reading partner!!

“Oh that would be awesome! I have always wanted to read together with friends, but Mark doesn’t like to read books.”

“Who wouldn’t like reading!! Never trust anyone who doesn’t like books!”

Jared acted in mock horror, as if he couldn’t believe someone wouldn’t like reading. He pretended like it was one of the most important things a person could do.

“Oh no..I would trust Mark with my life.”

Even though Maya liked Jared, she didn’t want to talk to him anymore after what he implied about Mark. She suddenly remembered how Mark had snapped at her and was seemingly upset about something. She should have gotten up to go after him and ask if he was okay.

Jared noticed how his remark about Mark had upset Maya. He didn’t want to upset her. Not yet. It wasn’t fun like that.

“I'm sorry..I didn’t mean to say something bad about your friend, I was just trying to be funny. My friends say I'm boring and not fun to hang around with. I was afraid I was just making you bored. I thought I would try cracking a joke.”

Jared was blabbering, he clearly looked like he was panicking. Maya quickly told him it wasn't like that. He was not boring, and that he had not upset her. She told him she was just worried about Mark. Something was bothering him and she didn’t know what it was.

Oh come on! He is just jealous I got your attention. Jared wanted to roll his eyes. Maya was clueless about how Mark felt for her. The whole school knew, except her. She wasn’t as smart as he had assumed.

“Well, he is your friend. Give him some space and time, he will feel better and then you can talk to him about it. I'm sure he will be willing to talk to you about it once his emotions are in control. Sometimes all a person needs is a little space to figure out what they are feeling.”

Jared seemed so smart with his friendship advice. Maya swooned. She didn’t think men could be this sensitive and aware of other people’s feelings. Josephine always told her how men were inconsiderate and couldn’t understand how women felt.

Even though Jared didn’t have close friends, he knew how to be friends and that was even more sad. That meant he was surrounded by people who were exploiting him and he didn’t know how to get out of it. He knew how to treat people right, but people were not treating him right.