Best Friends Since Kindergarten

AMY I picked at the food on my tray grumpily. The school wasn’t exactly known for being vegetarian-friendly. It was hard to pay attention to the rest of the cheer team giggling and squealing over the jocks. I was tired of hearing it. They needed to get hobbies. Not that I was really any better, if I was being honest with myself. At least I had better taste. My thoughts drifted to a pair of icy blue eyes. I sighed heavily, accidentally making myself the center of the table’s attention. “Amy, you okay?” my friend Susan asked worriedly. “This is like the 5th sigh this period, and it’s only been 20 minutes.” “Yeah, I’m fine,” I said unconvincingly. “Just hungry.” In more ways than one. “I’m sick of this cafeteria food.” “You could start packing your own lunch,” she pointed out. “You mean wake up 10 minutes earlier? I think not,” I joked. “There’s the Amy we know,” our friend Giselle laughed. Andres piped up from across the table, his aqua eyes staring at me discomfortingly. “Not much of a morning person?” My friend Rob, aka one of the only football jocks that didn’t make me want to pull my brain out through my nostrils, snorted. “Are you kidding?” “I just moved here, remember?” Andres laughed good-humoredly. Lucy, my twin, joined in the laughter. “One time she punched me in the neck when I tried to wake her up for school.” My friends kept laughing, used to my sleep-induced violence, but the others looked at me leerily. “What?” I said.  “That’s a bit much, isn’t it? What are you going to do when your husband wakes you up?” Charlie said judgmentally. I wrinkled my nose at him, disgusted. He was one of the most annoying. It’s not that there was anything heinous about him personally, but he was always there with gross comments before anyone else. This wasn’t the worst thing he’d said by far, but it did grate on my nerves. I sighed, tired of this conversation. “Yes, quite probably. I wasn’t exactly making executive decisions at the time,” I told him snarkily, avoiding his second question. My eyes glazed over him. I could tell he noticed from the way he scowled as I did it. I skimmed my glance back to Rob and Lucy. The two had just started dating. It made being around them hard- especially considering I walked home with Rob, Lucy, and Rob’s brother every day after school. It was hard being the third and fourth wheels. Especially if you were secretly in love with the fourth wheel. I sighed again. Life had been significantly easier before I had realized that a few weeks ago. I’d been hanging out with Susan in my room. We were talking about our perfect partners, and I’d realized I was just describing my best friend to a tee. I’d cried for like 40 minutes. The memory made me cringe. I groaned and lay my head down on my arms. “Seriously,” Susan said. “You’re scaring me, Amy.”  The others had resumed their conversation, leaving Giselle and Susan staring at me worriedly. Andres walked around from his end of the table and sat on the other side of me from where Giselle and Susan were sitting. “Do you need to go to the nurse?” he asked, gently resting a hand against my forehead. I could practically feel Giselle and Susan drooling. They had been obsessed with him from the moment he walked in the school’s doors for the first time a few months ago. He didn’t seem particularly interested in anyone though. He was attractive enough, objectively, but not my type. Tall, blonde, and blue eyed. Just like Susan, if she played football and was also a guy. It irritated me that he took the empty seat next to me. Nobody ever sat there, though plenty of guys had tried. Most people were just used to me needing a little space. Rob and Lucy were the only ones who knew I was secretly saving the spot for Rob’s brother, should he ever decide not to skip lunch. It was a deal we’d had going since second grade, even though it felt a bit silly now. I almost snapped at Andres, but sighed instead, knowing he was trying to be nice. “No,” I said gruffly. “I think I just need to-“ Before I could figure out what I needed to do, exactly, Rob stood up abruptly from the table. “Gotta go. Amy,” he looked over at me and c****d his head to the side. I noticed he was holding his phone in his hand. He flashed me the screen. All it said was “RYAN GYM NOW!” My heart leapt in my throat and it took all my energy not to fly out of the chair. That could only mean one thing- Ryan was up to something stupid. “Gotcha,” I said, standing up quickly. “Wait, what’s happening?” Andres asked with a frown, confused by my sudden turn-around. “My brother’s making bad decisions,” Rob said glumly. Charlie rolled his eyes. “What else is new? Stop letting him drag you and Amy down with him. Finish lunch.” I opened my mouth to say something nasty, but Rob was already leaning across the table. He grabbed hold of Charlie’s shirt. “Say that again,” he said in a low voice. For a moment, I could see the relation to Ryan. The clench of his jaw, the glare in his blue eyes. Ryan and Rob were fraternal twins, but they shared enough similarities to confuse most people. “Do you need backup?” Andres asked. “Probably not,” I told him. “I’m coming with you,” he told me. I glowered at him, annoyed by the weird heroism he was starting to exhibit. He’d been acting weird like this the past week or two and it was driving me nuts. I didn’t understand why boys did this, but it always seemed to happen. Rob and Ryan were the only two who treated me like I wasn’t made of glass. I heard Charlie squeal, distracting me from Andres for a moment. Rob dropped Charlie in disgust and turned to me. “Let’s go.” I nodded and grabbed my bag. The three of us walked quickly out of the cafeteria. I followed Rob closely, trying to keep from skipping. I am such an i***t, I thought. What if Ryan’s hurt? The thought sobered me enough to walk like normal. We slipped through the empty halls quietly, then rounded the corner towards the gym. I could hear the yelling from here. Some guy shouting for help. Rob and I exchanged glances and picked up speed. Andres followed suit, though he was clearly confused. Rob shoved open the gymnasium doors. Dominic, one of Rob and Ryan’s oldest friends, stood in the doorway. He looked relieved as we bustled in. “Thank god-“ he started to say. My eyes bounced off of him to Ryan, who was straddling some other guy on the ground. Ryan was punching his face, expression furious. His dark hair hung messily down in front of his icy blue eyes. His sharp jaw was clenched tight, lips scowling. His body was godlike- even his butt. His lightly tanned skin looked silky soft in the weird gym lighting. I realized my mouth was watering and quickly shoved these thoughts deep down. I heard Andres come to an abrupt stop behind me as we took in the sight. Ryan caught hold of the guy’s shirt. “Say it again, punk,” Ryan snarled. The guy gasped for air. “I’m sorry- I won’t say it again. Please, just let me go,” the guy begged. “I’m asking you to say it again,” Ryan said with a nasty smile on his face. “So say it.” The guy started to cry. “Say it!” Ryan ordered, shaking the guy. My heart clenched. As scary as Ryan could be, more than anything it just hurt to see him like this. I’d realized a couple years ago that to make Ryan genuinely angry, you had to jab at the people he loved. Otherwise, it was all a joke to him. People said nasty things about him all the time, but he rarely took offense. To see him like this was to see him actually hurting. Not to excuse his actions- I knew better than anyone what an asshat he could be- but it was hard to be angry at him when I just wanted to wrap my arms around him and hold him.   “Ryan!” Rob snapped. Ryan turned his head towards us, expression dark. “What the f**k are you doing?” Ryan looked back at the kid dangling from his fist and dropped the guy. “Dealing with a thorn in my side,” he said coldly. He climbed off the guy, who was still crying and sauntered over to Rob, expression dark. “Why’re you here?” My eyes raked over him. No visible bruises. He didn’t appear injured at all, in fact. He stood a few inches taller than his brother, at about 6’2”. His icy blue eyes looked perfectly clear and sharp. Sober as anything. Not drunk or high then- kid must’ve really f****d up. His dark hair was wildly mussed, flung about from the fight. “Checking on you,” Rob snapped. “We could hear that kid yelling for help from down the hall.” “We?” Ryan asked. He peered around Rob and Dominic, catching sight of me and Andres. “Amy,” he breathed, like he hadn’t just been pummeling someone’s face in. “You shouldn’t be here,” he said, eyes concerned. I started to step towards him, but Andres caught hold of my arm. “Amy,” he warned. I yanked my arm out of his grasp, giving him a scowl. I pushed past Rob and Dominic to hug Ryan. He hesitated a moment before wrapping his arms around me tightly. “Ryan, why are you such an i***t?” I grumbled into his chest. He laughed sharply. “You always know just what to say,” he said drily. I stepped back and looked at him from arm’s length. He grinned down at me, looking like his usual cocky self. “What happened?” I asked, trying to glance around Ryan at the guy groaning on the ground. Ryan shifted slightly so I couldn’t see. “Icarus flew too close to the sun,” he said sarcastically. “Got burned.” I raised an eyebrow at him. “Look, I’ll tell you on the way home, okay?” I nodded. Rob sighed, raking a hand through his hair. “We should get out of here. Get this kid to the nurse.” “I’ve got it,” Andres said. We all looked at him. “Who are you exactly?” Ryan asked, squinting at him dangerously. “Kid doesn’t deserve medical treatment.” Andres’s eyes flashed- he started opening his mouth, but I quickly interjected. “Ryan, this is my friend Andres. Andres, meet my best friend Ryan.” Ryan’s expression soured as he looked at Andres. I knew if Ryan thought I cared about Andres he wouldn’t start a fight with him though. “I think the kid has been punished enough,” I added to Ryan. His jaw clenched and I punched him lightly in the shoulder. “Be nice,” I warned. Ryan chuckled. “Or what?” “Or you get to be third wheel and I’ll get a ride home with someone.” “You wouldn’t,” Ryan scowled. “You know I would.” We glared at each other for a second before he caved. He was stubborn, but I was worse, and we both knew it. “Fine, deal,” he said. He offered his hand to me and we shook on it. “Let’s get out of here,” he said, hooking an arm around my shoulders. Rob just shook his head at us. “You really are two birds of a feather,” he said. I could hear Andres helping the kid up behind Ryan. They brushed past us, Andres stopping for a second and gesturing to the side with his head for me to come talk to him. I sighed and wiggled out of Ryan’s hold to follow him. I didn’t want to hear the lecture on how bad Ryan was for me, but avoiding it wouldn’t make it go away. Ryan and Rob followed behind us with Dominic, chatting casually. As though there wasn’t a bleeding kid being led away in front of them. “Seriously?” Andres said to me incredulously, as soon as we were a little ways ahead. “Seriously what?” I asked innocently. “That guy is not safe,” he said flatly. “I didn’t realize he was Rob’s brother.” “I’ve known him since kindergarten,” I said soothingly. “Are you kidding? That means nothing to a guy like him. He is not your best friend,” Andres said. “What do you mean?” I asked in spite of myself. “He reeks of possessiveness. You’re his toy,” Andres spat. I glowered at him. “Look, you don’t know Ryan,” I said flatly. Andres shook his head. “Don’t need to. Do your other friends beat people to a pulp often?” I shifted uncomfortably. “Not to my knowledge.” He sighed. “Look, I get that you’ve known him for a long time and only known me a couple of months. But trust me when I say I’ve known too many people like him, and he can’t be good for you.” I frowned, but before I could say anything, Ryan was on my other side. “Did you eat already?” he asked cheerfully. “Technically,” I said with a snort. “Bad cafeteria food doesn’t count.” “Then no.” “You have a free next right?” Ryan asked as if he didn’t already know. “You betcha.” “Great, now you have lunch.” He hooked his arm around my shoulders again. “Bye bye, blondie!” he told Andres as he tugged me down an adjacent hallway with Rob. Andres glowered at him angrily but didn’t say anything before turning away and leading the kid into the nurse’s. Rob followed us until we were almost to the cafeteria, then said he couldn’t ditch Lucy. “Bring her with,” Ryan said with a shrug. “Neither of us have a free,” Rob said. “Neither do I!” Ryan said cheerfully. “But that’s part of the fun.” I lightly punched him in the stomach, ignoring the urge to press my palm against his abs. “I am not helping you skip class,” I told him firmly. “Let me put it this way,” he told me. “Either I skip class and go off doing god knows what, or I skip class and take you out for lunch. Your call.” I sighed. This was always his argument. I still hadn’t figured out a good comeback. “Fine. But only because I’m starving,” I grumbled. He smiled at me softly. “Bye, dorks,” Rob said as he drifted away into the cafeteria. I saw Lucy waving him over to our table before the door shut behind him.