Chapter 08
"Ayeeee!" We exclaimed in unison with our hands up earning glares from people around us.
Chris, Dean and I were in a diner and believe it or not, we were tossing strawberries into each other's mouths. We had become quite the trio actually. If we were to star some badass movie, Chris would be the man-with-the-plan, Dean would be the super hot brains and I'll just be, you know, very awesome at fighting bad guys. Well, the point is that, three of us were really close friends now who hang out a lot.
It was Friday and we didn't have any other class for the rest of the day.
Except Chris.
I rubbed my palms together, "Okay, my turn. Shoot me."
Chris picked up a strawberry and threw it carefully into my open mouth. I felt in land on my tongue.
"Ayeeeee!" We exclaimed with our hands up, again. Earning dirty looks from other people, again.
I couldn't care less about how they looked at us. None of them had told us to shut up or keep it down.
"Okay, okay, my turn." Dean smirked.
I picked up a strawberry and looked at Dean to see his mouth wide open, then I threw the strawberry forcefully at his forehead.
Chris laughed.
"Chip, what the hell?!" Dean pouted.
"Not everyone is good at catching food with their open mouths Dean, we get it." I shrugged nonchalantly.
"You are so annoying, you know that, right?" He sighed, a little smile dancing on his lips.
"I do." I said sweetly.
I heard the bell on the front door jiggle and a group of barbies walked in, all tall, long legs, beautiful skin and pretty faces. I diverted my gaze from them and looked back at my friends.
"So," Chris spoke, "there's this guy in my class, he invited me-which is us-to a frat party tomorrow night. I'm pretty sure Dean has already been invited though, you might know those guys."
Dean simply shrugged.
"So, what do you say, G?" Chris spoke again.
"I don't know, Chris.." I trailed off.
"No, no, no, no! No, Grace! You can't say no to this one, you have no reason to, it's not on a school night. We're college students now, Grace! School work's been all up our asses, we haven't had time for fun. You'd go, dress like a hoe and flirt your ass off. You'd get laid or even better, get yourself a smoking hot boyfriend." Chris ranted.
Dean shifted uncomfortably in his seat.
I threw my food at Chris, "Shut up, Chris. I'm not going, especially when you'd make it look like I'd go there like there's a sign on my head screaming; f**k ME! f**k ME NOW!"
Dean laughed.
"Come on, Dean, back me up here. Don't you think we should go?" Chris asked.
"Well, I'd think it'd be pretty awesome if we just..."
"Oh my God, Dean Ryan?!" A high pitched voice beamed loudly in the restaurant.
Chris and I looked up to see an angry looking brunette walking over to our booth, Dean's seat was facing ours so he had to turn back to see who the voice belonged to. Dean swiftly whipped his head back, facing us, a look of horror on his face.
The brunette finally reached our table and slammed her palm on the table.
Dean faced her, scratching the back of his head, "Hey Martha."
I leaned back in my seat. This should be fun.
"You stupid fuckface motherfucker, you haven't called me since. You don't return my calls or my messages, I've started to think you changed your number! You bloody hoe, you think it is funny? Leaving me hanging?" She raised her voice.
Her Mexican accent made everything she was saying a lot more funny.
"Well..." Dean nervously tried to reason.
"I thought we had something special, you told me I was beautiful!" She boomed.
"Because you really, really are." Dean tried to smile.
"But that wasn't enough for you, was it? You don't just do that, you sick f**k. You don't just raise my hopes and leave like it's f*****g nothing! I waited, every freaking minute for your call, you b***h!" She shouted angrily.
People were staring as I tried to control my laughter.
"Martha, we can talk about this..." Dean mumbled.
"You know, what? f**k you." She fumed as she picked up the can of coke in front of him and to nobody's surprise, poured the content on his head. "And it's Marla."
Dean's eyes were widened in disbelief as he sat there looking like a wet puppy.
"Everything alright here?" A chubby man, whom I assumed was the manager, asked.
"I was just leaving." Marla said as she pushed past the chubby manager and walked away and out of the diner, her fellow barbies trailing behind her.
"I'll get towels. I apologize." The man said as he walked away.
Immediately, Chris and I burst into a fit of laughter and Dean glared at us.
"Really, Dean? Really?" Chris laughed uncontrollably and snapped a picture of him with his iPhone.
"If you were gonna screw the chick, you could've at least learnt her name." I snickered.
"I hate you guys." Dean groaned as he sunk into his seat.
* * * *
"I'll tell you a word and you'll say the first thing that comes to mind. Okay?" Dean asked, looking down at me.
"Okay." I agreed.
"Chocolate." He started.
"Amazing."
"Makeup." He said.
"Necessary."
"Male models."
"Overrated."
"Ice cream."
"Best damn thing ever."
He chuckled, "Chips."
"Dean."
He looked at me with a smile on his face, "Really?"
"Yeah, you call me Chip most of the time." I admitted truthfully.
He blushed. "Pickles."
"Barf."
"Poetry." He said.
"Everything."
"Happiness."
"Rare."
"Scars." He said.
"Past."
"Dean."
"Stupid." I said with emphasis.
"Hey!" He chuckled. "I was expecting something amazing like 'hot' or 'the man of my dreams'."
"You f*****g wish!" I exclaimed, a grin tugging at my lips.
I kicked on some stones as we turned left. Dean and I were taking a walk around campus while we waited for Chris to be done with his class, just because. Well, I was the one to keep busy while I wait for Chris but Dean offered to wait with me and keep me company.
A group of girls passed us, giggling irritatingly.
"Barbies." I rolled my eyes.
"You know, for someone that calls girls barbies a lot, you look more like a Barbie than they do." Dean told me.
I gasped, placing my hand on my chest, "Dean?! Take that back!"
"But it's true!" He reasoned.
I slapped him on his shoulder. "How dare you?"
"Okay for starters, you're blonde, like Barbie blonde. Your eyes are green. You're skinny and you really enjoy the whole girly dressing, from what I've picked up. You're literally a living Barbie." He shrugged.
"That hurt, Dean." I pouted.
He laughed, "You look cute with that face."
I rolled my eyes.
Two girls walked passed us, flashing seductive smirks, "Hey Dean."
"Hey girls." He smiled sweetly at them.
"Hoe." I remarked.
"What?!" He exclaimed.
"You're such a hoe."
"I was just returning a friendly greeting. How am I a hoe?"
"You just are. With all these girls fawning over you. Look what happened with Marla today. You didn't even remember the poor girl's name." I pointed out.
He sighed, looking down at his feet.
"Why do you sleep around anyway?" I blurted out.
He looked at me with a frown etched on his face, "I don't sleep around, Grace."
I gave him a pointed look.
"Really, I don't." He looked serious. "You've just seen with me a lot of girls because I'm nice like that. I don't sleep with all the girls on campus, Grace. I'm not like that and I hate that that's what everybody thinks. I hate that that's what you think."
But he wasn't done.
"I just feel like I can be with whomever I want when I don't owe anyone commitment. I can be in a committed relationship if I want, I just choose not to. Have you know, I was in a relationship with someone for a year, s**t just happened. And what happened with Marla was complicated, I had no idea she felt I was leading her on. I was just being friendly and the night we hooked up, I had some to drink and wasn't in the best mood so I wasn't thinking straight. The reason why I didn't return any of her calls was because I felt guilty, like she'd expect something that I couldn't give her, I felt like I used her. So, yeah. I do not sleep around." He finished.
I was silent as I processed everything.
Wow.
"I'm sorry." I apologized. "I shouldn't have just assumed."
He didn't say anything.
"Dean?" I called out, looking up at him.
He ruffled my hair and pulled me to his side, "It's okay, Chip."
I sighed in relief. For a moment I felt he was mad at me.
"Back to our game?" He smiled.
I almost forgot about it.
I nodded.
"Education." He said.
"Important."
"Frat parties."
I gave him a pointed look, "Not gonna happen."
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