Miss Grande

Chapter 30: So Much For Taking It Slow

   The rest of my day was spent trying to look happy. After all, I was now in a 'relationship' with Trent, at least as far as everybody knew, and people in new relationships were happy. I had to seem happy.

   I had texted Camz and Sel that I was eating lunch with Trent today because he wanted to take me somewhere. They didn't know that the relationship was fake, but I was going to tell them at some point. As my best friends, they had to know that we weren't actually dating.

   Trent picked me up from Mrs. Smith's class the second the bell rung and walked me out to his car.

   "What class do you have after this?" he asked.

   "Why?"

   "Cause you looked down all day. I want to cheer you up, so we are going somewhere to sit, eat, and talk."

   I sighed. "You could tell?"

   "Well, my friends were talking about how happy you looked in the halls earlier, but when I looked over at you, I could tell that the smile was fake. We said we were going to get lunch, but we're just going to extend it a little."

   I nodded and got in his car. At least he was the only one that saw through my mask.

   The drive to the restaurant was silent with only the radio playing in the background. I didn't feel like talking just yet, and he completely understood and didn't want to push me.

   We pulled up to some place, but I didn't take a lot of time to take it in like I usually would. Trent wrapped his arm around my shoulder as we walked in, and I naturally leaned into him.

   We were seated in a small, round booth. It was spacious, but we sat directly beside each other. We ordered and got comfortable.

   "I'm paying for this one."

   "No you're not," he immediately said back.

   "You already took me out for breakfast, so this one is on me."

   "It's a date, so I'm paying. Besides, I'm the one that invited you out."

   I rolled my eyes. "I'm not in a good mood right now, so don't argue with me. I'm paying for this one."

   The waitress set down our drinks on the table with a laugh. "You guys sound just like me and my best friend."

   We smiled, not bothering to tell her that we were 'dating' since it wasn't real anyway.

   I decided to try and use this to my advantage. "Did you win?" I looked at her name tag, "Lucinda?"

   She smiled bigger, noticing I used her name. "Call me Lucy, doll, and everybody knows that the girl is always right!"

   I stuck my tongue out at him, and he mocked my action.

   Lucy chuckled at us and said, "I'll be out with your food as soon as it's ready," before she walked off.

   We thanked her, and I leaned back into him.

He looked down at me and sighed. "What's on your mind."

"She knows."

   "Who knows? What?"

   "She knows."

"About us?" It wasn't exactly what I meant, but he's not really wrong with that.

"Yeah, I told her."

"And how does she feel about it?"

"After I explained it all, she got the cutest little smile on her face. She liked the idea of it taking attention off of me and her." I sighed.

"So what's the problem?"

"That's not the only thing I told her."

"Stop being cryptic. What did you tell her."

"I told her that you know."

"Oh."

"Yeah, oh."

   "Are you upset?"

   "Honestly? No. I'm glad I can talk to somebody about it now. It's not your fault that you saw us, and honestly I'm glad it was you. This situation would be completely different if it was somebody else. I can't even begin to imagine, and frankly, I don't want to."

   "But she's trying to push you away?" he asked, probably for clarification.

   "Yeah. Well, I assume. Her response was just 'I don't know what to say.' I told her she didn't have to say anything, so she just sorta stopped talking."

"So why'd you tell her?"

"I had to tell her because she deserved to know, but I was scared this would happen. There's no telling where it goes now. We were kind of in a rut before, and what you saw was us making up. She had decided that taking it slow was worth the risk. I guess it being known heightened the risk to a level she wasn't ready for so soon. So much for taking it slow." I sighed.

   "She'll come around. She just needs time. She obviously couldn't give up on you before, so what makes you think this time is any different?"

   "You have a good point just, you weren't there. You didn't see the look in her eyes. The threat became more real. She looked so scared. As much as I want to go after her, I don't want to be the reason her life crashes."

   He nodded, attempting to take in everything I had said.

   "Thank you."

   "For?"

   "Being you. It feels so natural to share these issues with you."

   He smiled. "I kind of know where you're coming from. Liking somebody you shouldn't isn't anything close to a piece of cake. That expression 'have your cake and eat it' sucks because earning the cake was hard enough, but now you can't even enjoy it."

   I laughed slightly at his outburst and from his comparison to cake. "I'm sorry you got hurt."

    "I'm not. It's something that would have happened sooner or later. I'm just happy I got it out of the way. I learned a lot and grew to be a better me. Maybe I'll tell you about it some day." He smiled sadly, and I nodded.

It was obvious we both had more to say, but Lucy came by with our food to steer us away from the conversation, leaving the rest for later while we dug in.