Feeling on the spot, my defense mechanism kicked in and my sarcasm was back in a wicked way. “Sounds like someone is jealous. Why, did you want Asher too? Ryder wasn’t enough to handle your needy ass? Or, is it because you really wanted Asher all along? You know what, never mind, go deep throat a cactus or something. I’m hungry. Let’s go Asher.” I grumbled, while dragging Asher down the hall to the cafeteria.
Finally getting to eat, I barged through the open doors and found everyone’s eyes on me. Whoops. Well, now that I made a scene, I looked back in search of Asher. At some point, I lost him on my way to eat. Honestly, I just wanted to get as far away from the screeching banshee, Skylar. I found Asher a few feet behind me and grabbed his hand to continue the search of the other guys.
Finding Grayson, because he was so tall, even his broad shoulders stuck out, we strolled through the room until we got to the table. Sitting down, I huffed in exhaustion, or maybe that was just because I was over today’s bullshit. Grayson and Ryder looked up from their food and gave me an inquiring look.
“Hello to you too boys. How is your day going? Great? Fantastic. Mine is just peachy.” I chirped, trying to sound like nothing was bothering me.
Apparently I wasn’t as convincing as I thought because Grayson rumbled across the table, “What the fuck is going on, Malia?”
“Oh, nothing short of running into Ryder’s girlfriend.” I almost cracked a smile when Ryder started to choke on his burger.
“I don’t have a girlfriend, Malia,” he grumbled at me like I did something wrong.
“Well, you might want to inform her of that because she thinks you are sharing me with Asher. Who knows, if she sees me walking around with Grayson in the halls the rumors might evolve into a polyamorous relationship.” I retorted right back at him.
At this point, the guys were looking at me like I had three heads. I guess they weren’t expecting that. Poor Asher. He looked confused, so I quirked an eyebrow his way, silently asking what he was confused about. He started to blush while asking quietly, “What does that mean?” This actually made Grayson turn his lips into a small smile, one that really transformed his face into something that should be in magazines.
“It means we would all be Malia’s boyfriends and she would be our girlfriend. That brings into the whole sharing thing that apparently Ryder’s ‘girlfriend’ thinks is going on with us.” Grayson explained.
I didn’t think that Asher’s cheeks could turn any redder than they already were. I was proven wrong as his blush started to spread. He really was fucking adorable.
“For the last time, Skylar is not my girlfriend!” Ryder yelled and hit the table with his fists.
I got the impression he didn’t mean to, by the look on his face when he realized everyone was staring at him. It just so happened that when Ryder announced this to everyone, Skylar was standing at the door. She gasped so loud everyone heard her, or maybe it was just because the cafeteria was now silent. The look of sadness on her face was gone in a flash and replaced with such a sinister look it freaked me out. Of course, I didn’t let her see that, I never would. Ryder looked at all of us, then started to laugh a deep belly laugh.
“That couldn’t have been more perfectly timed.”
At this point, everyone was back to eating. I just wanted this day to be over with. I finished my food while the guys were talking about football.
When the bell rang for our next class, I got up to throw my trash away. Since our budget was next to nothing, I just had some crackers and a bottle of water.
Ryder grabbed my hand and we were on our way to class, when I got abruptly pulled into a corner under the steps. Ryder put his hands on each side of my head, effectively blocking me out of sight, since his body was so broad.
“Malia, Skylar is not my girlfriend. We hooked up once over the summer and it was a mistake. Probably the biggest I ever made. I am not sure what she is up to, but please just try and stay away from her. She causes trouble wherever she goes and I don’t want that for you.” I think my heart skipped a beat hearing this and I tried to ignore it. The last thing I needed was to get caught up in drama over a guy. He was so close to me, I could feel his breath in my hair while he talked, which gave me a shiver down my spine. I tried to hide it, not wanting him to know the effect he had on me.
Leaning upon the tip of my toes I whispered back, “Don’t worry, there isn’t anything she could find out that could hurt me. Thanks for looking out for me, Ryder.” I gave him a kiss on the cheek and ducked under his arms so we weren’t late.
Leading the way, with Ryder following close behind, I thought about what he said. There was literally nothing that Skylar could find on me that would bother me. Of course, my dad was a drunk, but I dealt with that.
It wasn’t something that I was ashamed of because I knew it wasn’t my fault. There wasn’t a damn thing that would make my dad happy again. He had been like this since my mom left us before I was a year old. Since then he had been doing what he was obligated to, just barely, but that was about it. Now that I was older I basically had to fend for myself. While thinking about this, tears sprung to my eyes. The only thing that really bothered me was the feeling of not being good
