Laura put a French fry in her mouth, disappointed at the way he was speaking with her. They said no more awkwardness, but Josh was acting like he wanted to be anywhere but with her. Still, she kept a smile on her features.
“I don’t think there are,” she shrugged. “It’s just me.”
Gray was worried. Terribly so. Usually, he and Laura ate together and though he wanted to eat lunch with his girlfriend, he couldn’t leave his best friend alone. But when he got to the spot she usual waited for him at, Laura wasn’t there. Neither was she in her classroom, nor was she answering her phone.
Worry gnawed at his throat. Where was she? If she was off flirting, she would have told him. She would have at least kept her phone turned on. She didn’t, hence the concern.
The faintest of blushes bloomed across Josh’s cheeks as he spoke his next words. “You’re pretty amazing to be ‘just Laura’.”
“Gray!”
Violeta ran up to her boyfriend from behind, feeling a rush of exhilaration as she jumped up and wrapped her arms around him.
Laura froze at his words. Usually, she’d flirt back. She was a master at flirting, but Josh. Josh rendered her completely and utterly speechless. Laura found her face turning hot at his comment.
“I—thank you…” she whispered quietly, drinking her water to cool herself down. All he said was that she was amazing to be just Laura. Why was her treacherous heart beating so fast?
Gray immediately felt better when his girlfriend hugged him from behind. He nearly stumbled but grinned when he saw her. Gray twisted to face her and wrapped his own arms around her.
“My girlfriend,” he hummed, kissing her on the forehead. “You look so happy. I’m glad.”
Josh's heart was beating faster and faster, spinning out of his control. Had he just rendered Laura Atkinson speechless? Swallowing thickly, he tore his eyes from her flushed face. "Was that the wrong thing to say?"
Violeta's lips curved into an enormous smile as she pressed against Gray, slipping her arms around his waist. But when she peered closely at his expression, she saw traces of concern.
"Gray?" she questioned, "Is something wrong?"
“What? No,” Laura shook her head, trying to get rid of the red on her cheeks. She was a player, for God’s sake. Flirting was her best quality. What was she doing, getting flustered over someone not even flirting with her? “Definitely not. I just didn’t expect you to say that.”
Gray bent down to kiss her, pulling back resting his forehead against hers.
“Uh, I usually have lunch with Laura,” he answered slowly. “But her phone’s off. She’s not at her class, nor at the place we usually meet. She hasn’t told me anything, so I’m… worried.”
Josh gave a tiny, nearly imperceptible nod, rubbing bashfully at the back of his neck. Though he hadn't scored any points with her…. the pink staining her cheeks still felt like a win.
It's not a win, he told himself, Stop imagining things. And stop saying stupid, sappy stuff, while you're at it.
"Oh…."
Violeta's brows knit together, concern flickering across her features. "Are you sure she didn't have plans today? Maybe she's at her dorm?"
Laura was never good with awkward silences. She was also never good with dealing with feelings. It was always nice having no strings attached. That way, she could easily act like a fox.
Josh… was trying to knock her down to her knees without even knowing it. God, if only he knew how conflicted he was making her feel.
“You know…” Laura started, mistaking his bashfulness as him feeling uncomfortable with it. “If you don’t want to hang out with me, you really don’t have to.”
Gray shook his head. “She tells me when she has plans,” he breathed. “Even if she’s out on a date, she always lets me know in case I ever need her. And she never leaves her phone off, no matter what.”
Josh’s head snapped up.
“Where’d you get that idea, Laura?” he asked, confusion crossing his features. “Of course I want to hang out with you, I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t.”
“Where could she be?”
Violeta interlaced her fingers with Gray’s, knowing his friend was important to him. “Let’s go find her?”
Of course I want to hang out with you.
Laura’s heart soared. She hoped her face wasn’t as hot as it felt. Yes, she was acting like a teenager with a crush. She was hopeless. Utterly hopeless.
“I dunno,” she tried shrugging nonchalantly, but there was a stupid smile on her features. He said he wanted to hang out with her. Josh said that he wanted to hang out with her. “You seem pretty uncomfortable.”
Gray looked at Violeta, gratefulness on his features. She’d sacrifice her free time searching for someone she didn’t even know? She was amazing. No wonder Gray fell for her.
“We could try the courtyard first,” he suggested. “That’s the first place she’d probably at. Thank you, Vy.”
The look on Laura’s face whipped Josh’s poor heart into a frenzy. That smile…. had it always been so beautiful?
He forced the thought to the back of his mind, swallowing the lump in his throat. “I’m not uncomfortable, don’t worry. Are you?”
Tucking herself beneath one of her boyfriend’s arms, Violeta began to lead him in the direction of the courtyard. “Anytime, Gray. And—I was meaning to ask you. Are you free after class today? I was thinking—maybe we could go somewhere? A—On a first date? Or you could come over and we could order pizza?”
Laura popped a French fry in her mouth, licking her lips, missing the way Josh was looking at her. “Definitely not,” she shook her head. “I’m not uncomfortable. Not even a tiny bit.”
Gray pressed her closer to him, kissing her softly on her cheek. “We should go out,” he suggested. “Where do you wanna go? I’ll take you anywhere you wanna go, unless you’d like it to be a surprise?”
"Surprise me," Violeta agreed, a blissfully happy expression crossing her face. Cheeks flushed, she scanned their surroundings, but didn't catch sight of the girl they were looking for.
"I'm glad," Josh murmured, finally finishing his burger off. "This tastes exactly like meat. D'you think they scammed me and gave me an actual burger, but just pretended it was plant-based?"
“I will,” Gray pressed another kiss to her cheek. He pulled away and looked around, spotting a mess of pink hair sitting under an umbrella table, eating. Gray scowled.
Laura snorted. “I’d say yes, actually. What if they did? You were scammed, Josh. This burger was five dollars more than the regular, meat burger. What are you going to do about it?”
Before Josh could reply, Laura felt a shiver crawl up a spine as she felt a murderous intent aimed at her. And then she heard that voice.
“Laura Atkinson,” she winced, turning around to give her friend a sheepish grin. “What do you think you’re doing?”
Laura gave Gray a grin. “I’m eating?”
Her friend glared harder. “Why is your phone turned off? You disappeared without a word. Did you know how worried I was? You told me absolutely nothing!”
Laura felt touched. He was worried about her. He came looking for her. But then she furrowed her eyebrows. “My phone isn’t—“ she took it out of her pocket to find out that yes, it was turned off. She laughed nervously. “I might have forgotten to charge it last night. And I’m okay. I’m with Josh.”
The young male finally took notice of the other guy present. He stiffened.
Violeta's eyes widened slightly when she saw Josh, sitting awfully close to the young woman she and Gray had been looking for. What is he doing? she wondering, sending a slight eyebrow-raise in his direction.
Josh froze the moment a familiar voice slammed against his ears.
Gray.
Slowly, anxiously, he turned his head to meet the other man's eyes, but his gaze skipped straight past him and landed right on Violeta. Suddenly, his heart felt like breaking all over again.
"Laura and I were having lunch," he told Gray weakly, angling his face downwards.
Gray stared down at Josh, then at Laura. What the hell was she doing? The way they were sitting—so close together. Was she looking for trouble?
“Okay,” Gray finally responded, shoving his hands in his pockets. He never removed his eyes from Laura, who glared back, daring him to make a remark. “Lunch.”
“I invited him,” she narrowed her eyes. “I figured it would be nice for you and Violeta to spend time together, so I went out of your hair. Josh was alone, so I invited him.”
Violeta leaned into Gray, doing her best to calm him down while remaining silent. Her hand slipped around his waist, tugging him slightly closer.
The sigh of Josh…. it brought back so much guilt, so much shame. I'm sorry, she wanted to say to him, Forgive me?
Laura swallowed when Gray’s eyes bore into hers. She was with a man he did not like. Her, his best friend. She couldn’t imagine the coldness he was feeling. But she could make her own decisions, couldn’t she?
To her surprise, Gray’s eyes shifted back to Josh. They were relentless, but Laura detected no ill intentions.
“I was going to let you have her,” he finally said, squeezing his girlfriend’s hand. Laura caught the wince Josh gave. Her heart trembled. “Because I thought she liked you. But I couldn’t stay away from her. And she chose me, so she’s mine and I’m hers. And if you’re merely playing Laura just to get back at me, then I promise you, you will regret it.”
Laura’s eyes flashed. “Gray—“
Josh flinched visibly, his head snapping up. "What kind of a person do you think I am, Gray?"
I was going to let you have her.
I thought she liked you.
Each word struck him like a slap to the face. "Laura and I were just having lunch. It's not a date, Gray. I'm not playing her and I have nothing against you, so stop giving yourself that much credit."
Laura winced at Gray’s words. Of course he’d think that. He’d been there with her when she had been a rebound. His concern wasn’t just because of the dislike he felt. It ran much deeper than that.
And then the way Josh flinched. He was just a good guy. He didn’t deserve this. He didn’t deserve seeing the girl he likes holding the hand of the man she claimed she hated.
“Stop it, both of you,” Laura finally stepped in, narrowing her eyes. “That’s enough. That was a wrong thing to say, Gray, though I don’t blame you for it. And Josh, he doesn’t mean it like that. I promise. Can’t you both just stop glaring at each other like that and get along?”
Josh clenched his teeth and looked away, ignoring Violeta's attempts to catch his eye. "Since your friend evidently doesn't want me here," he told Laura softly and rose to his feet. "I guess I'll be going. Don't want things to get too heated. Have a nice day, Laura. You too, Violeta."
Gray felt a bit of regret at the wince Laura gave when he said that. Her eyes were shining in panic.
“No, wait,” she reached out for him, “We still haven’t finished lunch yet. Josh, stay. With me.”
Gray finally sighed, running a hand through his hair. “If you want to hang out with Laura, as long as you treat her right, I don’t have any disagreements with you. I don’t dislike you, either. The problem isn’t between you and me.”
"I'm not sure about that, Gray," Josh answered, quiet now. "Considering the fact that you look at me like you want to murder me all the time."
Purposely avoiding Violeta's eyes, he turned back towards Laura. "It's fine, Laura, I should probably go, anyways. I promised my roommate I'd help him with something, but I'll text you later."
Before either of them could protest, he was turning around, and walking away.
Laura watched him leave, heaving a tired sigh, running her fingers through her hair in distress. She swallowed before looking at Gray, who looked away instead.
“Laura, I’m—“
“Save it,” his friend interrupted, scowling. “Just—save it, all right? I get it. I get why you did that. I get why you reacted like that. But you don’t—you don’t get to do that. I can take care of myself. I can do that perfectly fine and things were going good with Josh. Now he probably won’t even want to be near me anymore.”
Gray flinched again, not saying anything back. It made her far more infuriated than she’d ever felt. Then he opened his mouth and she froze.
“Do you like him, Laura?” He questioned and she swallowed thickly. “Do you?”
“No!” She shook her head immediately, “Yes. Maybe. I don’t know. He’s—sweet. Different. I feel different around him than I’ve felt with any other man. I don’t know.”
Gray just stared her before he shook his head with a sigh. “You’re so much trouble, aren’t you?”
Violeta took a hesitant step back from the two of them, her shoulders tensing slightly as she watched them argue.
“Do you—Do you want me to give you two some time alone?” she asked meekly, afraid of making the situation worse.
Gray and Laura fixed their stare on Violeta before Laura broke it. She shook her head.
“No, we’re done,” she said simply. “There’s no point in arguing about this. Go have lunch. There’s thirty minutes left.”
