Work Text:
Kelly Lawson wasn’t a bad person by any means, quite the opposite actually. For some reason however, Jecka didn’t like her. But sitting with her sure beat sitting at lunch alone.
“Do you watch The Bachelorette?” Kelly asked.
“Fuck no! All the guys on that show are ugly.”
“What about Say Yes to the Dress?”
Jecka crossed her arms on her chest and looked at the bleached blonde in disdain. “Is there anything you watch that isn't a reality show?”
Kelly's brows furrowed. “Don’t be rude to me like that! I’m just trying to have a conversation.”
“I’m only sitting with you because I have no one else to talk to.” The blonde was deadpan and matter of fact in her delivery.
“Why do I even bother trying to be friends with you?”
“Like you have any chance of being my friend in the first place.”
Kelly got up from her seat. “Ughhhh, fuck you Jecka! Have fun at lunch all alone!” She walked away from the table in anger as she went over to where Ari and Karen were seated.
An empty seat was staring right at Jecka. “Maybe I’ll sit at Trody’s table and get him and his friends to fight over me.” The blonde said to herself aloud as her cell phone began ringing. As soon as she saw who was calling, annoyance began to consume her.
“Where the fuck are you today?” Jecka asked sternly.
“I caught the swine flu.” The girl on the other end of the phone spoke very casually and did not even sound like she was sick.
“You sound perfectly fine to me.”
“I don’t feel perfectly fine. My stomach’s been killing me since last night.”
“That’s not even a flu symptom Nicole!”
“Well I still don't feel like I should be in school today.”
“Well maybe you shouldn’t have gone to town on the Red Lobster cheesy biscuits last night!”
“Dude, I never get a stomach ache from Red Lobster. This has to be the swine flu.”
“Last night you didn’t even know what the swine flu was! I know you’re just saying you have it just to skip school without getting in trouble.”
“Why are you so annoyed that I’m not in school today?”
“Because I have no one else to sit with at lunch.”
“Walk out of the cafeteria and smoke in the courtyard.”
“Miss Lynn just had to choose today of all days to smoke out there on her lunch break.”
“You can’t smoke in the bathroom?”
“And risk getting caught by the psycho cop? No fucking thanks!”
“Figure this all out on your own. I feel like I’m about to die right now. Bye!”
Nicole hung up before her friend could even say goodbye back. Jecka let out a fatigued groan.
“Bull fucking shit! There hasn’t been a single case of the swine flu in Virginia.” Jecka said aloud.
As Jecka took a deep breath, her attention was turned to the two girls approaching her lunch table.
“Can we sit with you Jecka?” The blonde turned around and noticed Karen with Ari.
Jecka sighed. “What happened?”
“Me and Karen need to get away from Kelly.” Ari looked a bit nervous. “J-just for today.” The redhead blushed.
“She won’t stop talking about Keeping Up With the Kardashians.” Karen said.
“Now she talks about a show I actually watch.” Jecka looked mildly annoyed.
“Why am I not surprised you watch that trash?” Ari asked frustratedly.
“Does this mean we can’t sit with you?” Karen asked nervously.
“If it’s just for today, I don’t see a problem.”
As the two girlfriends sat down, Jecka began to feel awkward. She didn’t have to worry about sitting alone which was relieving. But there was an odd irony to Jecka looking to the girl she ditched at lunch for accompaniment.
She also just didn’t even know what conversation she could start with her former best friend at this point. And it wasn’t just because Jecka didn’t read Twilight or Harry Potter anymore.
There was the legitimate concern that Karen was just playing nice with her. After all, she only asked because her and Ari wanted to get away from Kelly for a day. It’s also been four years since Jecka ditched Karen to look cool for some guys. For all she knew her bespectacled ex-best friend could be hiding her anger.
If that wasn’t enough, the thing that made this situation all the more awkward now was that Karen had a girlfriend. Not that Jecka would ever consider dating any of the guys at school, they all sucked but something about the quiet nerdy girl having a girlfriend and Jecka who had the reputation of being the preppy queen bee of LHS being single didn’t feel right.
Jecka seriously considered just getting up and going to the library to get a head start on her homework. But it was like her heart kept telling her that she just couldn’t leave Karen behind again. Why did she feel this way about someone who she stopped talking to years ago?
“So uhhhh… Karen. How’s it been dating Ari?” Jecka tried to hide the fact that she was really nervous as she asked that.
Karen smiled and her eyes lit up. “I’ve been really happy with her, Jecka. She sleeps over at my house every weekend, we go to the bookstore with each other and even play video games together.” Ari smiled at her girlfriend as she heard that.
“That’s really nice.” Jecka said in a flat tone that was doing a poor job of hiding just how uneasy she was.
“Ari got me into the Percy Jackson books. It’s like when we used to read Harry Potter together.” Karen had a warm blush of nostalgia on her face as she was recalling the fond memories she had with Jecka during her childhood.
“Yeah those were good times. You think I’d like Percy Jackson?” Jecka wasn’t even sure why she asked that. But whatever kept the conversation going was all that mattered at this point.
The black-haired girl looked to her girlfriend. “Ari, can Jecka borrow the Lightning Thief from you?”
“Actually I’m good.” Jecka stammered.
Realizing that she just couldn’t keep a conversation going with Karen any longer, Jecka reached for her bookbag. Karen definitely wouldn’t think it was rude if Jecka did her homework at the lunch table.
“Jecka, can I ask you something?” Karen asked as Jecka was about to reach for her French textbook.
“Yeah?”
“Have you….. confessed to Nicole?”
_____________________________________________________
Classes were over for the day and Nicole texted Jecka asking her come to her house. She could only shake her head as she got the text but went along with her friend anyway.
Jecka entered Nicole’s bedroom without even knocking. At this point she’d been in her friend’s bedroom enough times that they could skip the formalities. “Why did you invite me over if you have the swine flu?” Jecka asked frustratedly as she entered Nicole’s room.
Nicole was seated in her bed staring into space. “Yeah…. turns out I don’t.”
“I knew
See! I was right, you just wanted an excuse to skip school!”
“You too now? My mom told me the same thing earlier today.”
“If you seriously thought anyone would fall for it, then I don’t know what to tell you.”
“Probably should’ve expected my mom would drag me to the doctor’s office.”
“Almost like its really not worth going through all this trouble just to miss one day of school.”
“Are you telling me that you wanted to sit through Mr. Burleday’s periodic table Jeopardy game?”
“No! But whatever. Why did you want me to come over?”
“Because I’m bored.” Nicole said flatly.
“So you’d skip class and be bored all day rather than coming into school where at least you could talk to me?”
“At least I can try to fall asleep all day if I skip at home.”
“You fall asleep in all of your classes anyway!”
“Yeah but, a desk isn’t as comfortable as my bed. So was your day just as boring as mine?”
“Of fucking course! Nicole, don’t leave me behind in lunch all by myself ever again!”
“Don’t you have other friends?”
“Not in the same lunch period as me.”
“One day of lunch without me can’t be that bad.”
“Yes it was that bad! I tried sitting with Kelly and all she talked about was reality TV.”
“Bitch, you like the Kardashians and Real Housewives Atlanta!”
“Doesn’t mean it’s the only thing I want to talk about. Besides, she doesn't watch anything good.”
“Like there’s anything good on TV these days.”
“All I ever see you watching is Mythbusters!”
“You’re just proving my point, Smallville.”
Jecka rolled her eyes. “Anyway I told Kelly to fuck off and then Ari and Karen came to sit down with me because they were getting annoyed with her too.”
“If I were you I’d rather be sitting with Kelly. At least her weekly flings are more fun to hear about than those two running their mouths about those Tamagatcha thingies.”
“Yeah it was awkward. But also, I dunno…. I felt wrong leaving Karen behind… again.”
“She has a girlfriend now! Like she’s going to care if someone she hasn’t talked to since middle school ditches her.”
“I get that. But then she starts being all friendly with me and reminding me of when we used to read Harry Potter together. Getting up and leaving her behind would be like ignoring a hungry puppy on the street.”
“Hungry puppy?! She’s dating my ex and both of us are still single.”
“Please don’t remind me of that. Never in my life would I have thought the quiet Twilight girl I ditched for cigarettes would be dating someone senior year and I wouldn’t.”
“Are you really jealous of Ari and Karen?! Me and you get shitfaced at the cheerleader captain’s parties while those two spend their Friday nights at the library.”
“Bookstore actually and I’m not jealous of them. It’s just…” Jecka looked nervous.
“Just what?”
“Karen asked me if….” The blonde froze, she knew she’d have to spit “that” out eventually.
“Karen asked you what?”
Jecka took a deep breath and collected herself. Besides, there’s been crazier things people have asked about her and Nicole.
“She wants to know if we’re in love.” Jecka spit that out rather messily before taking rapid deep breaths.
“Bitch dates Ari for a few months now and suddenly she thinks two girls talking to each other means they’re gay. Didn’t she have a crush on the Twilight guy before she began dating Ari?”
“Some girls just take a while to realize that they’re into girls.”
“I knew I didn’t want to fall in love with anyone since I was in third grade.”
“You say that Nicole…”
“I don’t just say that. I know it for a fact!”
“Then why do you get so bored when I’m not around?”
“Today was just one day!”
“What about when I left you after you broke up with Ari?”
“I had Emily at least.”
“But the first thing you told me after we became friends again was ‘Jecka, everything was so fucking boring without you’.”
“Don’t remember saying that.”
“Nicole, be honest with me. What do you think of me?”
“I’m not going to tell you ‘I love you’ if that’s what you want. Besides, why do I even need to answer this question? We’re friends, you should know the answer.”
“I mean like, what do you think of our friendship? Do you actually like me or do you just keep me around because you don’t want to be bored?”
Nicole took a second to consider what Jecka had asked. As she felt herself jittering she knew there was no way to dodgr this question. “You’re cool Jecka.” Nicole sighed in relief and was ready to start mentally beating herself up over it.
“Is that all?”
“I mean I wouldn’t say that about anyone else at school.”
“Not even Emily?”
“To be honest I haven't hung out with her in a while. She started getting too clingy.”
“Are you saying you missed me when we stopped hanging out a while ago?”
“Maybe.”
“But you said I was cool.”
“You asked me one question, don’t make me think about another. But I really did mean when I said you’re cool.” Nicole mellowed out a bit, moments like this where she wasn’t on edge were incredibly rare. “I like spending time with you Jecka. You’re the only person I like, period. I wouldn’t want to lose you again.”
The blonde was genuinely surprised with her best friend’s words. She’d known Nicole for nearly two years now, but for once it felt like Nicole was speaking from a place of earnest. Nicole wasn’t just saying words, she meant the words she was saying.
Jecka smiled at her best friend. “I really like you too Nicole!”