(song: "Electric Feel" - MGMT)

"Patrick's been staring at you for like a full two minutes," Selena told me as we sat together at lunch.

     "Shut up, you liar," I said with a mouthful of a chocolate candy bar.

     Patrick sat with his usual group of friends three tables away from us. I stole a glance just to confirm if Selena had told me the truth or not. Our eyes connected for a split second and I looked away.

     What was wrong with that guy? Could he have been any more obvious?

     Selena kept looking in Patrick's direction as she played with a stem of broccoli. "Did anything happen at the party that you didn't tell me?"

     "Nope," I said, but I didn't want to lie to my best friend so I caved in. "Okay, fine. We kissed, but don't misunderstand it. It was a brief one-time deal because I was so torn up about Chuck. I thought a random make-out with no strings attached would make me feel better."

     "You kissed Patrick?" She said in disbelief.

     "Um, yeah? Why is that so hard to believe he'd kiss me?" At first, I felt a little insulted.

     Selena leaned back in her chair and judged Patrick with new eyes. "Because I didn't take him for being the cheating type."

     I shook my head and waved my candy bar at her face. "Nope. Patrick's single. Valentina dumped him last night."

     "Wow, I didn't see that coming at all," she said.

     I just shoved more candy into my mouth nonchalantly.

     "Yeah. Even perfect people get dumped, there's safety in nothing." I then looked at Selena and passed her a sly smile. "So. . . Easton?"

     "So nothing happened. We had a nice talk, that's it. I have a boyfriend."

     "Hopefully not for much longer." I hummed.

     "Shh," Selena hushed me.

     "Hey Sel," Jon said when he joined us at the table.

     I'd classify Jon as being cute in a nerdy kind of way. Jon and Selena had practically grown up together as playmates in kindergarten. Jon was all Selena had ever known or been with. Jon took all of her time and all of her attention. She didn't have any friends until she and I started hanging out last year. Jon resented every minute she spent with me.

     "Hey Jon," I told him.

     "Hey." He said it like I was someone he just had to tolerate. "So Sel, there were some tickets on sale for that Korean foreign film I told you about. I bought us seats to go this Friday."

     Selena's smile fell from her lips and she tried to recover it. "Jon, I told you that Jenn and I were doing a girl's night this Friday. I've been telling you for weeks. I wish you would have asked me before you bought tickets."

     I rolled my eyes. This turned out to be a normal thing with Selena and Jon. She and I would always make plans and Jon would always come up with some mega excuse to guilt Selena into canceling them.

     Jon looked offended that Selena didn't act more grateful. "There wasn't time, Sel. Do you know how often movie theaters here play Korean films? The answer is very little. You can hang out with Jenn at any time. You see her at school all the time, this movie can't wait."

     "Right, because there's totally no such thing as a DVD or watching the movie online," I quipped.

     "I'm going to miss your comments when Sel and I go off to college together next year, Jenn." Jon retaliated.

     And that's why I secretly hoped for aliens to abduct Jon in his sleep.

     "Stop it both of you." Selena was the mediator in our trio.

     "You know what? I'm going to let you have your Friday, Jon." I pressed my hands against the table and pushed to stand. "Selena, I'm going now before your boyfriend says something that makes me want to vomit up lunch."

     I stepped out into the atrium, it was a place where some students typically enjoyed eating their lunch. I just wanted fresh air. Jon stifled me completely.

     I ran my fingers through my hair and leaned up against one of the white pillars while my insides fought off the urge to drink whiskey in daylight.

     "Hey."

     I looked to my side to see Patrick had approached me. It wasn't the normal "hello" in passing either. He had a look on his face like he wanted to talk.

     "Oh God, Patrick, just no. Can we just not? Why can't you just ignore me like popular guys are supposed to?"

     He leaned against the same pillar as me. "Yeah, I can't really ignore being kissed by a girl."

     As if I hadn't already rolled my eyes enough today. "Please, like you haven't kissed a bunch of girls before. My kiss was like a drop in the ocean for you."

     "Actually, I have only kissed two girls. Valentina and you. You are the first girl to initiate a kiss with me."

     I wore a black band tee with the sleeves torn off, a jean skirt and mesh stockings. Patrick looked way too preppy for someone like me.

     "Patrick, take a good, hard look at me and think things through carefully. My reputation here is famous for being the kind of girl that good guys like you should avoid. Are you having some kind of rebellious phase or something?"

     He pretended to look guilty but did a bad job of it. Patrick should have been in drama class.

     "You figured out my master plan, a classic James Dean style rebellion. I'm going to ride motorcycles, wear leather, and cow-lick my hair."

     He was joking with me. It was cute. I twisted my lips to suppress my smile.

     "You're funny. I didn't know you could tell a joke."

     "I'm a funny guy and that wasn't a joke. This is a joke. Why did the hipster burn his tongue?"

     I turned a little bit more in his direction against the pillar.

     "I don't know. Why?"

     "Because he drank his coffee before it was cool." He grinned afterward like he was waiting for me to burst into laughter.

     It wasn't the joke that made me laugh, but more so Patrick eagerly anticipating my laughter like a puppy that made me laugh.

     I wiped at the corner of my eye. "I hate to tell you this, but your career as being a comedian is looking kind of bleak right now."

     Patrick seemed satisfied with his results. "Well, I made you laugh."

     "Yeah." I smiled and looked down at my boots. "Yeah, you did."

     "So . . . " His voice trailed. ". . .are you doing anything this Friday?"

      I winced. Was he seriously asking me out on a date? We'd only been broken up from our previous relationships for two days and he was already out for a rebound?

     "I'm not going on a date with you, Patrick," I told him bluntly.

     Patrick didn't look insulted in the slightest, in fact, he actually smiled a little more. "It's not a date. I have some friends from out of town who are visiting and we're all going to the carnival on Friday. I thought we could you know, hang out."

     I felt a little ashamed for assuming things too quickly. It wasn't like I had plans for Friday anymore and I had no boyfriend as a backup. So the only thing I would have probably done was gone to a red-cup party to stalk Chuck. That definitely wasn't healthy.

     "Okay, but I'm going to warn you now. You're probably going to regret asking me." I advised.

     He just looked at me with those big, blue eyes of his.

     "No Jenn, I don't think I will."

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