Past Tense
"So," Warren said, thinking that this was an awkward moment.
"So," Layla said, thinking that this was an incredibly awkward moment.
"How was your date with Golden Boy?" he asked politely.
She wished that he hadn't asked her that question. "Good," she told him. Then she bent her head and pretended that she had never tasted anything better than the cafeteria's tasteless tofu burger.
"Good." He opened his book and pretended to read. After a minute, he realized that the book was actually upside down. Biting back a curse, he quickly turned it right side up and hoped that she hadn't noticed.
She hadn't noticed. She was too busy hoping that he wouldn't notice how nervous she was in his presence. Sneaking a quick glance at him, she saw, to her relief, that he was reading. Another glance, and she observed how his long hair fell over his face in that dangerous-looking bad boy way. Yet another glance, and she marveled at how dark and intense his eyes were. One more glance, and she traced the sensual shape of his mouth with her gaze. Finally, she stopped glancing and started staring.
"Hey, guys! What's up!" Will plopped his meal tray down on the table and slid into the seat beside Warren.
"What?" Layla exclaimed. "Nothing! Absolutely nothing!"
The rest of the gang appeared then. Ethan took the seat on Will's right, Magenta sat beside Layla, and Zach stuck close to Magenta. They started talking all at once.
"Can you believe that Candice caught chickenpox?" Will complained to no one in particular about his girlfriend. "Now our weekend plans are ruined."
"Hey, Warren, that last round of Save the Citizen was awesome!" Ethan hollered over Will's head.
"Hug me in public again and I will cut you!" Magenta threatened Zach with a fork.
"It was an accident!" Zach insisted.
Warren and Layla both breathed in relief. With the others around, they could ignore each other and pretend that the strange new tension between them didn't exist. Ever since that surprisingly intense make-out session that was supposed to be just "practice" for her date with another guy, they had become acutely aware of each other in that chemistry-that-isn't-a-science way. Which complicated their relationship a bit since they were supposed to be best friends.
"Hello, Layla," a new voice cut through their group's boisterous chatter.
"Rex!" she squeaked out, feeling unaccountably guilty. "Hi!"
The gang sized up the new guy silently. Warren hid his sudden scowl by pretending to be very interested in his book.
"May I sit with you?" Rex Midas asked.
Layla looked at her friends inquiringly. Will shrugged to let her know that it was okay. She smiled at Rex and said, "Yeah. Sure." They shifted to make some room for him beside Layla. No one said anything as they all looked expectantly at the transferee.
"Hello, everyone." He smiled at them nervously.
It was Will who started the interrogation. He had known Layla the longest and, also being the ex-boyfriend, this gave him the prerogative to check out the current guy. "So, Rex, how do you like Sky High so far?" he asked casually.
"It's very nice," he replied. "I like it very much."
"Why'd you transfer here again?" Magenta wondered.
"Our government assigned my father to be the ambassador to your country."
"Do both your parents have powers?" What about brothers or sisters?" Ethan wanted to know.
"My father is human, my mother can control the weather. No brothers or sisters, though."
"What's your favorite color?" Zach shrugged when they all looked at him. "What? You can tell a lot about someone's character from their answer."
Rex chuckled. "I like green. And gold."
Warren realized that they expected him to ask a question, too. "Uhm," he thought for a second, "do you - like Chinese food?"
"Oh, yes! Layla has told me about this great restaurant called the Paper Lantern. She'll be taking me to that place tonight, in fact."
Warren looked at Layla. She blushed and avoided his eyes. "Great. Looking forward to it," he said flatly.
"So, you guys are gonna be going together to the Spring Dance?" Will inquired.
"Of course!" Rex answered. "I asked her last night and she said yes."
Warren was still looking at Layla with an unfathomable expression. But she knew that it was making her more nervous than ever. "You know, spring is my absolute favorite season," she started to babble. "It's got to do with my powers. When it's spring, I feel like I'm growing along with everything else in nature, - stretching, blossoming, opening up, getting ready for -"
"Pollination?" Ethan suggested.
The book Warren was holding suddenly caught fire. "Son of a -!" He threw the flaming book to the floor and stomped on it. He saw that everyone was staring at him. "I've got class," he said abruptly, then gathered up all his stuff and left.
Will frowned. "During lunch period?"
"Warren's always broody for no reason like that," Layla quickly explained to Rex. "So, what time will you be picking me up?"
Rex picked her up promptly at eight. When they got to the Paper Lantern, Layla looked around to check if Warren was there or, if the universe was feeling uncharacteristically kind to her, he had been stricken with a serious illness before his shift and he couldn't come to work. No such luck, though. The glare he shot at the the two of them as they walked through the door told her that he was definitely not happy that they had actually shown up.
But, to her surprise, he was the one who waited on them. "What can I get you?" he asked ungraciously.
"Where's Min?" she wondered, searching for the waitress who had become her sort of friend after all the time she spent in the restaurant.
"She was stricken with a serious illness before her shift and couldn't come to work," Warren told her. "So, your order?"
Stupid, unkind universe. Layla retained her composure, though, and ordered stir-fried vegetables. Rex asked for the spring rolls. After a thirty-minute wait, Warren returned with their food. The vegetables and the rolls had been torched to inedible crisps.
"What is this?" she asked, dismayed. "We can't eat this!"
"Looks like it," he said, then turned to serve the other customers.
Layla's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Would you excuse me?" she said to Rex. She grabbed Warren and marched him to the kitchen. "Hi, guys!" she greeted the staff. "Hi, Layla!" they responded. She then turned to Warren. "What is wrong with you?" she demanded to know. "Why are you being deliberately evil?"
"I'm not doing anything!" he denied. "Ernie burned your food! Didn't you, Ernie?" He gave the towel he was holding a yank and a twist as he stared pointedly at Ernie's neck.
The cook gulped. "Uhm, yeah?"
She scoffed. "Yeah, right! You know what, if I didn't know any better, I would think that you were jealous!"
"Jealous?!" Warren sputtered indignantly and the towel burst into flames. "Son of a - !" He threw the towel into the sink. He took Layla by the arm and dragged her outside into the alley behind the Paper Lantern. "I am not jealous! You can date whoever you want because I don't care!"
"Okay! So we don't have a problem then!"
"No problem at all!"
While they had been arguing, they had moved closer and closer to each other until less than an inch separated their faces. As soon as they realized that fact, they drew far apart hastily.
Layla sighed. "This is all my fault," she said. "I shouldn't have asked you for that particular favor. Now everything's just weird between us. I'm sorry, Warren."
"It's not all your fault," he shrugged, not meeting her eyes.
She smiled at him tentatively. "Still friends?"
He nodded. "Yeah." His voice was gruff. "You should get back to your date."
"Okay." She wanted to hug him then, but thought better of it. She didn't want to make things any more awkward between them. She felt sad that her own stupid mistake had created this situation.
The rest of her date with Rex was uneventful. Warren quietly replaced their burned food and even managed to be polite to the other boy. At the end of the evening, Rex dropped her off at her house and smiled at her a bit shyly as he bid her goodnight.
"Goodnight," she responded. "See you at school tomorrow?"
"Yes." He started to lean in and she met him halfway. The kiss was sweet and certainly enjoyable, but something seemed to be off. Layla pulled away and began to giggle madly.
"Did I do something wrong?" Rex wondered, looking confused and offended at her reaction.
"No!" she shook her head. "It's funny, - because I always thought that Will was the clueless one!"
The next day, Layla sat across from Warren at their usual table in the cafeteria. The others weren't there yet and she was glad that she could have this time to talk to him alone. "Hi, Warren!" she said with a bright smile. "We're friends, right?"
He frowned. "Yeah," he answered. He sounded curiously resigned.
"Would you do me a huge, huge favor?" she asked.
He sighed. "What is it?"
She placed her hand on his. "Wanna be more than friends?"
the end