• I heard someone sit beside me and I turned around. I nearly choked on a fry when I saw Ryan.
    "Hey, I tried to talk to you earlier but you ran off. I thought that maybe we could talk now." he smiled scooting a little closer, but keeping his distance. I glanced at Ellie who gave me that, "Get him to ******** off," look. I glanced at Damien. His jaw was clenched and he wasn't looking at me. I turned back to Ryan.
    "Well, I was kinda already talking with Ellie, so if you could just-" I started before Damien set his tray between me and Ryan. He pulled up a chair and sat down. I smiled to myself and looked at my tray.
    "Oh, go ahead. Continue, you won't even notice I'm here." Damien told Ryan, who looked like he was praying Damien would choke on his food.
    "Anyway, I was wondering if you could meet me after school since what I would like to talk about is private." Ryan said, glancing at Damien at the last word. It seemed to have no effect on Damien.
    "I'll try." I lied. Ryan smiled, got up, and walked over to his normal table with Samantha. I ate another french fry, hoping that Ellie wouldn't say anything about the scene that just happened.
    "What was THAT?" she asked Damien, who just shrugged.
    "I'm claiming my territory." he replied casually. My heart swelled, my mouth dropped open, and Ellie laughed.
    "So, I'm your property?" I asked with a smile. He nodded.
    "I thought you were mad at me." I continued.
    "Desperate times call for desperate measures." he replied simply. He glanced at me from the corner of his eye and smiled. I blushed and focused on my food. How the hell did that happen? I wondered. Everything is going so fast. One moment we can't look at each other, the next he fending off guys for me. What. The. ********.
    "You're worse than PMS." I said aloud.
    "Me?" he asked.
    "Yeah, you. One minute you're mad at me, the next you can't stand to see Ryan near me, much less talking to me. And now you're saying I'm yours. It's impossibly confusing."
    "Would you rather have me go sit with Samantha and ignore you because I'm mad at you? Would you rather have Ryan over here, talking bullshit about you and him getting back together or do you want me here, pretending like I'm not mad, like I still want to be with you."
    "Wait, if you're pretending, does that mean you don't really want to be with me?" I asked, shocked.
    "No, that's what I meant. I meant I'm not mad and I do still want to be together."
    "Then stop pretending. Go ahead and make it reality." I replied casually, shrugging my shoulders.
    "But I'm not your everything. The feeling isn't mutual." he said just as casually. A fore stirred inside of me. How could he not tell that he was my everything?!
    "The ******** it isn't. I love you and I always have. You are my everything, my world does revolve around you. I don't like Ryan anymore. I lied last night because I was scared. Yeah, scared of real love. So don't tell me the feeling isn't mutual." I rushed out without thinking. His eyebrows raised and he smiled, but he didn't look at me. I frowned. I just said what he's been dying to hear and what I've been dying to say to him, and he doesn't even look at me. Dammit. I jumped when someone's suddenly grabbed mine. I glanced under the table and saw Damien's fingers intertwined with mine. I blushed a bright red and stared at our hands.
    "What? Should I stop?" he ask, beginning to pull back. I gripped his hand tighter, afraid to let go.
    "No, it's fine." I replied looking at him. He looked absolutely giddy. I bet I did too.
    "Aw, ya'll are so cute. Does this mean ya'll are together?" Ellie asked excitedly. I turned to her and shrugged.
    "I think it does." I smiled. My heart was bursting with joy. I felt like I was going to explode. Or scream, screaming is a lot less morbid.
    "Kiss her!" she shouted to Damien. My eyes got wide and Damien laughed.
    "Do you want me to?" he asked, still smiling.
    "Well, I definitely wouldn't mind." I said, trying to act like my heart was about to implode. He leaned forward.
    "Are you sure?" he smiled. I nodded. He leaned closer, to where our lips were touching, but we weren't kissing.
    "Positive?" he asked against my mouth. I nodded ever so slightly. My head began to spin and everything disappeared. I was beginning to lean forward myself when the bell rang, dismissing lunch. He pulled back and we both frowned.
    "You took too long!" Ellie complained. I sighed and stood up. Damien and Ellie followed. We all threw our trash away and walked out, the almost kiss all on our minds.