Lunch and Looks

On their first day, both Vincent and Hailey had a break together, and they decided to go to a nearby fast food restaurant, which seemed like the best place to get a jump on the fresher's stone. Hailey was outgoing, and already had made a few friends from her classes, friends she was sure to share with the more socially anxious Vinny.

"Is that Lucas Marshall?" Hailey whispered as she sat down with her ham sandwich.

"Where?" Vincent asked quietly. Hailey pointed to a tall boy with blonde hair sitting in a small group of friends. He was next to a boy with black hair and a red flannel.

"It is. Isn't he so cute?"  Hailey's face soured,  "Ugh. And that's Marty."

"Who?" Vinny asked. He wasn't familiar with the dark haired boy, and Vinny was sure he must not have gone to their high school, though Hailey's recognition suggested he had.

"The one in the red." Hailey hid her face behind a menu, when the group of boys looked over at them. "He's a total jerk. He doesn't care for rules. He doesn't care about his grades." Hailey scoffed.

"Do you know him?"

"You could say that." Hailey grimaced. "Shit. They're coming over here. Hide!" Vinny's eyes shot to the table. Marty and Lucas had grabbed their trays and were in fact making their way over to the where he and Hailey were sitting.

"Hi. Hannah." Marty smirked as he made eye contact with the mortified Hailey.

"It's.. Uh.. It's Hailey." She pushed a stray hair behind her reddened ear.

"Vincent!" Lucas broke out his million dollar smile, dimples cutting into his sharp jawline. "Long time no see? You must be a freshman right? How've you been liking it?"

"It's fine." Vinny refused to break eye contact with the ketchup bottle on the table. It broke his heart to not even be able to look at his ex best friend, who sat just across the table from him, but he knew it would bring back way too many feelings; confusing feelings he didn't have time for. "Do you like it?"

"I do." Lucas grinned. "Do you plan on getting involved? Clubs and everything? Making friends?"

"Sure."

"I'm just saying you'll like it a lot better if you put yourself out there." Lucas explained in an annoyingly condescending tone. "Have you gone to a Soccer game yet? I'm on the team so you'll know at least one person."

"I'm not really a fan of soccer." Vincent huffed. "And I know plenty of people."

"That's too bad. You might like it though.. the energy and everything. I've been playing like shit though," Lucas' smile faltered slightly. "I'll get better. I promise. You should come." Lucas smiled hopefully.

"Yeah. You should come too Hannah. I'll save you a seat." Marty had a cocky smile, and he flipped his collar up as he flirted with Hailey, seeming to suggest he'd thought it'd gone well.

"Well.. Bye." Vincent waved awkwardly, but even though Marty left, Lucas remained in his seat across from Vincent."

"What are you doing here?" Vincent's eyes narrowed.

"There was an open seat." Lucas stated plainly.

"There's lots of open seats. Why are you sitting here?"

"I wanted to."

"Look." Vincent made eye contact with Lucas for the first time during the interaction. "I don't know what you're after, but we aren't friends anymore, so you don't need to worry about me."

"Who said I was worried about you?" Lucas crossed his arms.

"You're just... ugh." Vinny growled. "You're trying to get me to make friends and get out there."

"And?" Lucas smiled playfully, "Is there anything so wrong with that?"

"I just don't want you to."

"So it's be alright if someone else checked up on you, just not me?" Lucas asked incredulously.

"Yes... no." Vinny thought to himself, "I don't know, maybe. Stop getting in my head, just leave me alone."

"Listen, dude." Lucas put his hands up in surrender. "I was just trying to be nice to you, but I don't need this grief." The tall boy stood up and walked off in the direction Marty had gone. Hailey shot Vincent a knowing look.

"What?"

"You were awfully rude, there." Hailey flicked her eyebrows in disapproval.

"He-"

"He nothing. He was perfectly kind. It's you that had some kind of weird grudge. Why did you ever stop being friends anyway?" She asked. Hailey knew the broad strokes of the story, but no details, and no reasoning.

"A lot of reasons. He's condescending, he's annoying, he's pushy, he just..." Vinny paused to inhale. "He just gets under my skin...he bugs me. You've never had anyone bug you? Because you seemed pretty bugged by that other boy with him. What was that about?"

"What boy?"

"The black haired boy," Vinny gave a face that said he knew she was attempting to play dumb.

"What black haired boy? Oh that black haired boy? The black haired boy that was with Lucas? I didn't know him." Hailey shrugged.

"Well he clearly knew you." Vinny asserted.

"Ugh." Hailey pulled at her hair. "Fine. I had him for a guide when I toured here over the summer. Then he sorta asked me out."

"He asked you out? Like on a date? Like a romantic one? With a COLLEGE boy?" Vincent's voice rose slightly, and he caught Marty look up and smile to himself from his peripheral vision. Lucas and Marty had gone off in the same direction and were sitting in a table just out of earshot, though Vincent reckoned they could probably hear if he raised his voice again.

"Shush!" Hailey scolded, "It wasn't a real relationship, we never ACTUALLY did anything. Besides clutch your pearls a little closer, huh?" Hailey smirked. "It's not like you don't have a history with a college boy, and we're in college now anyway, so it's not like it matters anymore."

"I didn't meet him on a college tour while I was in high school." Vincent's face colored. "And he is not my ex."

"You certainly avoid him like he is." Hailey accused. "Geez, he seemed like he was just trying to be nice."

"He was NOT trying to be nice, he was trying to make me uncomfortable, because he knew him coming over here would do just that." Vincent huffed. "And like I already said, he isn't my ex, so just drop it. I don't need to be friends with the boy in college just because we were friends in elementary school. That's ridiculous."

"We stayed friends after elementary school."

"We stayed friends through high school. Lucas and I stopped after middle school, that's very very different. Besides, you and I are in good terms, Lucas and I aren't."

"Sure." Hailey rolled her eyes, "Maybe you ought to put yourself back on good terms with him, he sure is looking good." Hailey gestured back at Lucas.

"You're so vain." Vinny scolded.

"All I'm saying is that maybe you ought to have stuck with him, then you'd be super popular."

"Shut up."

"You can't deny he's attractive." Hailey shrugged.

"I can and I will." Vinny replied stubbornly, but he allowed his eyes to drift back over to Lucas. Vinny wasn't happy with Hailey, but he couldn't really disagree with her. Lucas was good looking. He had pretty green eyes and well cut blonde hair that blew slightly in the wind. He had a strong jaw line and defined dimples in his cheeks; the picture of a cocky attractive jock, in mind and body. Vinny wondered how they'd ever even wound up friends. "Even if he were attractive, his personality is so ugly it'd ruin him anyway."

And with that, Vincent stood up and threw out the rest of his food. He'd had more than enough of talking about the notorious Lucas Marshall.