Your cock is beautiful – 13

They looked at me simultaneously. It was my turn to shrug.

“I don’t know what to tell you.” I said lightly. “My little sister’s delusional.”

There was a half-beat of silence before the girl’s cold, stern expression melted into a light, sincere laugh. I smiled, feeling a little rush of confidence that I wasn’t used to. I didn’t often make people laugh, but I seemed to be pretty good at it.

“I’m Lissie.” she said, her laugh fading.

I felt strangely like I’d passed some sort of test.

Again, once I’d gotten my introduction out of the way, I stayed pretty much silent, letting the others talk, and content just to react occasionally. I noticed Frank wasn’t here, but I didn’t question it. Mia still hadn’t said a word to anyone, and again no one thought this was strange.

After a while, Becky flipped her book closed, and looked right up into my eyes.

“When did you get here?” she asked, genuinely puzzled.

I shrugged, mind racing to think of something vaguely witty to say.

“I’ve been here the whole time.” I said, raising one eyebrow.

“What?” she asked, her brow wrinkling in confusion.

Derek quickly picked up on my joke, and added to it.

“Becky, he was sitting there when you got here.” he said seriously, as if Becky was missing something obvious.

“Really?” she asked, even more confused, “Shit, I didn’t even notice.”

I couldn’t help but smile, and Derek suddenly gave a short, loud laugh. She rolled her eyes as she realized we were messing with her.

“Oh, whatever.” she said, a little embarrassed.

Stella and Lissie hadn’t noticed this exchange, and Derek and Becky joined right in with their conversation. It was such a small thing, just a simple joke, a little moment of bonding, but it made me feel stupidly good. It had been a while since I’d had an actual, casual conversation with someone who wasn’t related to me, or…whatever the fuck Mia was to me. No long, complicated history or always quietly worrying about hidden meanings or ignoring old guilt. Just light, simple conversation.

As the other four talked to each other, Mia met my eye, and again she was smiling. She seemed embarrassed that I’d noticed her looking at me, and quickly looked down at the table. She was acting so strangely.

Lunch passed without much more happening. I still didn’t feel exactly comfortable with this group, but I was definitely a lot less nervous. If Stella was really insistent on this, then I thought it would be Ok to keep going along with it.

But it slowly became apparent that I just didn’t have much to talk to them about. Most of their conversation revolved around other seniors whose names I only vaguely recognised, or TV I didn’t watch, or parties I hadn’t been to. It made me a little uncomfortable at first, but I figured I could get used to it.

==

The next day, Stella didn’t feel the need to march me towards her table personally, but she waved me over when she saw me looking from the line.

It was just Stella and Derek at that point, but it was only a few minutes before Frank, Becky, Lissie and Mia had all joined. Again, I didn’t talk much, just sometimes laughing or making little jokes.

Unless the conversation steered towards a teacher I had, or homework I hadn’t done yet (which was pretty much all of it), I still didn’t really have anything to say. But no one pressured me to talk, or mocked me when I didn’t understand a reference. This surprised me at first, until I realized that the only reason I expected it was because of how Mia had treated me. She’d skewed my perception of social interaction, making it seem so much harsher and more judgemental than it usually was. I smiled when I thought about this. I was still figuring out ways that she affected my life.

However, that day, Mia did finally speak, but not to anyone at the table.

My eyes widened when I saw him approach, at least 6’3 and walking with a confident swagger.

Mike. Mia’s ex.

There were two other guys with him, but they didn’t seem too interested in what was going on, and were mostly looking around, bored, or talking to each other.

There was a slight break in the conversation as each member of the group noticed him, until Mia turned to see what we were looking at. Her eyes narrowed as he stepped up to her.

“Hey guys.” he said, looking around the table.

There were a few non-committal grunts of greeting, but they were mostly silent. My heart had suddenly started pounding in my chest. I didn’t really know this guy. What had Mia told him when she broke it off with him? Did she mention that there was someone else? Did he know that I was the reason he’d been dumped?

“Mia, baby!” he said, as if surprised to see her, “How’ve you been?”

He said it lightly, but it felt like there was a shadow of anger behind his voice.

“What the fuck do you want, Mike?” she said.

Her voice was strong and unwavering, though not exactly hostile. Mike seemed a little taken aback at her response.

“Aw, don’t be like that. What happened between us, baby? You used to be so sweet to me.” he said mockingly.

“Mike, just get the fuck out of here.” she said. “I dumped you more than a month ago. This is just sad.”

I glanced around the table, but no one seemed to really notice what was happening. Stella looked bored and was staring at her phone, occasionally smiling as she read her messages. Becky was reading, and Lissie was toying lazily with her food. Frank and Derek were both eating quietly. There was complete silence, and it was impossible for them not to have noticed what was happening, but none of them reacted. Did they really care so little for Mia’s problems?

I looked back up to see Mike staring back at me.

“I don’t recognise this one.” he said, looking me over, “Is this the little faggot you’re with now?”

Mia hesitated for a second.

“You really think you can handle a hot bitch like her?” he sneered at me, arrogance clear in his voice.

“Hey, asshole, I’m over here.” said Mia loudly, pointing to her eyes.

He turned back to her, ignoring me.

“Actually Mike, there isn’t anyone else. At all. Just let that sink in for a minute.” she said, her tone venomous. “I would literally rather be completely alone than spend even a second more with you.”

His eyes widened with anger, but he didn’t have a reply. I’d been in that exact situation a hundred times before, and I didn’t envy him. His friends were paying attention now, but seemed amused that he’d been rendered speechless.

“Why are you still standing there like a slack-jawed moron?” Mia asked, as if genuinely confused. “Fuck. Off.”

Mike gave one last furious look around the table, but I was still the only one looking at him. He glared at me for a few seconds before he turned and walked away.