Cyrus was shining his clarinet when Matthew walked into band practice sporting a very large hickey on his neck. One he hadn’t had the day before. His insides twisted.

“Are you just going to glare at me all the time now?” said Matthew, sitting beside him and setting his violin case down beside him.

“You could at least hide the hickey.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, is Luci’s little mark here bothering you? Easy solution, ask her out. Oh, wait, you’re too chicken shit to do that.”

“Fuck you.”

“I’ve got Luci for that.”

They glared at each other, Cyrus with his fists clenched tightly. “Why her?” he finally said, trying to contain his anger.

Matthew sighed. “Because she asked. She came over and literally asked. It just happened.”

“Why did you say yes?” Cyrus stared at his best friend, studying his face for more answers, for all of this to make sense.

Matthew met his gaze evenly. “Because I wanted to. Because she makes it easy. Because it’s just sex, and you…you didn’t want her.”

“That’s not fair.”

“No, it is. You don’t want to be with her, but you don’t want anyone else to be with her. Jason had a good reason to punch me. You just don’t want to ruin the opportunity of maybe deciding to be with her.”

Cyrus hated how right he was, how awful it made him sound. But he wasn’t about to admit how right he was. “Screw you.”

“God, you’re such a baby. A selfish baby.”

“You two won’t last.”

“God, you’re ridiculous. Okay, look, we are friends with benefits; we’re not meant to last. We’re just having fun.”

This time, Cyrus grinned. “Sure you are.”

Matthew glared at him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

The bell rang, signifying the five-minute warning. “Figure it out.”

The pair of boys stared daggers at one another before the bell rang again, signifying the start of class. Matthew pulled out his violin, prepping his sheet music. Cyrus spent the rest of the class trying not to think of how Luci’s mouth had moved on Matthew’s neck.

***

Jason sat at the foot of Blake’s bed. He wasn’t speaking to Luci, but hadn’t stopped hanging out with her. He couldn’t. They were still friends; he had meant it when he said he would wait. But it hurt. It hurt so badly to know she was dating that guy.

“Dude, get out of your head.”

“Shut up.”

“Look,” began Blake, ignoring him. “It’s not like they are a real couple. It’s just sex.”

“That makes it sooo much better.”

“Dude, she can’t date you. Liz literally makes her feel like crap every day. Just imagine all the drama that would start if you two started dating. You really want that? You really want Luci to go through all that shit?”

“You know I don’t.”

“Then back off. Just give her the space she needs. Give her the time she needs to sort everything out. You can’t rush everything, and let’s face it, last year was a shit show. She needs her space to breathe.”

Jason looked away towards the video game Blake was playing. Kingdom Hearts.

“I see Luci got you into that game.”

“Smooth change of subject, dude.”

“Whatever.”

“Go take a walk, dude.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re bumming me out. I mean, I get it. I do. She’s dating some other guy after you pretty much offered yourself up on a silver platter, but you’ve got to get over it. Either move on or deal with it. She’s our friend, and you’ve got to accept it. So go take a walk.”

“Yeah, sure.”

Jason patted his friend’s shoulder, grabbed his headphones off the desk, and left, needing to think about everything.

Walking along, he saw Luci hanging by the pool, headphones on, writing her notebook. And there was Matt, sitting beside her, arms wrapped around her waist. It made his stomach churn.

“Hey, Jason.” Jason spun around, looking at Amelia, her hair cut into a pixie cut, blue highlights running through it.

“Hey Amelia, what’s up.”

“Not much; I was visiting my friend. I’m heading to the skatepark now. Wanna join me?”

“No thanks.”

“Dude, anything is better than mopeing after her.”

He rolled his eyes. “Shit, does everyone know?”

“Liz took a lot of gratification telling literally everyone how you snapped and punched him at the bonfire.”

“Of course she did. God, she’s such a bitch.”

Amelia giggled. “Yeah, she is. So come on, let’s hang. Just as friends.”

Jason studied her. He didn’t have his board with him, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t just hang out with her.

“Yeah, sure.”

“Cool. Come on, man, let’s go before the sun dips.” She grinned at him, leading the way. Jason looked back down the way towards the pool area, where Matthew was looking at him, his chin on Luci’s shoulder. Luci was oblivious, scribbling away. Jason just wanted to punch the blank expression off his face.

Matthew waited for Jason to leave before kissing Luci’s neck.

“Hey, did you say something?” she said, removing her headphones. “Am I boring you? This is boring, isn’t it?”

Matt let out a small laugh. “No, it’s nice. I was just thinking we could go back to the beach and have some fun there for the day.”

“I don’t know, my mom—”

“Just tell her we’re going to the beach; she doesn’t have to know my parents have a place there.”

She leaned against him, eyes closed, looking wistful. “You’re so lucky your parents have money. Must be nice flipping houses.”

He shrugged, holding her. He didn’t want to tell her how lonely it was sometimes, being home alone. How he used to sneak over to Cyrus’s all the time just so he didn’t have to be alone.

Those days were long gone now, though.

“It’s meh. But at least one benefit of them being gone a lot is that I am afforded a lot of privacy.”

“Privacy does sound good.”

“So come on,” he said, not wanting any more of their friends to give them sidelong glances or comment on their status. He just wanted this to remain uncomplicated. But Cyrus’s words from the other day still lingered.

“All right,” she said finally, pulling him back to this moment with her. “Let’s get going then.” He watched her smile and let her kiss him, loving how her lips felt against his. It was just sex, nothing more. But for some reason, those words were starting to feel hollow.

Pre-Order ‘New Girl,’ the first in my YA Romance series.