THE JOCK JUST WANTS THE NERD [2]

81

||JACKSON||

The entire time, I tried messaging, calling, or any sort of contact to connect with Ethan. Having my device with me at all time, perpetual state of refreshing my screen thinking that he'd reply or at least even see my texts!

Some sort of fear sits within me.

Did I upset him somehow?

The thought worries me if that were the case. He had never ignored me before, nor have I made him annoyed, at least to what I'm aware of.

"Dude, you okay there?" Damian asks, blinking at me with curiosity, "are your parents giving you more shit?" He frowns.

I shook my head, "n-no it's not that..." sighing.

"What is it then."

"My- I mean, Ethan just isn't replying. I've been reaching out for him all day and he just won't..." Gritting my teeth in frustration, hands slammed my phone down on the table and gripped my hair. I almost tore a few off in the process.

"Erm, let's calm down," He says. I glance back at him tiredly who was eating white chicken and a plate of salad.
The cafeteria is fairly pact as per usual. Students continue to flock around and hog the remaining spots. Chattering occupied as my troublesome voice combined with exasperation blended with the crowd. Damian pouts as he taps his fork on the surface of his tray. "Maybe something's up, though I doubt he's mad at you."

"You think so?" I mumble.

"Why would he? You treated him well with that awesome dinner you told me about. Not to mention you said you were going to come out to your parents and he wished you the best of luck," Damian shrugs.

Guess he has a point. It isn't Ethan's character to just ghost me without reasonably getting irritated out of nowhere. Heck, the guy hardly gets mad, never have I seen him even.

"The place is full," we hear a voice.

Both of us turned to see nearby Kyle and Kenny scanning around for any available spots. The two of them held foods of their own, hands full of their lunch.

"Should we go outside instead?" Kyle suggested.

Right before he commented, all of us then made immediate eye contact. Honestly, I was sort of surprised to see that Kenny had come back to school a tad bit promptly than anticipated. The fact that Damian and I are sat at a decently sized booth, he cleared his throat and motions them to come over, "you guys can stay with us."

Kyle and Kenny looked at each other with unsure expressions. Though, as if telepathically communicating, Kenny starts walking forward which catches us off-guard. The moment he makes it in front of us, he pretends that Damian isn't present and holds a firm look towards me. His eyes maintained at mine, yet it seems like he wants me to scooch over. Inferring his implication, I advanced deeper to the size for him to take, which he did. Damian watched appearing disheartened as Kenny still fails to acknowledge. Even when Damian offered, he won't bat a single peek at him. Kenny gestures Kyle to sit with Damian instead who apprehensively settled down with him.

Then, the awkwardness arises. I leered at Damian, who was pretty tense and didn't move. Kyle didn't too, Kenny just did the most he could to enjoy his meal in peace, munching on PB&J with a carton of chocolate milk. Intensifying my glare, I mouthed the words, "say something."

Damian bites his lip, as he blinks.

-

10 fucking minutes passed and this bastard has yet to say a word. Damn, we're already finishing up! It was obvious that Kenny was speeding to finish his lunch so he could excuse himself soon as possible. I scoff, and placed a hand on Kenny's shoulder, "Damian has something to say."

Both of them froze, as they gaze at me before turning towards themselves.

Kenny lets out a breath, "oh really?" Rolling his eyes and raised his brow.

Damian's brows furrowed before peering down, "Kenny..." he starts.

Kenny's fingers were twitching to pick things up and leave, but I made sure to keep him stay put. Kenny has his suspicions about me but cooperates. Grunting, he rests back onto the bench and just listens.

Damian and I practiced hard and rehearsed what to say to apologize. He shouldn't forget or all will be wasted effort.

"I'm very sorry..."

Kenny, barely visibly flinched, but retained his composure afterwards, "sorry huh."

"I'm really sorry for everything."

"What's that everything exactly?" Kenny crosses his arms.

Damian looks up, his aspect pleaded for understanding, "for being a horrible douchebag since high school..."

"I know, I treated you like absolute shit and I can't take it all back now. Feeling complete remorse for my actions, I don't deserve to be easily forgiven. But, I just wanna say that you didn't deserve it, and it's my fault for making your life hell...

I'm sorry..."

Damian ended with absolute sincerity. Kenny, still listening and somewhat stunned closed his eyes. As if thinking immensely, he shows obligation quite easily, "thanks," he murmurs.

"H-huh?" Damian's body jolted slightly as if not anticipating that.

"To be honest, I didn't think I'd get to hear you apologize in my life. Though, I'm glad I get the closure between us before I di-" Kenny cuts himself off before accomplishing that word, "...I mean, I appreciate it. Yeah, Thank you."

Damian, with eyes that flickered at the acceptance, beams happily. His smile softens as he stares at him, "thank you..." repeating humbly.

"Did you both finally make up?" Kyle interjected.

The two look at each other with grins, "Yeah, we did."

Kyle lets out a massive sigh of relief, "Oh thank gosh, I thought I'd have to become a punching bag trying to push you guys away from a potential fistfight."

We all gave in with a group chuckle. But it's true, I was amazed of how they took it in a civilized manner. I gave a quick glimpse at Kenny who felt rather delighted. Almost as if he fashioned into a new leaf. I'm fairly blessed to see that he may have shifted to a brighter personality. Perhaps, that incident gave him a better perspective to strive into living happily.

As we continued laughing, my phone rang out from the side which quiets down our rowdiness. Hope flushed through me as I wished for it to be Ethan. When I checked the caller, I would be lying that I wasn't let down when I saw it was Zack instead. Grumbling, I answered, "Hey Zack, what's up?" Placing it next to my ear.

"Jackson, did you see what happened?" He sounded very alarmed loudly through my speakers.

Concerned, "what do you mean? Something going on?"

Just then, he instantly ended the call. I scanned around the looks of the others who were puzzled as I was. Suddenly, a notification popped up from my DMs sent by Zack. Tilting my head, I tapped on it to which showed me a link on our conversation chat.

I gave it another click, only to find a sickening article.

Eyes flashed wide open.

Headlines:
"Apartment assaulted by an unknown man during the last night."

There was a photograph of the area's incident.

That building...

T-that apartment building...

Traces of so much blood and police caution tape scattered across "that building" where he lives in.

Ethan.