Drunken Mistake

Chapter 7 - Come Together

It has been one week since the incident that happened at the mall with the football team. Since then I have had a very eventful week as all of them are now messing with me. For instance, I didn't know I had at least one member of the football team in all of my classes. So in all of my classes I have been either surrounded by members of the team or have one sit next to me and try to make small talk even though I rather jab my pencil in my eyeball than talk to them. They all say: "Hi, I'm blank. I play blank position on the football team. It's nice to meet you."  Is this what Justin meant when he says he makes me pay, by annoying the hell out of me. I'm not a violent person, but I feel like I have been becoming one the longer I am surrounded by these meatheads. I can't even eat lunch without someone from their damn team sitting next to me. Hell, on Friday last week the enter team sat at the table I was at, surrounding me, as they began to talk about their most recent lay. These men did not hold back when they were talking about it either. I felt like I was listening to a porn book or magazine by the way they were talking about it. For literally thirty minutes, because it took that long to choke my food down, I had to hear them say how wet a girl was, begging for their dicks. I did try to get up and move, but the two closest to me would make me sit back down telling me "Hey you need to finish your food. It's not good to waste." Which to anyone passing by would think these two are being sweethearts making sure I eat my food and don't go hungry. I really can't grasp what is actually going on. I expected them to treat me like trash like the football team did when I was in high school, but no. They are literally just involving me in everything they do. Even walking, I've had two or three walk me to class, the female fan club for the football team are pissed as hell because all the guys are always with me. This mainly happens on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays since those are the days that I have classes. So, they shouldn't know that I go to the library to study and do homework, right? You would be very wrong, they even come with me to study. I mean they don't really bother me. They would just take their stuff out and work on it too either beside me or in front of me.
As we speak I have one team member beside me, his name is John. In front of me is Derek and to the left of him is Nathaniel. I have General Studies with John and Derek while Nathaniel has English with me. So you can imagine that I see these three the most.
"Hey Harper, did you get all the shit the Teach wrote on the board Monday?" Nathaniel asked, scratching his head while looking at his note in confusion.
"Umm, hold on. Let me check to see if I even brought my notebook for that class with me," I answer as I check my bag.
"Hey Harper, I'm going to Starbucks. Do you want your Frappuccino?" John asks as he gets up grabbing his wallet.
"Oh, uh sure, but please get a small one. Last time you got a large and I had to force Derek to drink it," I smile.
"Yeah, please get her a small one. I mean no offense Harper, but your drink is nasty as hell," Derek groans.
I laugh as I remember his expression when he drank it. His face was that of pure disgust, but Derek hates wasting so he still ended up finishing it. I think in the end, he ended up throwing it up because he couldn't stomach it.
Since all of this has started, I have gotten a little close to some of these guys even though I never wanted to be. In the end, I couldn't be an ass to all of them. Most  of the guys who have approached me have been very nice to me. I think the main reason it bothers me is that I never had many interactions with others that are pleasant and the fact that Justin asked them to approach me.
I hand over my notebook from English to Nathaniel as he quickly looks for Monday's notes and compares them to his. I get back to working on my homework from my Child Development class. After about fifteen minutes, here comes John with our drinks.
"Here you go Harper," he says while placing my drink in front of me.
"Hey where's ours?" Nathaniel asks with a very fake shocked expression.
"If you wanted a drink then you should have bought it your damn self," John says while taking a sip of his own smoothie.
Nathaniel gives a hurt expression while placing his hand over his chest to emphasize it even more. The guys laugh at him for his attempt, before going back to what they were working on. We stayed silent, beside the occasional questions that were passed between us, till it was time for me to head home so I could prepare my meeting with Lucas.
"Alright guys, I'm going to have to head out," I say as I start to pack my stuff. They all nod in agreement, but Nathaniel stops me before I leave by grabbing my wrist.
"What up?" I asked. He pauses like he was contemplating on saying what he was going to say.
"Harper, will you come to our game this Saturday?" He asked with a joyful expression. I guess he was proud that he was even able to ask.
"I'm not sure about that, Nathaniel," I say worried that this is going to be the goal of some kind of master plan.
"Please, it's not just me who wants you to go. A bunch of us have been trying to get the courage to ask you since Sunday," he explained. I look at John and Derek as they nod, agreeing with Nathaniel.
I let out a deep breath before saying what I was about to say, "This isn't going to be a big prank where all of you are going to humiliate me in front of a huge crowd, Right?"
All three men looked at me shocked that I asked, causing me to look away ashamed to have asked. Especially since they have been really nice to me these past few days that we have spent with each other.
"No, Harper. We aren't petty little boys. I know we all approached you because Justin said so, but everyone agrees that you're a cool chick to be around." John explained.
"Does Justin know you all are wanting me to come?" I asked, knowing my face is showing how worried I am.
"No," Derek answers. I look at the other two to see they are agreeing with him as well. I pause thinking about my answer before I just flat out reject them, but I'm not very sure about it.
"Look, it's only Tuesday. So how about you let me think about it and I'll give you an answer on Thursday," I say, hoping I'm giving myself enough time to process all of this and determine what the best solution will be.
"That's fair, but promise that you will seriously think about it," Nathaniel says in a joyful tone.
"I agree, that's fair enough." John nods.
I give them a shy smile and a nod before walking away. I never expected them to ask me something like that. I mean, what harm would it do if I did go to the game. Maybe I should have asked if I can bring someone with me, though I really doubt they have a problem with that since they just want me to come and watch. I quickened my pace knowing that my time did get cut having that discussion with them. The walk to my apartment is about fifteen minutes.
As soon as I get into my apartment, I see Xander putting his uniform shirt over the white one he has on.
"Hey, Muffin. I expected you to be here like five minutes ago," he says looking at the clock on the wall.
"Yeah, the guys had to ask me a question," I replied while placing my backpack on the couch before walking in the kitchen to make a snack.
"You mean those guys from the football team that you used to hate," he laughs as it is kind of funny when you think of it like that.
"Yeah, they wanted me to go and watch the game Saturday," I answered, pulling out a salad from the fridge.
"You don't think it's some cruel trick do you?" He asked.
"They reassured me that it's not and that they just think I'm cool," I grabbed a bowl from the cabinet and poured my salad into it.
"You actually asked this if it was a prank," Xander asked, shocked.
"Of course," I replied, pouring a little bit of dressing on my salad before putting what I wasn't eating back in the fridge.
"Wow, proud of you kid. I didn't think you would be able to ask something like that from someone," He says while patting my head and finishing up getting ready for work.
"Right, I was pretty shocked by myself as well," I smiled before taking a delicious bite of my food.
"Alright, well I got to go, Muffin. See you tonight." He calls out before leaving.
I wave goodbye to him before continuing to munch on my salad. I get up to grab some water when I hear the doorbell ring. Dammit, is he early? I didn't even get to finish eating, I groaned to myself as I walked to open the door. Lord and behold it is as I suspected Lucas standing in front of my door.  I opened the door wider so that he could enter my home.
"So, Piggy, I got a bone to pick with you," he says as he walks past me.
"What did I do now?" I asked while closing my door.
"Why is it that every time I see you. I see one, if not several, of my boys around you?" He asks while taking a seat on the couch preparing for our meeting.
"That is because your best friend and running back told them to," I shrug as if it's not a big deal while I unpack the stuff we are going to need to talk about our Geology project.
"Wait, what?" Lucas asked, pausing his actions to look at me.
"Oh, I thought you knew that Justin has his boy approaching me all the time," I say, a little shocked that Justin did this behind Lucas' back.
"No, they haven't done anything to you. Right?" He asked with a stern look in his eyes.
"Nope, they were just a bit annoying because I'm now only alone when I'm home. Well unless Xander is here." I explain, seeing his expression relax.
"Now, we need to get started on this project. Especially since we could meet all of last week," I sigh, since we didn't meet, we are a bit behind.
Lucas and I start to crack down on our Geology project, putting together the information that we have collected into a PowerPoint. We would also explain our parts so the other can confirm the information. The PowerPoint was coming together quite nicely. After an hour of working nonstop on this, I was in need of a break.
"Alright, break time." I exclaimed as I got up and dashed for the bathroom. Once I get back, I see Lucas stretching out. I look at the clock to see that it is almost six.
"Hey, do you have cash?" I asked, receiving a very confused face with a brow raised.
"Yeah, but why are you asking?" he asks.
"Because I'm hungry and too lazy to cook. So, I was planning on ordering some food, but felt it was rude to not let you get something too." I explained.
"What were you thinking of getting?" He asks, now interested. I guess I wasn't the only one that was sitting there with their stomach growling for noms.
"I have three options, one is pizza, two is sushi, and three is chicken wings or nuggets if you are too lazy to eat around a bone" I give the options while holding up my figures to represent each of them.
"I want sushi," he smiles.
"Alright, sushi it is," I say before grabbing the phone and calling the local sushi shop. I placed my order of California Rolls and soup dumplings before handing the phone off to Lucas so he could order. Once done he ends the call and reaches for his wallet in his back packet to pull it out and gives me forty dollars.
"Damn, how much did you order to be giving me this much?" I ask, expressing how shocked I was.
"Well ten of that is for the delivery guy," he smiles, trying hard not to laugh at me.
"Well still, that is ten of forty. How much did you get to be spending thirty dollars?" I asked.
"Hey, I'm still growing and I'm an athlete. You will be surprised at how much we have to eat to stay in top shape." I explained while laughing.
Once the laughter died down, we sat in silence as we waited for our food to arrive. After about ten minutes the silence was getting painfully uncomfortable for me to handle.
"So you have a game this Saturday, that must be exciting," I say, trying at the small talk in which I have never done before.
"How did you know I had a game?" He asked.
"Oh, umm because Nathaniel asked me if I could come and watch the game," I replied.
"Nathaniel, you mean number twenty-six who is my wide receiver in most games?" Lucas asked, shocked.
"Yeah, is that a problem? He was asking on the behalf of most of your teammates," I answer under the pressure of his eyes that are staring holes into me.
"Wait, I'm so confused . My teammates want you to come to our football match. You just said that they were approaching you because of Justin. How are you all buddy-buddy with them?" He asks after what I assume was a mini rant.
"Yeah, I got kind of close to some of them and they think I'm cool. Some of them will even buy me coffee and I'm usually in the library with John, Derek, and Nathaniel. So I guess you can say I'm the closest with them three," I explain. I mean I get why Lucas is questioning me. When he tried to get me to hang out with his buddies in high school, I would flat out refuse because I quote 'I don't want to be judged by a bunch of meatheads and get mocked'. I mean I was pretty head strong with these guys as well, but they would just ignore my comments of them fucking off. Is this how I make friends?
"What do they call you?" He asks firmly.
"By my name," I replied a bit confused.
"So they can call you Harper, but I can't," his tone of voice sounded harsh when commented on my answer as if he was now angry. Why is he so hung up on calling me Harper? He never wanted to call me by my name before, so what changed?
"Why do you sound so mad?" I asked.
"Because I have been trying to put things behind us and start new. I want to call you Harper, not Piggy," he replies with a huff.
"Well if you wanted to do that then you shouldn't have called me Piggy when you saw me again," I glared as his reply only succeeded in pissing me off. How dare he say he wants to start new and shit when on day one he called me by that awful nickname. He didn't even think about the effects when he gave me that nickname.
"Dammit, Harper I was surprised to see you," he starts showing his frustration.
"No you weren't Lucas. You were not surprised and even if you were. That's not an excuse,"  I almost yelled as I was starting to feel the energy of the room.
"Then what. Hmm are you going to ignore me for the rest of our time here," he growls.
"Well it sure as hell was the plan, Lucas" I yelled, letting my frustrations get the best of me. 
"Well isn't that fucking great then," he frowns. The air in the room is super intense to the point that I find it hard to breathe. I feel like every time he comes to my house we always have an argument. I don't want to argue with him. I really just want to live my college life as happy as I can before I jump into a career.
"Lucas, just what the hell do you want from me?" I asked, but did really give him time to answer.
"When we met, I was so happy to have a friend beside Xander. I finally had someone my age, who wanted to befriend me. I thought I could have a normal school life, but in the end I was wrong. You mocked me, called me names which turned into the only thing students called me by. I was bullied all the time while you would just watch and laugh at your friends' jokes. I stalked you college applications just so we wouldn't end up at the same college, but look at us now. Not only do we go to the same college, but we also have the same degree. Do you see why I might be a bit hostile with you?" I rant, letting the words slide off my tongue like it is venom.
Lucas looked ready to retaliate back when a knock was heard. I get up grabbing the money for the food before walking to the door. I hand the guy the money and take our food from his hands. I placed the food on the coffee table that we were working on. I dug my food out in silence, placing it in front of me before leaving to get drinks. I grabbed two waters for us, I placed his drink in front of him before sitting down ready to eat my food.
"Is that why you hate me so much? Because of a misunderstanding," he mumbled.
"What misunderstanding Lucas? Everything was clear as day, so what could I possibly be getting wrong?" I asked glaring at him. I'm curious what excuse he will come up with.
"You think I followed you here just to be a dick to you? I wanted to make it up to you. You were the only person I met that didn't want something from me. You didn't want social status or money from me. You didn't approach me at all, which made me curious about you. I called you Piggy because the guys started to notice you and I didn't like it. I acted like some kind of jealous boyfriend even though we weren't dating. I didn't want to share you with anybody because I was a selfish prick." He pauses looking away, "I knew the guys picked on you a little bit, but I had no idea that they bullied you. Though I wasn't any better, especially on the day your friend came to get you. I shouldn't have said what I said that day, but dammit Harper. You really hurt me that day."
I think back to that day when the cheerleader accused me of being a stalker. I yelled at them telling them that I was trying to get the hell aways from him because I hated his gut. When I heard Lucas's voice that day, my heart dropped. I didn't expect him to hear me and I honestly didn't want him to know my true feelings. But what really got me was the amount of hurt that showed in his eyes. I could tell that I hurt him, but I didn't want to seem weak so I stood my ground. I didn't expect what he said to me because deep down, I guess I was hoping I was wrong about him being as horrible as I made him out to be. Even now, I don't want to imagine that I misunderstood him this entire time, but damn if he just told me how he really felt then we could have avoided all this.
"Please Harper. I promise that what I am telling you is the truth. I'm sorry I was a coward before, but please give me another chance to be a part of your life." His eyes pleaded as he looked at me and I knew I would break. I let out a deep aggravated break as I really just wanted to tell him off and be  all 'no way Jose'. 
"Fine, what is it that you want in this little truce of ours?" I asked
"Can we try to be friends again? Where I can call you Harper and we can hang out from time to time" he asks.
I ponder on this as I examine his facial expression to see if this is a prank, but from everything he told me. Would someone really go that far? Honestly no they would. That would be too much work, even if you hated someone to the point where you wanted them dead. You would not put up this kind of act and say what Lucas has told me. 
"Fine, now let's eat our food. I'm pretty sure my soup dumplings are cold now," I groan.
He let out a small laugh, smiling from ear to ear showing how happy he is. He digs his food out of the bag and digs in. For the rest of the evening we chit chat over stupid stuff and eat. It was like all the shit that had happened between us had never happened.
It turned out to be a fun evening, I'm just hoping this won't bite me in the ass later on.