You Play the Field - I Play the Strings

Chapter 58

"Five minutes, Michael, you can do this," I sent my friend a side glance as he gave himself a pep talk to get through the last few bits of class. The thing was, he kept doing it over and over again as each minute of class passed, making it hard to hold back my laughter.

He laid his head on the desk, and I looked at the man, concerned, while he mumbled his now 'one more minute.' The professor clapped, and Michael shot up. This was a key sign that our professor was done with his lecture.

"I'm glad to have kept some of your attention, but our wonderful time together has come to an end. See most of you tomorrow," Mr. Batons seems to jeer that first comment at a certain blonde next to me.

I stood quickly, excited to get out and leave, but nowhere near as fast as Michael, who booked it out of the building. I knew he'd be waiting for me out there, so I didn't rush. Maybe Eden would also be out there by the time I got there.

I shoved things into my bag and threw it on my back, redoing my hair in a messy bun as I walked out of the building. As I thought, when I stepped out the door, I saw Eden's dyed bright red head and Michael.

We met Michael this year. He's a sophomore, and we're juniors. He switched majors after his freshman year and is on the soccer team. He's cool, very introverted unless you're friends with him, which surprised me because he's really nice and everybody tries to be friends with him, but he'll get awkward and run away.

"Why are you so slow?" Eden crossed their arms as I rolled my eyes, walking by, both of them turning to follow.

"I wasn't running away in a psychotic craze," I answered simply while Eden chuckled.

"I was wondering why he looked the way he did," they continued as Michael stopped.

"And how did I look, weirdo?" He attempted to insult Eden, who just narrowed their eyes.

"Just not right," they shrugged as I stepped away, knowing this would lead to a catfight. Micheal caught up and hands were gently thrown yet quickly as they slapped at each other's hands. I sighed and trudged along with my backpack, listening to the bickering get quieter.

By the time we got to our little spot under the tree, I'd got my sweatshirt out and on the ground and was sitting on it, lunch out.

"Says the one who gets literally thrown around by Troy," the two had finally caught up but were still fighting. Eden gasped and pushed his shoulder before trying to make another comeback.

"Oh yeah?! You want to see thrown around? I'll throw you around right here, right now!" They started to shake Michael's shoulders as the two started to wrestle. Eden's outfit didn't give much leeway for that, so Michael was winning.

Eden tried to tap out, now stuck in a chokehold as Michael messed up their hair. I had grabbed a container from my sack lunch, munching on my grapes.

"Is - fuck - hey... is that Tay?!" Eden gasped for air, very tired as they desperately pointed. Michael let go in seconds, desperately looking around for wherever Tay could be.

"Where? Do I look okay? Tell me I look good. Well, don't lie. I don't want Tay to see me if I look bad right now!" He started to panic as Eden flopped to the ground, breathing heavily; eventually, they started to laugh, pointing at the panicking man.

"What - why are you laughing?! You liar!" Eden had crawled over to me and had sat up, so I knew Eden was safe because Michael wouldn't attack when they're near me.

He just stomped over and stopped at my other side, sliding to the ground. Both pulled out their lunches, each with a different look on their face. One grumpy, one happy.

"Dude, you need to just go talk to them. They're a freshman; half of the time, they're desperate to have friends anyway," the two started to talk as I took a bite of my sandwich, my phone buzzing simultaneously. Tay has tan skin their hair bleached blonde and shoulder length. Some days they're feminine and other days they are hardly recognizable and look completely masculine. So we don't know their pronouns. We just know their name after asking around for a while.

I pulled it out, almost certain of who it was. Sure enough, I was met with a message from my lovely partner.

'Hey, my prince, how is lunch going?' I kind of looked up to really think about how it was going.

'It's going. Eden and Michael are pouting and going back and forth per usual so definitely no peace and quiet. How's work going?' I replied before setting my phone down and turning to Michael first.

"I'm going to go talk to Tay next time I see them and I'm going to befriend them, which means you'll have to talk eventually," I gave up on his promises of next time.

"Really, you'd do that for me?" Michael clapped his hands together, fluttering his eyelashes at me. I rolled my eyes, still annoyed by the two. I wanted to sleep. I was tired. You'll never guess who was keeping me up all night, Mr. Can't keep it in his pants. It's partially my fault because, you know, I didn't want to stop, but god, I'm just going to blame him.

"Yes, I will. Now eat," I chomped on my sandwich as Eden snacked on their pretzels. Michael started to open up his lunch before falling back on his back with a content sigh.

"This is why you're my bestest friend," he practically giggled while throwing all his ingredients into his salad, mixing it all together.

"What about me?" Eden leaned forward to make eye contact with Michael as I finished up my sandwich and packed up my container with finished grapes. I opened up my bottle of pop and took a drink before closing it and hiding it in my bag again before my friend's grabby hands just started drinking from whatever was closest.

"Give me two minutes, and we can be best friends again," Michael shrugged, and Eden followed suit, shrugging as well, content with that answer. I sighed, shaking my head as my phone buzzed again.

Still tired, I laid down, resting my head on Eden's lap before taking my phone out again. The two above me started to chat normally for now, kinda. Michael was fangirling, and Eden was teasing.

'Eden and Michael are the exact opposite of peaceful. Work is going well. Same as usual. I'm just being amazing at my job and getting paid amazingly for it. Which is just great because that means I get to spoil my lovely boyfriend (hint hint), but yeah, it's the same as usual. I just keep thinking about last night. It's taking everything I have not to look through my camera roll at work,' I almost choked on my spit as Eden hungrily snacked on her newest snack, which was now veggie straws. Who knows where the pretzels went.

Michael had a notebook and had flipped onto his stomach as he lazily doodled while eating. I looked up in time to see Eden snapping a picture of me on their lap, and the vigorously typed something out on their phone as I tried to think coherently enough to answer my boyfriend.

"No, we're not going out to dinner tonight (I'm denying the hint). We went yesterday. Rid your dirty mind and focus on something else to entertain yourself. Did you really feel the need to bring that up now, pervert. It's break night. I need a break. I've been so tired this week, and I'm blaming you for it," I responded with attitude, setting my phone on my chest, waiting for the buzz. When it came, I quickly looked for the answer.

'It's not my fault you're always on my mind. Like, look at you,' I flushed, hoping it was not a perverted photo as I hid my screen a bit.

The photo instead was of me laying on our bed. It was just my shoulders up, my hair splayed out around my head, and a big smile on my pale face. My eyes were squinted, and it looked like I was laughing, but I did think it was a somewhat decent photo. I watched the three bubbles appear as he typed again.

"You're so angelic. I'm so in love."

'Stop being like this, or I'm going to give in tonight. It's break night, Conner!' I practically whining through my texts and he knew it.

Eden sat up a bit more, a mischievous smile on their face.

"Oh my god, Tay! That's Tay!" Michael jumped up, slamming his notebook shut and looking around again as Eden started to cackle in my ear.

"Where- where!"

"Again! Really? I change my mind; we're not best friends for another fucking hour."