#17: M.I.A Girl

I was suffering in my free period (heh) when I heard Ryuu and his friends talk about "his girl" as Lucian had

dubbed me. He was surrounded by his usual group of friends, while I was hunched over my desk, head resting on my folded arms as I waited for the pain meds I had just taken to start working.

"Dude, why are you checking your phone so much?"

Lucian asked, as loudly as he always does.

I couldn't see Ryuu's face, but I can imagine him

furrowing his brows as he answered, "I'm not."

"You are." Lucian shoots back. "You've checked it like

five times in the past minute."

Ryuu didn't say anything, but he didn't

need to. His silence did all the talking for him. "Wait."

I could hear the smirk in Lucian's voice. "She hasn't

texted you, has she?"

"She has," Ryuu quickly replied. "She's just..." For a

second I feared what he would say next. "Been busy

over the weekend, and I'm wondering if I should text

her right now. Find out how she's doing."

I let out the breath I didn't realize I was holding.

"Alright, let me stop you right there, man," Lucian

says, then paused long enough that I was prompted

to peek in their direction. He placed a hand on Ryuu's

shoulder, then continued, "Ever since you started

texting this girl, you've been acting more and more like

a wuss!"

Ryuu smacked Lucian's hand away with a small smile.

"Yeah, you'd know. You were acting like a lost puppy

when you were texting Rachel." Lucian backed off,

raising both his hand in the air, as Ryuu looked back

to his phone. "Plus...it's not a crime to worry about a

friend.!"

I don't know what it was, whether it was the wistful

the way he said it, or how vulnerable he looked, but for me, and every female in the room swooned.

Later that day, feeling much better as I lay in bed, I

picked up my phone and decided to send Ryuu a text.

It was the least I could do in return for him genuinely

worrying about it. I couldn't deny that it made me feel

a bit tingly.

Me:

"Only a couple of days left."

He replied almost instantly.

Ryu:

"Yay!! You got this, gurl!"