Beck doesn't mention Layne's morning escape this time, making me wonder if this is because he either hadn't seen it, or was just over me denying it.

Nat however, does not give a damn.

"How's Layne?" She immediately questions, "Somethings wrong with you and I'm gonna take a shot in the dark and assume it has to do with her."

"She's fine," I reply curtly, "How are you, Best Friend?"

"I feel like you're lying," she grabs me and holds me down, inspecting my neck.

I force an uncomfortable laugh, "Are you looking for hickies?"

"Hickies. Bruises. Left-over wax. I don't know what type of freaky shit y'all into."

I shove her off, "Nothing's wrong and you aren't gonna find anything by the way."

"If nothing's wrong why did Layne leave crying this morning?"

She was crying?

"I don't know. I was asleep," I hold my place and realizing I won't be providing anymore information, the conversation switches to something else.

***

Layne and I ride in silence to school, except for that dumb ass song I was low-key starting to hate. It's like she's rubbing it in my face.

As much as I love you, I'm scared to say. What a fool I am!

I don't immediately ask what's wrong, hoping maybe she'll calm down, however the deeper into class we get, the more I realize she's only getting madder.

By the time the lab is over, it's clear this isn't going to heal with time.

"NEW JOBS!" I check the door and see that Layne and I are assigned to walk-in. Yay!

I hear an angry grunt behind me and see Layne storm off.

"You're mad?" I follow her into the walk-in fridge.

"Why would you kiss me?" she questions.

"You're mad I kissed you?"

"I'm mad because I don't know what you want from me?" She exasperates.

I give her a confused look and she explains further.

"KJ last night we were having a moment and I appreciated you being honest and vulnerable with me but damn! KJ, you can't make this big deal about how fucking straight you are and how you just wanna be friends and then shove you're tongue down my throat. I've put up with a lot of your bullshit but that's not gonna be added to the pile," she states.

"Minimal insults. Nice," I reply smartly and she shoots me a look that could kill if I wasn't already die inside anyway, "Okay. I understand."

"Good," she nods, "Because either you're into me or you're not but either way I'm not here for your games, Parker. So are we kissing or not?"

I hesitate and she huffs, "Pick one."

"Kissing," I say.

Her face breaks into a smile, "Good."

Our lips connect, warm against the cool air of the walk in. I stumble slightly, taken a back by the sudden act, even though I'd initiated it. I quickly pull away.

"You can't tell anybody about this," I immediately state, "Not ever."

She nods, "I won't."

"Swear it?"

"I swear it."

She exits the walk in and I wait about three minutes before I follow, not wanting to look too suspicious. As I wait, the reality of my actions hit me full  throttle. 

Thisisbadthisisbadthisisbadthisisbadthisisbadthisisbadthisisbadthisisbadthisisbadthisisbadthisisbadthisisbadthisisbadthisisbadthisisbadthisisbadbadbadbadbadbadbad!!!!!!!!

"KJ," I jump at Nik touching my shoulder, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," I look around, realizing the kitchen is empty. I shake her off, heading back into the classroom. In existing I slam directly into Layne.

"Shit," I stumble back, slamming my injured hand into the wall behind me.

"I'm sorry," she grabs my hand to inspect it and I snatch it back. Realizing what I've done, our eyes lock. "Oh my God. You're gonna do the thing when you get weird about us again."

I don't say anything. I won't deny it, but I won't confirm it either.

"Cool. I'm riding home with Wren, so I guess I'll see you later," she touches my shoulder and leaves.

I exhale when she's gone, not even realizing I'd stopped breathing.

The bell rings and I grab my bag before bolting out to my car. I dial Nat as soon as I'm settled.

"Bruh it's too early for you to be calling me like this," she answers, "What is it?"

"I kissed Layne."

"Yeah, I know. We've been over this."

"No, Nat. Like I kissed her again. Just now in class."

"Oh. Oooooh," she pauses, "And I'm assuming you're going to tell me why that's a problem."

"I'm not gay Nat!"

"You sure have kissed a lot of girls recently for me to believe that."

"I've kissed one. And it's been the same one."

"That's still more than the average straight person. Average being zero."

"What am I going to do?" I slam my hand into my steering wheel, "She made me pick, Nat."

I catch her up on what happened last night, and then today in the walk in.

"Ah-ha! I knew something happened last night!" she proclaims, clearly proud of herself, "Anyway, you mean to tell me she gave you a clear out to never have her kiss you again and you said no? KJ that sounds pretty gay to me...."

"I didn't want her to stop kissing me."

"So you like it?"

"No!"

"Bitch do you think you're making sense? Cause I'm lost," Nat sighs, "Gay or not, can we just agree that you like her?"

"A little," I exhale, "And yes that's as best as you're going to get from me."

"I don't know what to tell you, fam," I can hear Nat shrugging on the other end of the line, "You fucked up."

"Fuck," I slam my hand again, accidentally hitting the injured one. I pull into the JOINT's lot, "I'm at work anyways. I gotta go."

"How's the jungle?" I return to work in the first time in two weeks, Chess greeting me at the door with a gift basket, "Me and the guys pitched in to get you something."

"Thanks," I accept it, placing it and my bag in my locker, "And I'm cool in a round about totally lying way."

"What's been happening? Aside from the hand thing, obviously," Chess inquires.

"That girl who visits me a lot? We maybe might have a thing kind of..."

He bursts into a grin and I can see the "I told you so" dance across his face.

"Whatever, Chess," I duck into the bathroom to change into my work clothes, hearing him laugh outside the door.

"I didn't say anything!"

"Go cook your fucking tacos!"

When I hear him leave I exit, clocking in to work.

***

Harrison comes in alone this time, taking a seat the bar instead of his usual booth, "KJ."

"This is in fact my name," I reply, "Where's the rest of your untrained dogs?"

"We thought something happened to you. Taco Tuesdays weren't the same without you."

"Shame you had to find another server to harass. I'll hurt my hand at a more convenient time next go," I hand him a menu, "Root beer?"

"Yea, thanks," he hands me back his menu, "Still want the usual, too."

I nod and head into the kitchen, "It's Harrison's bitch ass. Flying solo tonight."

"Gotcha," I deliver Harrison his soda then attend to my other tables.

The night is slow and after a few hours Chess orders me to take a break. I'm sitting in the back, my homework surrounding me, when he brings me an order of tacos, "Eat. You look like you're losing weight."

"Do I?" I hadn't noticed, but now that it'd been mentioned, it was probably true. "It's probably stress."

He puts down the food and I realize there's two orders, "There's two?"

He smirks, "Your little girlfriend's here by the way."

"We aren't dating," I pick up a taco.

"No but you're dining," he motions to someone outside the door and Layne appears behind him. I look at him and he mouths "Sorry" before leaving us alone.

The way our break room is set up, there's a large wooden table mounted in the middle, seating about eight. Against the exterior wall is the back door, and our lockers. Perpendicular to that wall is a dry erase board, with schedules and any other news posted. There's also a counter, where something's we'll relax. But Layne does not pick the table, the chairs at the table, or the counter to sit at. She picks my lap.

I almost choke on my taco, swallowing it prematurely, "You know it's chairs in here right?"

She ignores me, "I'm going to talk," she says, pushing my food away from me.

"Isn't saying normally 'we need to talk'?"

"Not this time," she slaps my hand as I reach for my tacos, "Hey! I'm going to talk to you and you're going to listen. Got it?"

I nod, "I'm listening."

"Good. Honestly, I'm getting really sick of your bullshit, Parker. But I like you, and I like kissing you, so I keep putting up with it," she hardens her voice, "However, if we're gonna do the kissing thing, we're gonna have to do it on my terms. Which means I'm gonna kiss you whenever I want and you're gonna deal with it because you wanna be a little bitch about it and act like you don't like me. You aren't gonna bring up Operation SLAY. And you definitely gonna stop saying 'I don't like girls' because you like me dumb ass and I don't know if you noticed, but I'm a girl. I'm not saying that we're doing all this labeling and couple stuff cause we are not a couple and you can identify as whatever but don't sit in front of me eating a taco and then look me in the eye and say you don't eat tacos. Bitch I have eyes."

"And what if that's not what I want?" I question.

"Oh, sweetie," she pouts, "You think I give a damn what you want?" she laughs, "Funny. See, this isn't about what you want because you don't know what you want. I know what I want, and I want to kiss you, so we're doing it my way. This isn't a negotiation, this is how it's gonna be."

"I feel like a hostage," I murmur, "Can I eat my tacos now?"

"Sure sweetie," she kisses my cheek and I resume eating, eyeing her suspiciously. Layne is not like Wren at all. She is worse. So much fucking worse. Nat was right. I'm sooo fucked. I swear it.