"Tyler, you know April right?" I ask him from the passenger side of his car.

I told Tyler I wanted to talk to him so he decided that we should go to KFC and hang out there. I was trying to get April to come with us but she's busy today.

"Yeah, w-what about her?" he asks, and I catch his little stutter. I smile to myself.

"You seem to be very fond of her."

He quickly looks at me in shock and shakes his head. Yeah, he definitely likes her.

"No, not in that way. We're just friends." 

"That's what they all say." I tell him, rolling my eyes.

"I mean, she's really pretty and she's really kind. And I like her cute little laugh and the way her nose scrunches up when she's nervous. Her--" he rambles, but stops when he sees me looking at him from the side.

"Wow, Mr. 'We're Just Friends'. Never knew you were so observant." 

He sighs, before making a turn to the KFC parking lot. He parks his car and turns to look at me.

"Okay, fine. I like her. I really like her. But, I don't want to complicate things." he tells me, scratching his head.

I scoff. I definitely know a lot about complicated relationships.

"Listen, Tyler. If you really like her, tell her. It's better to tell her than to let someone take her away from you."

"I don't even know if she likes me back." he says nervously, and I give him a smile.

"I think she's interested. Here, take her number. Call her and ask her out on a date." I tell him, grabbing his phone and typing her number in for him.

I give it back to him and he smiles thankfully.

"Thank you so much, Anima. You're a good friend. And I don't want you to feel bad that I don't like you anymore. You know I still care about you." he tells me sincerely.

I wave him off.

"Ty, it's fine. I want you guys to be happy and I think you'll be happy with each other."

He smiles and stretches over to hug me. After he pulls away, he has a curious look on his face.

"What about you and Danny? How's that going?" he asks me, and I shrug.

"Uh, I'm giving him some space right now. I think our relationship is better off like that. No communication, no contact." 

Tyler looks down at his hands and shakes his head.

"Wow. I-I'm sorry." 

I shrug sadly.

"Don't say sorry. It's not your fault. Things happen."

He looks up at me.

"No, it is my fault. There's something I--"

I cut him off.

"Tyler, I don't wanna talk about it. I'm hungry, could we please go inside?"

He sighs and hesitantly nods.

Once we get inside, we walk straight to the cashier. People were already in there, sitting at the tables and eating their food.

"Welcome to KFC. What would you guys like to eat today?" the lady politely asks us.

"Anima, what would you like?" Tyler asks me and I scan the menu at the top.

"Can I please get number 4?"

"Of course. Do you want the chicken mild or spicy?" she asks me.

"Spicy."

"Eii, Anima. Are you sure?" Tyler asks and I giggle.

"Yup, I gotta satisfy those cravings."

He nervously chuckles and proceeds to tell the lady his order. When she tells us the price, Tyler pays for it. I frown.

"Ty, you didn't have to do pay."

"I wanted to. I owe you." he shrugs, and I give him a smile. I didn't know what he owed me for but I didn't ask.

When the lady gives us our food, we take it to a small table in the corner. We sit down and I start to eat almost immediately. I don't play around with chicken or ice cream. Plus I'm eating for two now.

Tyler chuckles and starts to eat his food too. While we eat, we catch up on a lot of things. It was nice talking to him about random things. We talked about our childhood and life in general.

"Ty, I was thinking that you should come with me to my next doctor's visit."

He almost chokes on his food, and has to quickly take a sip of his Fanta.

"Me?" he asks, pointing to himself in shock.

"Yeah, I mean, it's only right for you to come. Unless you don't want to, that's fine too."

He sighs.

"Listen, Anima. I don't --" he starts but he is interrupted when someone stops at our table.

We look up and see a tall guy that looks around our age. He looks familiar but I can't remember exactly where I know him from.

"Um, can we help you?" Tyler asks the guy.

The guy grins and I immediately recognize him. The guy Lena was kissing.

"I was actually about to order when I saw this beautiful woman." he says to me, looking me over with a smile on his face. I start to feel uncomfortable under his stare.

"Um, thank you." I quietly say, hoping he will go away.

"What's your name, sexy?" he asks me, using his hand to stroke my cheek. I quickly move his hand away and adjust my outfit. Sexy? Did he not see my baby bump?

Tyler stands up and puts his hand on the guy's shoulder.

"Chale, I think she's okay."

The guy removes Tyler's hand from his shoulder. He touches my hair and plays with it. I remove his hand again.

"Don't touch me."

"Come on beautiful. Don't play hard to get." he says and I cringe again.

Tyler stands between the guy and me.

"Dude, don't you respect? You saw me here sitting with her. What if I was her boyfriend, you would just do this in my face?"

  "Well, is she your girlfriend?" he asks.

"None of your business. Just go." Tyler says and the boy rolls his eyes.

He looks at me over Tyler's shoulder. He shoves Tyler over and gets closer to me. He strokes my face again with a smile on his face. I remove his hand again with force and I'm about to speak when a voice interrupts us.

"Herhh, Chris!" a voice calls out, making the boy whip his head around.

Lena stomps over to us and looks at me in disgust.

"Chris, what are you doing to her?" Lena asks him, still glaring at me.

"Babe, nothing. She was trying to touch me, I was pushing her away. "

Tyler and I widen our eyes at his lie. No wonder why they're together. They're both liars and cheaters.

"Chale, tell the truth. You came onto her."  Tyler says, making Chris step closer to Tyler.

"Don't make me angry." he warns but Lena holds him back.

"Babe, don't waste your energy on them. They're pathetic. As for you Anima, I'm not surprised. All you know how to do is entertain men. You slut! That's what got you where you are now. Danny and I are over for good so go for my leftovers and leave my man alone." Lena spits at me. She genuinely looked angry.

I gasp at what she said. Danny and her broke up? But why did she seem so upset. She never actually liked him.

"I pity you Lena. You have to put everyone down to feel good about yourself. You are the complete opposite of Anima. I have no idea what Danny was thinking." Tyler says to her, making Lena widen her eyes at him.

She looks like she is about to punch him but she stops herself and glances at me. She looks back at Chris and drags him out of the restaurant.

After they leave, Tyler sits down and looks at me.

"You good? " he asks me and I nod with a smile on my face.

"Yeah, thanks. I think she's angry though." I tell him with a frown.

"When isn't she angry?" Tyler says and we both laugh.

But her anger was different today. It seemed deeper. I brush it off to the side.