Hey, please read the a/n at the end! :D

-Chapter Forty-

          Brent and I had fun dancing. I really hated to admit it, but this is kind of the most fun I’ve had all night. People occasionally asked me if anything was wrong with Jake. They would ask where he was, and if everything was alright between us. Of course, I just went with the lie he told me in the first place.

          “Yeah, everything’s fine!” I lied smoothly to the girl in front of me—something I can hardly ever do, thanks to my amazing lying skills. “He just wanted to rest because he had a bad headache.”

          The girl nodded with a smile. “I can understand! This music is so loud!”

          “I agree,” I told her.

          “Well, later, I guess!” She walked away from where I was sitting on one of the couches that was pushed up against the wall. I sighed and relaxed into the soft throw pillow behind me.

          I just couldn’t get over it. Jake still loves Audrey, and is upstairs, dreaming that he was with her. And I’m just sitting here, having fun with some other guy. I had planned to have fun with Jake and not Brent. Not that there’s anything wrong with Brent, though.

          “Hey, I’ll be back. I’m going to go to the kitchen for a minute. Want anything?” Brent said, leaning closer to me.

          “No, I’m good. Thanks though.” I smiled at him. I was glad he was here to dance with me when my boyfriend wasn’t. But by just thinking about that, made me even more pissed off at Jake.

         I got sick of waiting for Brent while everyone around me was having fun. Great, he ditched me too. It’s only been five minutes, I reminded myself. Deciding I didn’t want to sit around anymore, I stood up, and looked around for someone that I knew. Anyone.

          Finally, after looking around through the large group of people on the dance floor, I spotted the dark haired boy. It was Blake.

          “Blake!” I called to him, getting his attention. He span around towards me.

          “Yo.” He smirked. “What are you still doing here?” he asked.

          “Have you seen Jake anywhere? And what do you mean?”

          “Well yes, I have. And I just thought you would have left with him since he left. Guess not.”

          My jaw dropped. You’ve got to be kidding me! “He left!?”

          “Yep. Sorry, babe.” Winking at me, he brushed past me.

          I began fuming. I don’t know where to go, or what to do now. I wanted to cry. Ditching me was one thing, but completely leaving me alone here with a bunch of strangers was another thing. I don’t even know where the heck I am for crying out loud! How am I supposed to get back to Vicky’s house? Did he take the car that we came here in? If so, then I would have to get a ride home with someone.

          I walked through the dance floor, passing people with the occasional “excuse me” or “sorry” and to the kitchen. I wanted to go home now, and I decided that Brent could take me. Brent was sitting in a bar stool texting someone.

          I took the stool next to him. “Can you take me home?” I voiced in a soft tone.

          “Uhm…” He turned his phone off and looked at me with a concerned expression. “Yeah, I guess.”

          “Thank you.”

* * *

          We stood in front of the front door to Vicky’s with a patio light shining above us. We just got here from Blake’s house. We laughed and made jokes the whole ride. Brent really cheered me up some. “Thanks again for the ride back to Vicky’s house, Brent.” I gave Brent a content smile. “I don’t know if I would be able to stand another five minutes of that party.”

          “Of course. A few minutes out of that house could’ve been good for the both of us.” He let out a short laugh.

          “Yeah. Well, I guess I should get going. Thanks for your help.” Opening the door, I was about to step into the warmth of the house when Brent stopped me.

          “Wait, Alex?”

          “Yes?” I turned back around curiously, and closed the door most of the way. I looked at him, tilting my head to the side. “What’s up?”

          “I want you to know if you ever need anything, I’ll be there for you, okay? Especially if your boyfriend is nowhere to be found—I’ll only be a text or a phone call away.”

          I smiled. “Alright. I’ll make sure to keep that in mind. Bye, Brent.” Stretching out my arms, I offered him a hug. He wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me close. When I pulled back from the hug, Brent kept his arms around me. I looked into his green-blue eyes, wondering what he was doing. What exactly was he doing?

          Then, he leaned forward and kissed me… What surprised me most was that I responded and actually kissed him back instead of pulling away. I didn’t feel bad at all, kissing Brent on Vicky’s front patio. You know why? Because I’ve had a crappy night, and the boy that should’ve been here―in Brent’s place―was not here with me, but instead, one of his best friends was.

          I then realized what I was doing after inwardly saying it to myself. I was kissing―more like making out― with one of Jake’s best friends out of anger and jealousy. I pulled away from Brent. “Do not tell Jake, or anyone for that matter, about this,” I told him firmly and walked into the house and out of his grip, almost breathless.

          I sighed deeply through my nose, running my hands through my hair, and walked into the living room with a million thoughts buzzing through my mind. It seemed really late. I was hardly keeping track of time all night. Maybe it was around eleven thirty or close to midnight.

          “How was your night?” a female voice said, coming from somewhere to my right, scaring me to death.

          “Vicky!” I scolded her in a hushed tone knowing that people were sleeping. She was lying on the couch with a warm looking blanket spread across her legs. The room was dimly lit with moonlight poured through the large windows in the living room. “Why are you up?”

          “I’m a night owl, you should know that. Now answer my question. How was your night?”

          I sat down next to her on a couch and rested my head on her shoulder. “It was terrible. Honestly.”

          “Want to talk about it?”

          “Sure.” So we talked about it. I don’t know how long we did, but I got it out of my system. I concluded with, “Then, when I came home, Brent kissed me… And I kissed him back.”

          “I know.” Vicky replied with a disapproving look on her face.

          “How could you possibly know?”

          “I heard you when you first closed the door to Brent’s truck. Don’t hang around on my front patio.”

          I groaned. “I don’t know why I kissed him back, I mean, Jake is my boyfriend! I was just really mad at him for leaving me, and he wasn’t there for me. We were supposed to be there for each other tonight, and he completely left me alone. While he just went to God only knows where, I was at his friend’s party, by myself.”

          “Did you ever think of how he was feeling, Alex?”

          “Well, yes, I did! He’s sad, and I know that, but he’s moved on from Audrey… Well, I think he has.”

          Vicky gave me a confused look. “You think? What do you mean? Of course he has!”

          “No, Vicky. He hasn’t. If he had, then he wouldn’t have ditched me when ‘their song’ came on, and he would’ve at least told me that he was leaving the party when he did! But he didn’t,” I stopped to wipe an angry tear that somehow managed to escape away, “and it feels like he is staring to like me less, and love Audrey even more. It feels like I’m losing to Audrey in a way.”

          Vicky wrapped her arms around me and let me cry into her chest. I created a small wet spot on her t-shirt. “Honey, Alex, it will be okay. It’s not a competition between you and Audrey. I think Jake is just going through something, and he just had to get it out somehow. I don’t know. But it will be okay soon, alright?”

          I nodded slowly. “I guess…”

          “Well, I suppose I should be getting to bed now. I’ll see you in the morning, and if you want a good breakfast tomorrow morning, I’ll be happy to make it for you.”

          “Thank you. Goodnight, Vic.” The corners of my lips tugged up as Vicky planted a small kiss on my forehead. “Please don’t tell Jake about the kiss.”

          “I won’t. Night, sweetie.”

          I gave Vicky one last hug and we both retreated to our own bedrooms. When I got to my bedroom, I curled up into a ball in the middle of my bed, held a small pillow tight to my chest, and let a few stray tears escape. Soon fatigue got the best of me, and I feel asleep.

* * *

          “I don’t feel like eating anything right now. Sorry.” I turned over in bed and turned on my phone, checking my messages.

          “It’s okay, Alex. I’ll leave it here for you just in case, though.” After leaving the tray of food on the nightstand next to me, Vicky exited and silently closed the door.

          I put my attention back to my phone. I had two texts from Danielle, a missed call from London, along with a voicemail, and a text from Brent.

          Hey, chica. Are you still at the party? Btw, I think I’m going to go to Mason’s house for a little while after the party. So yeah. Text me back!! Xx –D

          Morning! I ended up staying over at Mason’s for the night. I’ll be home soon, I guess :) See you later, sis! ;D xx –D

          The first text message I got from Danielle was at 11:13 PM last night, and the second one was from this morning at ten AM. I smiled at her text, but didn’t reply to her. Then I opened up the message from Brent.

          Hey, Alex. I won’t tell Jake about, you know… What we did last night. Promise. And, I hope that things won’t be awkward between us now. I’ll see you around, I guess.

          I moaned and turned my phone off as last night’s events flooded my mind. That was just another reason for me to stay in bed all day long.

          Did Brent and I really kiss last night? Yes, we did. How could I be such an idiot? But why did Brent kiss me? Maybe it was just a spur of the moment thing, I guess. Maybe he felt the need to?

          And why did I kiss him back? I could’ve just pulled away instead of responding, couldn’t I have? But why don’t I regret it? How come now I’m actually thinking that I somewhat enjoyed kissing Brent? Crazy, right?

Author's Note: Hey, readers! How was your day? Did you like this chapter? It wasn’t very good, but let me know what you think ;D

And do you all want to play a game? I’ll write a sentence, then you have to finish the story. Add on to what the person who commented before said. You can only write up to three sentences of the story in a comment, and you can’t comment twice, adding onto your own comment, but you can add onto another person’s comment if you comment again. If this goes well, I’ll put it as my bio for three days and I’ll tag all of the people who participated! xD Here's my starter sentence:

There once was a potato.

Haha, that's so random. xP Write on my message board if you have any questions about the game! :) First person to comment gets a dedication!

       ~Storylover11~