-Chapter Forty Two-

          We were sitting around the bonfire roasting marshmallows and making s’mores. Charlotte, one of the girls I met on the beach earlier, came up with a game for all of us to play. We would go around the circle, and tell are most embarrassing moment.

          “Austin, it’s your turn!” One of the girls called. Her name was Melissa.

           “I know, I know. Okay… Let me think.” He paused. “Alright, my most embarrassing moment was when I was thirteen. I was at this awesome waterpark with my mom, sister, and my sister’s best friend. And, of course, I had this massive crush on my sister’s friend.” He laughed, just thinking about the memory. “So, we went to this huge water ride, right? I decided to be ‘manly’ and show off to Ivory by riding it by myself. When I was at the bottom of the water slide, there was a huge splash, and I fell out of the doughnut-shaped tube and into the water. Okay, here’s the best part… when I came up from out of the water, I felt a slight breeze… my swim shorts had come off—right in front of Ivory and my sister. Ugh, that was so embarrassing.”

          We all laughed at him. Poor Austin! I laughed until my sides hurt, along with the rest of the group.

          When we were done telling about our most embarrassing moments, Austin and Brent pulled out their guitars. Brent plays guitar? Then, Anthony pulled out a cheap-looking set of bongos. He began to play a beat on them.

          Austin almost inaudibly counted to four, and the two of them began strumming a soft melody on their acoustic guitars. The sound of the guitars harmonized together to absolute perfection. I didn’t quite know what song it was, but when the two boys hit the first few lyrics, the song instantly came to mind. We Are Young by Fun..

          Give me a second I, I need to get my story straight. I hummed along to it, tapping with my bare feet in the cool sand. When they got to the chorus, we were practically all singing along. I was a little shy at first, but I gradually came out of my shell.

I smiled as we sang to the song. By the time, the bar closes, and you feel like falling down, I’ll carry you home tonight.

          For about the next fifteen to twenty minutes, we sang random songs. Austin and Brent on their guitars, and everyone else singing along with them.

          After a while, we just went to doing whatever. People were either at the pool or hanging out inside the house. I was in the living room with Melissa, Brent, Austin, and Lily. The four of them were telling me stories about their high school lives. All of us were the same age and still had senior year—the best yeae of all—left to complete.

          They were telling me about this holiday-type thing that went on at their school. It was called Prank Week. Basically, from what I’ve heard so far, it’s a thing against the students and faculty. The students would try to prank the entire faculty, and vice versa. It really did sound awesome.

          At the moment, they were explaining how last school year, they pranked the math teacher. Somehow, it ended up with the teacher landing in a kiddie pool full of shaving cream.

          I laughed. I was already jealous! My school seemed so boring compared to theirs!

          After a while of prank stories, I went to go get myself a can of soda from the fridge in the kitchen. I didn’t notice that Brent followed me in until I closed the fridge, soda in hand.

          “We have to talk, Alex,” he said.

          “I know, I know. Since we’re alone right now, just throw all your thoughts on the table, so we can clear the air up some, yeah?” I sighed, taking a seat in a bar stool.

          “Okay. Sounds good to me.” He sat down next to me. “Should we go somewhere else? Someone could just walk in or eavesdrop.”

          “No. We’re fine. I don’t think anyone will be coming in here soon,” I told him.

          “Alright. Let’s get to it, then… when do you think we should tell him?”

          Honestly, the thought of telling Jake that Brent and I kissed kind of terrified me. What if he broke up with me? I wouldn’t be surprised.

          “I don’t know.” I fixed my eyes on his. “Whenever it seems right, I guess.”

          “But when will that be? This doesn’t feel right! We don’t feel right! Jake’s been my best friend since kindergarten. You know how he always gets mad when I flirt with you at the coffee shop?” I nodded. “Well, this will be ten times worse! He’ll be pissed.”

          I looked away, knowing that he was completely right. “I know, Brent. And that’s what makes it even harder. I don’t want to tell him. I’m afraid to.”

          “So am I. But we both know that we will have to eventually. We can either tell him or let this guilt kill us.”

          “I’m not saying that we won’t tell him! I’m just saying that I don’t want to tell him.”

          We sighed at the same time. “This is all my fault,” we said in unison.

          I looked at him, and seeing that he was smirking, I chuckled. “It’s both of our faults.”

          “How is it your fault?” he questioned, raising his eyebrows. “I kissed you.”

          “Yes, but I kissed you back instead of pulling away. I knew that I wasn’t supposed to be kissing you when I have a boyfriend.”

          “Yeah, but you wouldn’t have kissed me back if I hadn’t kissed you in the first place.”

          “Yeah,” I mocked him, “but I did.”

          After a few seconds of silence, he said, “How did you feel about the kiss?”

          I knitted my eyebrows together in question. “What do you mean?”

          “You know what I mean. How did you feel about it?”

          This was kind of awkward for me to answer. “Uhm… it was… nice, I guess?”

          Brent smiled at me with a playful glint in his eyes. “Nice?”

          “Well, I don’t know how to answer that question!” I laughed.

          “Did you enjoy it?”

          “Enjoy what? The kiss?” He nodded yes. I wanted to say no, but that would be a lie, and he knew it too. So I told the truth. “Yeah. I mean, somewhat, I guess.”

          “You guess. Okay.”

          I smiled. “Shut up. Yes, fine, okay? Happy now?”

          “Actually, I am.” Then, he added a few seconds later, “Do you think the kiss meant something? Anything…?”

          “Meant something? As in what, exactly?”

          “As in, do you think maybe you are attracted to me. Or could you ever see us together, in a relationship, one day.”

          I thought about it. It was a possibility, Brent and I being together as a couple. But I have Jake. “I’m not sure, Brent.”

          “Well, do you want to find out?”

          “How..?”

          “Just one more kiss… an experimental kind of kiss, I mean. I’m not sure what you mean to me, and you’re the same way, right?”

          “In a way…”

          “So then, what do you say? It wouldn’t be bad if we were just testing things, right?”

          “Right… it’ll just be an experimental kiss. Nothing more, okay?”

          “Fine by me.”

          I licked my lips nervously, wetting them a bit. Should I really do this? Yes. Then I will know for sure if I really am attracted to Brent in any way, shape or form.

          I leaned in, and sure enough, he met me half way. Are lips were just barely brushing when there was a loud banging noise at the front door.

          Startled, we pulled away from each other as if there was a bucket of cold water thrown on us.

          I composed myself and coughed awkwardly. “That was hardly a kiss.”

          “I know, maybe some other time.” He winked at me. “Now act like we are best buds or something.”

          “Okay.” I rolled my eyes at the wink. Typical Brent. We walked out and to the living room while Austin answered the door.

          I sat down on the couch next to Lily, and Brent sat farther away in a comfy looking recliner. “Where is he?” I heard a familiar voice from the front entrance… and it wasn’t Austin’s. Was that…? No, it couldn’t be him… could it?

          “In the living room.” Austin’s voice. The voices of the two people were faint, but loud enough to hear.

          I heard Austin and another person’s footfalls pound heavily against the wooden floor as they made their way down a hall towards us.

          We were all staring at the hall, waiting to see who came out with Austin. Soon, they came into view. Jake was here, and he looked mad. Why, though? I unconsciously grinded my teeth together at the sight of him. It seemed like forever since we last saw each other—even if it’s only been a day.

          Jake crossed the room, walking straight over to Brent and stood in front of him. Brent stood up, matching Jake’s height. “Hey, man, is something wrong?” Brent asked.

          My eyes widened as I heard the loud sound―the sound of Jake’s fist making contact with Brent’s nose. Brent was taken by surprise, and fell to the ground. He winced in pain as he held his nose in his hands.

          I saw a flash of pink in Jake’s pocket. Was that… my cell phone? Does he know? Did he read my text messages?

          “I don’t know who the f*** you think you are kissing my girlfriend.” Jake looked like he was going to kill Brent. I’ve never seen him thismad before. Brent was right when he said this was going to be ten times worse. If looks could kill…

          Brent gave me a questioning look then looked back at Jake. The only way Jake could possibly know is if he either read my messages, or if Vicky told him, and I knew she would never do that to me… so he had to have read my text messages.

          Jake was furious, and I knew that he wasn’t going to stop at one punch to the face. The next thing I knew, Jake was straddling Brent, and throwing punches at his him… until blood was dripping from his nose.

          I wanted to jump in, and break the fight up. So I did. “Jake! Stop it!” He didn’t listen, but instead continued to hit Brent. “Jake!” I yelled a bit louder, prying him off of the boy.

          Jake sat down onto the soft carpet, huffing loud gasps of air in anger. I crossed the room, over to where Brent was lying on the floor. I sat down next to him and propped his head up onto my lap. “Brent, are you okay?” He moaned in pain. I winced as blood drizzled down from his nose and down the side of his face. I hated blood. I’m surprised I was even holding up this long without getting nauseous.

          “Why are you helping him?” Jake asked. “He’s the one that kissed you, right? He knew that you were my girlfriend, and still kissed you!”

          “I’m helping him because you just beat the crap out of him, Jake! Do you not realize he is your best friend!? Look at him, for God sakes! I’m not just going to stand there and watch him bleed!” I shouted at him, now furious. “I don’t care if he kissed me! It was just a kiss!”

          “But you’re my girlfriend!”

          The others cleared from the room, realizing we needed some privacy at the moment. Soon, though, Lily came back with a bag of ice and a pillow for Brent’s head.

          “Oh, really?” The hot tears were coming, and I knew it. I tried to hold them back for as long as I could manage. God, why am I such a baby? “You’re acting like you’ve been the perfect boyfriend. Well, guess what? You aren’t! Would a good boyfriend ditch his girlfriend after promising that they will ‘stick together’? Would a good boyfriend leave his girlfriend at a house full of strangers?” The tears began to slowly spill as I said the last part. “Would a good boyfriend leave his girlfriend to go see his old girlfriend? Or in this case, why would you leave me to go see Audrey? You could’ve at lease told me instead of lying to my face!”

          “How did you know that I went to go see Audrey?”

          I clenched my teeth. I knew it. “I didn’t. It was a lucky guess, but you just clarified that you did.” I wiped the tears away with a shaky hand. “See? You’re not exactly so ‘good’ yourself!”

          “What’s going on…?” Brent. He was speaking coherent sentences now… slurred, but understandable sentences.

          I ignored him. “And you want to know something? Sure, Brent did kiss me. But guess what, I kissed him back. I don’t even regret it, Jake.” I pointed a finger at his chest. “You ditched me. You left me at the party. And you went to go see Audrey! You want to know who was there with me? Brent!” I yelled. “He was there instead of you!”

          Jake blinked, taken aback by my outburst. “Alex…”

          I continued. “So what if we kissed!? Brent was there for me. He took me home after you left. He cheered me up. He was the one that walked me to my doorstep last night. And he was the one to give me my goodnight kiss.”

          “A-Alex… I’m sorry… I really am sorry.”

          “Do you think I care? I’m sick of it! I’m sick of all your Audrey drama! You put me through hell last night! I actually cried myself to sleep, and you were the cause of those tears!” More tears were on their way. “I feel like I’m in war against Audrey or something! I know for a fact that you still love her! So why don’t you just stay away from me, go crawl back to her, and wait for her to wake up, okay? I don’t care anymore, Jake!”

          Jake stared intently into my eyes as sadness swept over his features. My heart was racing, and my blood was pumping as I said it. Those few words. I didn’t want them to slip out… they just did. “I’m done with you! J-just… leave me alone… please. Just go.”

          He tried to step towards me, but I took a step back. “Do you really want me to go?”

          I couldn’t stop the tears now. I didn’t want this, and my heart knew it. “Yes.” My voice cracked.

          Jake gave me one last look and turned around, walking to the door. “Bye.”

          When the door closed, I turned around to see Brent. He was sitting up against the couch with his back pressed against it, eyes closed. The bleeding stopped, but bruises were beginning to form where he had gotten punched. I sat next to him and sobbed into his chest. I wrapped my arm around his waist.

          “Did you hear all of that?” I croaked out.

          “Yeah. Most of it.” He put his arm around my shoulder, and let me cry. “I’m sorry.”

          Why did I do that? It all crashed onto me; all at the same time… like I was being swept under water by a massive wave. I realized what had been said, what had been done. I wasn’t Jake’s anymore, and he wasn’t mine. We were done. There was no us anymore… and that broke my heart. It all happened too quickly.

          I ended it all. Jake was gone, and I let him go. But… I didn’t bother to chase after him.

Author's Note: Hey, guys! :)  Did you like this chapter? Let me know what you think! :) And thank you for all the other comments on the last chapter!! First person to comment gets a dedication!