Jellybeans

Kayleigh sat on the couch, sinking into the black leather as it slowly engulfed her. Or she wished it would. Looking up occasionally to watch the images on the television change, morph, dance in excitement. She would glance down again, then slide her eyes over to meet the soft, chocolate brown ones. These brown ones reflected the images in the television, as the keeper of those eyes was intently watching the rented movie.
She looked back down again, fiddling with the edge of her dark green t-shirt. The pink paint on her nails was almost completely chipped off by this point – a nervous habit. She had many of those.
“You okay?” A soft voice beside her asked. It was etched with concern.
She looked up again to meet the brown eyes. She smiled softly, “I-I’m fine, thanks.”
Jared quirked an eyebrow at her, “Are you bored?”
She shook her head vigorously, offsetting her glasses a bit.
He laughed, reaching forward to fix the thick rims upon her nose. She blushed, his fingers gently touching her cheek.
“T-thanks.” She mumbled, looking down again.
He chuckled, resting his long arm around her shoulders, forcing her to lean against him. He was very warm, and smelt of soap and popcorn. It was a calm smell – it suited him.
She tried to focus on the movie, but her mind kept wandering. She hadn’t talked to Violet for two days. She was beginning to get worried, the alcoholic brunette at least texted her by this point. She bit her lip anxiously.
“Kayleigh…” She glanced up at Jared, an intrigued expression on her face.
Very gently, as if he was afraid to startle her, he laid his lips upon hers. She allowed her eyes to flutter closed…

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

(BEFORE HAND)
The phone was silent, unmoving – dead. The blank screen and silence of the room seemed to mock her continuously. The black and white phone lay upon the desk in the corner of the room, Kayleigh sat at the opposite. In the chair underneath the bed of her loft, she glared at the phone behind her glasses.
Suddenly, it spun to life, dancing across the wooden top of the desk, singing out some random ringtone she had punched in for its default ringer.
She stood up too fast, slamming her head against the bottom of the loft and pausing for a moment as she saw stars. Wobbling across the room, she picked up the phone and clicked the “send” button.
“H-hello?” She asked, rubbing the top of her head gingerly. It stung slightly to the touch, a pulse of pain going through her skull every time her light fingers touched the forming bump.
“Kayleigh?” Came a masculine voice from the phone.
Her heart sank slightly, but she raised her eyebrows in confusion, “Yes? Who’s this?”
“Jared.”
“O-oh… Hi.” She rested her left hand on the back of the chair in the room, looking up at the ceiling fan.
There was a pause of silence between the two, the light static in the background seemingly growing louder.
“Uhm… so, what’s up?” She asked cautiously.
“Oh, uhm…,” He began awkwardly, “I have… I mean, I was wondering… If… No… Uh…”
She stifled a giggle at his chattering.
He took a deep breath, “Would you like to come over and watch a movie? …With me?” He added.
The short senior paused – Violet hadn’t spoken to me since yesterday. She had just been sitting there, staring at the phone since around 10 o’clock that morning. And… Violet was straight.
She had finally said it, “I definitely prefer dudes”. Kayleigh’s heart broke at that statement. Friends for eleven years, she had spent about six of those in love with her… And it was all shattered with one line, which took less than one breath of air, and only a few seconds to say.
“Y-yeah. Sure, I’d love to.” She said quietly into the receiver.
Violet would never love her. She was moving away so she would forget these feelings, forget her friend. She had to appear “normal” to the world; she couldn’t let her college know she hadn’t had a single boyfriend her entire four years of high school. They might get suspicious, they might figure it out – they might hate her.
“Oh! Awesome! So, yeah, tomorrow, around six-ish?” She absentmindedly scratched down the directions to his house with a pen onto her notepad covered in doodles.
They said their goodbyes – Jared sounding distinctly like a child who just found a hidden treasure.
She let the phone fall from her hand and twist upon her carpeted floor. The short blonde stood, staring at something that wasn’t there.
“I want to be normal.” She said aloud.

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

“This feels… wrong.” Her mind said her eyebrows pulled together in contemplation. It was so… different. She didn’t like it.
Jared’s lips were slightly chapped, but held an undertone of smoothness. His hand was calloused and left stinging sensations as it trailed down her arm to her waist. She shivered. It was wrong, she was leaning up too much, he was too warm, he held her too tightly.
Violet… was soft. Her lips tasted of sweet, strawberry flavoured lipgloss, mixed with the bitter sour of vodka. Her skin was very smooth; her nails left tingly marks on the back of her head. The time they kissed, was so… beautiful.
She shivered again, Jared’s arm going around her lower back to pull her closer to him.
Wrong…
It was all wrong.
She shook her head, breaking the kiss. Tears brimmed her eyes, her mouth quivering slightly.
The cell phone in her back pocket startled her as it signaled an incoming call. She pulled away from Jared, willing her eyes to stay far away from his. An uncomfortable silence lingered in the room as she flipped open the phone.
"..Y-yes?" She asked, trying to calm her voice. Her shoulders were shaking, her face was burning, she was a mess.
"Kay. I need to talk to you. Can you come over?" Violet's familiar, yet slightly offset voice broke through the receiver.
"Uhm..." She looked over at Jared. He sat, looking slightly contemplative about something. His forefinger was resting on his lips as if he was trying to make a very hard decision. "I'm... with Jared..."
Silence carried through both the room she occupied and the phone.
"Oh."
"Vi?"
"Yeah, nevermind. You've made you're decision, right? I figured one day all the times I stood you up for a guy would come back to bite me in the ass someday. I just never figured it'd be today." She said, her voice rising slight.
"V-Vi. Please don't do this..." She mumbled into the phone.
"Well, why not? You told me you'd be there for me, right? Always? Best friends. Bullshit, wasn't it. I heard you, the other day."
Kayleigh's blood ran cold.
"You're not seeing me after graduation, eh? Just like the rest. You just used me, and now you're leaving. I should be used to it by now. But..." Her voice shook with anger, but she started to sound as if she had been eating peanutbutter and it was stuck to the roof of her mouth. The brunette, was crying.
"Violet..."
"Bite me." She said, and the line went dead.