This Is What Happens When Love Meets Destruction

Unhappy about the lab we were scheduled to do in Chemistry this morning, I dragged my feet the entire way to class. Overhead, the bell rang, and I sighed heavily, knowing that that was another tardy mark against me, another mark that brought me a step closer to another detention. I turned around the corner and found myself in front of the Chemistry classroom. Muttering a few choice words under my breath, I pulled open the door and ignored the stares that were sent my way as I entered the room.

Glancing around, I saw Jack waving at me, motioning for me to hurry up and sit down in the empty seat beside him. I bit the inside of my cheek, not wanting to have to sit by, and talk to Jack. I was able to avoid him this morning before class started, but it wouldn't be so easy to do now. Quickly, I scanned the rest of the classroom to see if there were any other open seats for me, but to my dismay, there were none. I had no choice but to sit by Jack. I don't know why it surprised me that there was no place else to sit; it was where I usually sat, so of course no one else would think to sit there.

As I took my backpack off and sat down beside Jack, he tossed a copy of the packet that contained today's lab information in front of me.

"Douche," he mumbled, "I almost thought that I was going to have to do this shit alone this morning."

Frowning softly, I took the packet and flipped through it, choosing not to reply to Jack's comment. By the time I had finished reading through the basics, our teacher had started up his lecture, so I turned my attention to him, happy for an excuse to avoid Jack and any of his future comments. About ten minutes later, though, our teacher had finished explaining our goals and objects of today's lab, and he set us lose to start our experiments. With nothing else to hold my attention, I was forced to listen to Jack, and our two other lab partners, Joel and Thomas.

At the moment, Joel was talking about something he and his brother had done this weekend, so Jack didn't have the chance to talk to me, but I saw him watching me out of the corner of his eye. Wishing I could be anywhere else at the moment, I shifted slightly, and propped my arm up on the table, using it to hold my head up as I rested my chin in the palm of my hand.

Before long, Joel had finished his story, earning laughs from Thomas and Jack, and even a couple of other eavesdroppers who had caught the conversation. Not having a single clue what they were laughing about, I merely sighed quietly, and lowered my eyes to the table.

"So," Thomas said, playing with the Bentsen burner that had been set up in the middle of our table, "what are the plans for this Friday?" He asked. "What's the scoop on who's taking who to the dance?"

"I'm going stag." Joel announced. "Screw having a date, you have a lot more fun going stag than when you go with a girl on your arm ... no matter how pretty the girl is."

"Not when your girl is Vinnie Nava." Spoke Rodney Meyers, our classmate sitting at the neighboring table.

My eyes snapped in his direction, and I growled lowly when I saw the longing look in his eyes. No one must have heard me, though, because Joel, Thomas, and Rodney continued their conversation.

"Well," Joel said slowly, "I admit ... if my date were Vinnie ... I'm sure that I'd have plenty of fun."

"Vinnie would never put out to you, Joel." I snapped. "She's not that kind of girl."

Joel eyed me with wide eyes as he held up his hands in defense. "I wasn't implying that she would," he said quietly, "Vinnie is simply a fun person. You of all people know that, Alex, she's one of your best friends."

"Oh," I said offhandedly, "sorry. Its just ... I get sort of protective when it comes to Vinnie." I admitted.

"Oh, well I - "

"Dude, shut the fuck up." Rodney broke in, "you didn't even give me a chance to finish my story." He whined.

"We thought you were finished." Joel sighed, rolling his eyes. "Anyway, continue."

"Well, I was going to tell you guys that I just asked Vinnie to be my date this morning, but she shut me down." He frowned. "She said that she already had a date, but ... I think she was just trying to let me down easy." He mumbled, his cheeks flushing a soft shade of pink. "Alex, does she really have a date? Or am I just not good enough for her?" He asked.

"Rodney, Vinnie would probably never turn anyone down; the girl seriously gets along with everyone ... give or take a couple of people," I sighed, recalling Amy and her dispute with Vinnie. "But she really does have a date." I told him.

"Oh." He said, looking relieved by the fact that Vinnie wasn't just making an excuse not to go with him. "Well, who is she going with?"

Frowning ever so slightly, I reached up and motioned over to Jack, who had remained silent during this whole conversation. "She's going with Jack."

"What? Really?" The guys asked, almost all the same time as they turned their attention to Jack.

"You lucky fuck." Thomas said. "Vinnie is like ... the coolest girl ever. And she's a senior. How did you get the balls to ask her?"

"I was honestly told that I was going to take her." Jack said quietly. "They put me on the spot, and wouldn't let me leave until I asked her, so ... I asked her and she said yes." Although I wasn't looking at him, I could only guess that he was blushing like crazy.

"Dude, that's lame, but awesome." Joel laughed. "So is Vinnie the mystery girl who gave you those hickeys on your neck?" He questioned.

The simple mentioning of Jack's hickeys made my stomach drop and clench up at the same time. They were the reason why I wanted to avoid Jack today, why I didn't even want to look at him, or talk to him.

"Uh ... yeah." Jack mumbled. "I tried to get rid of them, but ... I wasn't able to get them all off."

"Shit, how many did you have?" Rodney laughed. "And why get rid of them? You should be proud, and wear them like battle scars." He teased.

"They were a pain in the ass to hide from her dad." Jack muttered. "He would have skinned my ass alive, and then force fed me to the garbage disposal if he saw them."

This past weekend when Jack, Jamie, Casey, and I had made Vinnie her posters, Jack and Vinnie had disappeared for a while, and when they came back, Jack's neck was covered, while Vinnie had a couple poking out from underneath the collar of her shirt. I didn't stick around long after that; I made an excuse that my dad needed my help with some chores around the house, and I left.

I know that I said I was getting over Vinnie, but it wasn't nearly as fast as she seemed to be getting over me.

"Are you going to ask her out?" Thomas asked curiously.

"Well," Jack paused slightly, and I knew he had taken a glance at me before he continued, "I like her, and she knows I like her. I don't know ... I might ... if I have the courage to."

"You should ask her out." Rodney encouraged him. "I mean, if you like her, and she seems to like you back well enough. You guys are all pretty good friends."

"I don't know," Jack mumbled, "things are complicated right now."

With that, the rest of the guys mumbled a few things in response, but thought it was best if they would just drop the conversation. I glanced around to the rest of them, and saw them flipping through their work packets, reading up on what it was we were supposed to be doing. Soon, Rodney went back to work with his own group, and Joel and Thomas were discussing amongst themselves where we should start.

"Alex." I heard Jack whisper, and I glanced over, seeing that he had leaned in closer to me.

"Yeah?" I sighed.

"Does it ... bother you that I'm taking Vinnie to the dance?" He asked quietly, just loud enough for me to hear.

"No." I lied. "It's fine."

"You've been ignoring me ever since I asked her, though." He mumbled.

"No," I corrected him, "I've been ignoring you ever since you came back with hickeys all over you." I admitted.

"Alex," he sighed, "if you don't want me to get involved with Vinnie, just say so."

"It's not that," I muttered. "It's just that ... I don't know. I'm just being stupid."

"Alex, you have a girlfriend." Jack whispered. "If you're in that place, where you have your eyes on another girl, maybe you should bre - "

"Just don't worry about it, Jack." I snapped. "I'm fine with you taking Vinnie to the dance, and I'm fine with it if you want to ask her to be your girlfriend. I told you at the party that I wanted her to have a boyfriend like you, so don't read too much into it if I'm just a little bit jealous, okay?"

I didn't give Jack and chance to reply before I stood up and grabbed my backpack, slinging it over my shoulder. My teacher glanced up and eyed me, and I muttered something about not feeling good as I crossed the room, and headed out into the hallway. Biting my cheek to hold back the various inappropriate words I wanted to yell at the top of my lungs, I quickly made my way through the school, thinking to jump in my car and take off back to my house.

My plans were stopped in mid motion, though, when I rounded the last corner and ran straight into the girl who had been causing my emotions to run amok within me.

"Fuck," I mumbled as I reached out and caught her around her waist before she fell to the ground. "I'm so sorry, Vinnie."

"Alex?" She asked, looking up at me with wide eyes. "What are you doing? Shouldn't you be in Chem?"

"I ... I'm not feeling good." I said lamely. "What are you doing?"

"I got called to the office." She said softly. "We have a new student, and they wanted him to shadow me today. He's still doing some paperwork in the office, so I was going to run to my locker real fast to grab some books I forgot."

"Oh." I whispered. "Well, I guess I'll see you later then."

I made a move to continue on in my way, but Vinnie stopped me by grabbing a hold of my hand, pulling me back to her.

"Alex, what's wrong?" She asked.

"You're driving me crazy, Vinnie." I whispered. "I want you, but I can't have you, I won't have you. I don't want you to get involved with someone like me. And yeah, I'm getting over you a little by little, but it's not as fast as you've gotten over me."

"Alex, a part of me will always like you." Vinnie said softly.

"Jack will take care of you." I said simply. "Hell, you already have the boy wrapped around your finger."

"You say that I'm better off with Jack, than with you." Vinnie said slowly. "But Jack almost acts the same as you. The only thing is, is that Jack doesn't have such a low self esteem."

"Jack's attention doesn't stray as much as mine does." I sighed. "He'll devote himself to you, and you'll never get rid of him. He'll remain loyal to you; he'll never ever think about cheating on you."

"And you would?" She questioned.

"I wouldn't do it intentionally, but when I drink ... I never know what I'm gonna do."

"Alex, you're a stupid boy." Vinnie frowned.

"I know." I whispered. "You've told me that many times before."

She stared at me with sad eyes before she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around my middle, hugging me tightly. "You're one of my best friends, Alex," she said quietly. "I love you."

Feeling my heart starting to beat wildly in my chest, I slowly wrapped my arms tightly around her shoulders, holding her as close to me as I could. "I love you too, Victoria." I mumbled.

Taking a deep breath, I let it out slowly and then pulled away, taking her hands in mine. "Do me one favor, though." I insisted. "When Jack asks you out, and trust me he will, don't get cold feet and think about me and don't think about what could have happened between us. Say yes, and I want you to be happy with him."

"But ... what if things don't work out between us?" Vinnie asked. "Jack's one of my good friends ... I don't want to lose our friendship."

"You'll work out." I said. "Really, sweetheart, you should see the way you light up whenever he comes around." I said, giving her a soft smile. "You'll work out." I repeated.

Vinnie didn't say anything, but rather gave me a small smile in return. I squeezed her hands one last time, and willed myself to let her go. Without saying another word, I pulled away and continued my way through the hallway, and out the front door.

I had to find a way to get over Vinnie; I couldn't keep doing this to myself, and to Vinnie.