In Fate's Hands

A few minutes later, Elizabeth and Jesse met up with his friends Jeremy, Ryan, and Chris, who all happened to be a part of the East High Lions basketball team. It was decided that they would all go to a dance club.

So many people were dancing to “Love In This Club” by Usher that you could almost smell the perspiration. Spend a few hours in this joint and you’d probably suffer from hearing loss. The place was completely dark except for the fluorescent lights that flickered in different colors all over the room. There was a separate room off to the side where a bunch of people sat at the bar and drank while others played pool. In the main room, the tables were set off to the side away from the dance floor. The group immediately found a table and sat down as a waitress gave them menus.

“Damn, that chic is hot,” said Jeremy as the waitress walked away. He stared after her.

“Yeah, I definitely would not mind having her for the night…” agreed Ryan.

“She’d never go for your ugly ass,” said Chris.

“Maybe not my ass, but the rest of me is pretty damn hot,” responded Ryan.

“I sincerely hope that you realize that you are kidding yourself because there’s no way she would choose you when she could have me,” said Jeremy.

“She’s not going to want any of you bastards if you keep on talking about her like that,” Jesse chimed in. “Now, how awesome was that game?”

“It was definitely our best yet. State Championship, here we come!” said Ryan.

“The other team didn’t stand a chance against you guys,” said Elizabeth.

“Damn straight,” responded Chris. “The team we’ll verse in the championship won’t stand a chance either, especially if this kid over here plays the way he did tonight.” He clapped Jesse on the back.

“What can I say? I guess it was just my lucky night,” Jesse sighed.

The waitress came and they ordered their food and drinks. Jesse’s friends used their fake IDs to order some beer. After the waitress walked away again, “You and Me” by Lifehouse started to play.

“Hey Elizabeth, do you want to dance?” Jesse asked, holding his hand out to her.

“I would love to,” Elizabeth responded smiling and taking his hand.

He led her out to the dance floor. She put her head against his chest so that she could hear his heart beating rapidly and wrapped her arms around his waist as he held her tight.

“This feels so comfortable,” she said as they swayed back and forth to the music.

“What is?” he wondered.

“Having you hold me like this. It feels good.”

“It feels nice for me too. I like being close to you.”

After the song was over, Elizabeth went to the bathroom while Jesse made his way back to the table.

“So she has definitely changed, huh?” said Ryan as soon as Jesse sat down. “I mean, who knew that she of all people could actually look hot?”

Jesse nodded and said, “Yeah.”

“So what made you want to like hang out with her all of a sudden?” asked Chris.

“She tutored me and pretty much saved my ass from being kicked off the team, so I figured that I owed her a favor.”

“Are you sure it’s not anything else?” Jeremy asked.

“No, it’s not anything else. Why would it be anything else? Elizabeth and I are just friends.”

“Well, we were watching you two on the dance floor and the way you were holding each other seemed like a hell of a lot more than friendship.” He started to laugh. “I mean, who would have thought Lions star shooting guard Jesse McCartney would go for ugly brainiac nerd Elizabeth Bancroft? Before you got to her, that girl used to be nobody in the social world. Now that she had some fashion sense knocked into her, she looks kind of hot.”

“We’re not a couple, we’re just friends,” Jesse said.

“Oh really? Is that all we are? Just friends?” Elizabeth asked as she angrily walked to her seat and took her coat.

“How much of that did you hear?” asked Jesse.

“Enough to know that you are a liar and a jerk,” Elizabeth responded as she put her coat on and stormed out. She had been on her way back from the bathroom when she heard Jesse utter her name and she had stopped a few tables away to listen to the conversation.

Jesse got up and went after her, but he didn’t catch up until they were both outside in front of the club. He ran up and grabbed her arm causing her to turn around.

“Elizabeth, wait-“

“I can’t believe that I was such a fool, but I guess the joke’s on me, right? You win. I fell for it. Shame on me for actually believing that you could change. My mistake; it’ll never happen again.”

“But it’s not what you think.”

“What else could it be, Jesse?” Tears began to roll down Elizabeth’s face. “I thought you said that you wanted to be with me, but I guess not since you are too embarrassed to admit that you and I are a couple. But, you know what the worst part was? Your friends were saying all these terrible things about me and you didn’t even bother to defend me to them. You probably know me better than anybody else, but you didn’t care about me or my feelings enough to defend me to those jackasses.”

“Elizabeth, I’m sorry. You’re right, I shouldn’t have lied.”

“I don’t want to be with someone who is embarrassed to be with me,” Elizabeth responded. “I am way better than that and I don’t need it. I’ll find my own way back.” She began to walk toward a bus stop that was a few blocks down. Jesse walked after her and continued to call her name, but she ignored him. After a few minutes, he finally gave up and went back inside.

When Jesse got home an hour later, he went up to his room to try to find Elizabeth, but she wasn’t there and all her stuff was gone.

“Mom?” Jesse called out.

“What?” Karen appeared in the doorway.

“Where’s Elizabeth? What happened to her stuff?” he asked.

“Elizabeth went to stay with her friend Jayden. She said that she appreciated our generosity, but she felt like she needed to be somewhere else. She did look a little bit upset though; I could tell that she had been crying, but when I asked her about it, she said she was fine.”

“Thanks,” Jesse said as his mom left the room. He sat down on his bed and held his forehead in his hands. How could the night start off so well, but end so badly? He knew he messed up in a big way; now it was time to figure out a way to win her back; that is, if she’d take him.