Traitor in a Second

The next morning wasn't really all that better than last night, by ways of that hickey Caleb decided to leave. In fact, as it should have, it got worse. It took extra makeup and another necklace to hide that thing.

I got dressed in one of my millions of plaid shirts, one that was mostly pink, and a pair of ripped jeans and my Converse to top it off. I wore pretty much the same thing every time Jonathan and I hung out by ourselves, which we were today. Caleb was working down at the guitar store, and Kyle was off visiting his mom and step-dad a couple hours away from where we lived.

My phone buzzed in my back pocket, why it was in there, I don't know, but I pulled it out, looking at the text on the screen.

I'm here, let's go.

I laughed a little, looking out my front window to see Jonathan in his car in my driveway. Lazy bastard, didn't even want to get out of the car. I rolled my eyes, running my hand through my hair once before I left the house for the day. I jumped off the front stairs, slid over my mom's car and landed in front of his car's passenger side door.

"Now, that was kind of cool, Miss Evan the ninja," he chuckled as I got in. "Put on your seat belt." I laughed, rolling my eyes as I did so.

"Well, alright then, Mr. Safety," I said, sticking my tongue out at him. "Where are we going?" I asked, raising my eyebrows. With Jonathan, a person would always be surprised. Collectively, we always went to the same place: the pizza place and then the arcade. With Caleb, it was always that house. Kyle and I went nowhere alone, but with Jonathan? He always found somewhere new.

"You'll see," he said, turning around as he started backing out of my driveway.

***

We ended up going to the mall that day. It wasn't anywhere new, but we hardly ever went. It took forever to get there,. Usually, we'd go to the mall if Jonathan needed my help picking out clothes or if I needed his advice on what would be too slutty.

"What are we buying today? You bought clothes last month and I don't think I need anything," I mumbled, running my hand through my hair. He laughed a little, throwing his arm around my shoulders.

"Nothing, I just wanted to go to the food court," he mentioned. "Maybe we might go visit Caleb." My lips turned to a thin line when he mentioned Caleb because he got that look on his face; the 'I know something's up' face. He wasn't going to let last night go, was he?

"There's nothing going on," I stated firmly. He raised his eyebrows at me.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Evan," he said in his innocent voice. "Now come on, I'm hungry."

***

Three different kinds of food later, Jonathan and I were hanging out in the guitar store with Caleb. Caleb worked the register mostly, but he did teach lessons a couple times a week. Just as we were coming in, he was coming out of the lesson room.

"Hey guys!" Caleb greeted, smiling at us. "What's going on?" Jonathan leaned on the register counter, and I jumped up to sit on it, waving at Caleb.

"Are you guys sure nothing's going on between you two?" Jonathan asked. I rolled my eyes as I usually did, but Caleb's faltering smile was enough to make Jonathan believe he was right, from what I could tell.

"Well, you guys can just tell us, you know. No big deal. It was bound to happen. We all have needs," Jonathan said, nodding knowingly.

"I don't know what you're talking about, dude," Caleb said nonchalantly, opening the register and beginning to put the right coins in the right place. I looked from Caleb to Jonathan and I saw a weird look on Jonathan's face for a moment or two. Could that have been...jealousy? No, that couldn't be it. Jonathan and I are just friends! Sure, there's been a ton of 'you two fight like an old married couple!' or 'So, when's the wedding?' jokes aimed at us, but we're not like that.

"Jonathan, I promise nothing is going on," I said, giving him a serious look and Caleb nodded.

"Alright. Fine," Jonathan sighed. He shook his head before heading for the doorway. I gave Caleb a sideways glance, he winked at me when he saw I was looking at him, before I jumped off the counter and went after Jonathan.