Let's Follow Through With This Reckless Dream

I was about to walk out of my room, in my dinner outfit when my phone vibrated. Then I noticed that I left it on the bed. I hurried to it and answered it.

“Hello?”

“Jasey,” Jack said.

“Jack? What’s up?”

“Is Max with you?”

I grimaced at nothing. “No,” I said harshly. “Isn’t she with you?” I wanted to ask if she told him or not, but I couldn’t bring myself to it.

“She left,”

“She left?” I asked.

“Well…I kind of kicked her out. She cheated on me,” I heard him swallow.

“Yea…” I muttered. “Wait, you kicked her out?”

“Yea, I broke up with her, and it’s my house, so…”

“Jack! You dickhead! What the fuck?! You don’t kick your girlfriend out, you dick! She’s probably pissed at me, so she’s not coming over here. Where the hell did she go?!” I yelled, getting nervous since Max didn’t have her pills, and who knows if she started having those dreams again…

“She cheated on me, and it's my house!” He said defensively.

“The least you could’ve done is be a gentleman and found her a place to stay, or let her stay at your house until she had somewhere to stay,” I said, putting my hand on my forehead.

“Jasey, I gave her everything. I’ve been in love with Maxine Willem for seven years. I gave her a place to stay, I cherished her like fuck, Jasey! And this is what she does to me? Was it the sex? Oh fuck, it was the sex, wasn’t it?” He said to himself.

“Jack, it wasn’t the sex. Don’t think that,” Max never told me whether or not he was good in bed, but I’m guessing he was since Jack’s a really good looking guy…And he’s tall, which, is always a good thing…

“And I know, Jack. But Max is in therapy right now. She has schitzo, and needs medications.
You can’t expect her to find her own place when she can’t even come over to my house!”

“Oh yea, she said she didn’t wanna put up with your shit. What happened?” He asked.

“I snapped at her earlier today and told her to focus on her relationship,” I murmured,
rubbing my hands on my forehead stressfully.

“Nice job, Jasey,” He muttered.

“You’re the one who kicked her out!” I exclaimed, hearing the doorbell ring. “I have to go,” I said.

“Wait, Jasey! I called because Max left her phone here, and I don’t know where she is…”

I rolled my eyes. “Okay, I’ll deal with it later. She probably doesn’t want to hear from me right now, so I’m going to back off. I have to go, your girlfriend is here,” I said sarcastically.

“Max?”

“No, Alex,” I pressed the End button and put my phone away. Since Jack and Alex were best friends, ever since we were in high school I’d call them girlfriends just for the hell of it. I walked up to the front door and opened it to reveal Alex leaning on the doorway with a red rose in his hand, and a pink one that had fake sparkles.

“Hi,” I said, sounding a little bit surprised.

“Good evening,” He smiled, walking inside and taking my heart with him.

“Are those…”

“This is for you,” He said to Ellarie, holding out the pink one with sparkles on it.

“Really?” Her brown eyes lit up as she took it and admired the sparkles. “Thank you,” She
gushed.

“And this is for you,” He said, turning to me and holding out the real rose. I took it and held it
to my nose, taking in the beautiful scent.

“Thank you,” I smiled.

“No problem,” He smiled back.

“I’m going to go put this in water,” I said, walking past him and into the kitchen. I grabbed a
tall and slim vase, setting the single rose in it once I filled it up halfway with water. I put it in
the middle of the kitchen table.

“Shall we?” Alex asked, charming me with his brown eyes like he always would.

“Um, yea,” I said nervously. I held onto Ellarie’s hand as we walked out of my house. I
stopped to lock it and then followed Ellarie and Alex over to Alex’s car.

“Ellarie needs a car seat. Mind taking my car?” I said.

“Only if I get to drive,” He smirked.

“Sure,” I rolled my eyes. Alex always wanted to be in control of things… Not that I was saying
that in a bad way. I led him to my car where I strapped in Ellarie and tossed the keys to Alex before hopping in to the passenger’s seat.

“Damn. Nice car,” He said, admiring the steering wheel and leather seats.

“Thanks,” I mumbled, putting on my seat belt. Later on, we pulled up in the parking lot of a steakhouse. Picking Ellarie up and out of her seat, I walked with her and Alex into the restaurant. He held the door open for me which I smiled thankfully at and he got our reservations.

“So,” I said as I sat down. “What happened after I left the wedding?” I dared to ask.

“Nothing really,” He muttered. “Melanie kept freaking out, and when she found out you left she freaked out even more. I left after that,”

Crap. I killed the happy mood completely. Now we were both practically drowning in the bad memory of breaking up. Our waitress came over and took our order. Nothing special. A burger for Alex, some pasta for me, and chicken strips for Ellarie. Alex watched intently as I tried my pasta.

“What?” I asked, holding the fork inches away from my mouth.

“Nothing,” He shook his head, a smile playing at his lips.

We ate with conversation. Ellarie talked about my mom and how she always had fun with her Aunt Kallie. Then we talked about Kallie and how she was going in to middle school.

After an hour, Ellarie started getting tired so we decided to go home. I tucked Ellarie in as Alex looked around my house.

“Sure, make yourself at home,” I said sarcastically when I saw him sitting on my couch with one of Ellarie’s juice boxes.

He smirked. “Thank you,” He patted the space on the couch next to him.

I made my way over to him and sat down, crossing my legs.

“Jasey, why did we break up?” He asked softly.

“Alex, let’s not talk about that,” I said.

He nodded and looked up at the TV. “So, you’ve been seeing Jack all these years?”

“Once in a while, yea,”

“But not me,” He muttered.

“Alex, we had just broken up,” I sighed.

He shrugged and looked at me. “You look great,” He said.

“Thanks. You do too,” I said.

“I can’t believe you have a kid,” He said with a laugh as he shook his head and then put his head in his hands, leaning on his knees.

“Neither can I,” I mumbled.

“What was his name?” He asked curiously.

“Uh,” I glanced nervously at the TV. “Nate,” I said.

“Nate?”

“Nate,” I nodded.

“Oh,” He started to get up. “I should get going,” He said. I led him to the front door where he turned to face me. “I know you don’t want to get back together, but maybe we can still be friends?” He asked with his hands in his pockets.

“Yes, Alex. I miss you as a friend,” I smiled.

“Great. Call you later, bestie,” He joked, hugging me with one arm. He walked out as I
laughed from his joking around and I closed the door. Finally, all I’ve ever wanted. To be only friends with Alex.