The Third Party Never Gets The Guy

I've always loved the whole concept of romance.

Every night I made mother tell me stories about princesses being whisked away their prince charming. My favorite was the one where she was the princess. Of course, I didn't know that in till later. In the story, the princess fell in love with prince from another country, but the princess's country was much poorer then his. So the prince's parents didn't want him to marry someone poorer, so they forbid them. So they ran away together and took over a whole other country for themselves and lived happily ever after.

Of course happily ever after only lasted a couple years.

That's thing about fairy tales, they give you false hopes of love and happy endings. They never warned us about the heart ache that comes with love. There was no warning at all. No where in all the fairy tales that I've been told did any tell me how hard it is watch the person you love, love someone else.

* * *

I awoke to my phone buzzing away on my night stand, literally. I leapt for it even though it was an old fashioned Nokia phone and I knew it would probably be okay. But at that moment I was half asleep, which led to my temporary stupidity. In the process of grabbing it, I managed to nick my forearm on the corner and landed on the floor with a thump.

Lovely. Just lovely.

Brian, my brat brother, cracked the door open and peered in. He spotted my half my body on the floor and the other half still on the bed. He snickered. "Dumbass."

I gave him a dirty look before he shut the door behind him. I pulled myself of the floor and looked at my phone. Phone call from Stacy. I'm going to give her shit later for almost killing me.

Rubbing my head, I wandered into the bathroom to take a shower and get ready. After I was done with that, I checked myself in the mirror. Tired hazel eyes stared back at me, with dark bags under them to match. No matter how much makeup I put on, they always seemed to show so just recently I gave up trying. There was no point.

"Sophia! You better get your bony butt moving!"

I put a smile on my face and called back. "Sí Madre!" And I was on my way.

When I walked into my first hour, I was pretty much tackled by my friends Stacy and Alana.

"Do you realize how much we missed you during spring break?" Exclaimed Alana.

I smiled. "Enlighten me."

"So much so that we were going to pick you up because we couldn't wait till first hour to see you." Stacy grinned up at me.

I giggled. "I missed you guys too," I ruffled their hair, "It was a long spring break without you guys."

Very very long.

Stacy whipped out a mirror and attempted to fix her bangs after sticking her tongue out at me. Alana kept talking, only having to whip her head slightly to fix her hair. "Dude, it sucks that your birthday is the first day back."

"It also sucks that I'm 19 and I don't have a car."

Stacy closed her mirror and adverted her attention back to us. "Are you still saving up?"

"Yeah, but what I really need is a job. I'm close its not even funny."

Alana spoke up. "Why don't you work at my parents restaurant?"

"Since when did your parents have restaurant?"

"They just opened it. Its been their dream since they were in high school. That's why I couldn't hang out, I was busy helping set up."

I felt someone put their hand on the back of my chair and I shivered as they spoke. "You should really give it a shot. Small place but very nice. Plus great food as well."

I looked up at Nathan, while I had a mini heart attack. "You've been?"

He smiled down at me. "Yeah. Its great, they got pizza."

I faked a smile. "You and your pizza."

" It must be my Italian blood, I swear."

Alana laughed. "Its probably because your prissy mother never lets you have any."

"Speaking of which, guess what she did last night! She..." And Nathan went off on a rant about how his mother kept nagging him for picking out a mutt instead of a pure bread dog. While he was busy doing that, I had a mini flash back to our phone call last night.

"Hello?"

"Hey. Its Nathan."

I know, I have your number memorized.

"Whats up?"

"Can I ask you something?"

My heart raced with excitement and anticipation. "Sure what is it?"

"What should I get Sarah for her birthday?"

My heart dropped to my feet. "Isn't that like a month away?"

"Yeah, but I want to plan something special you know? I don't want to screw this up."

I swallowed but the nausea didn't go away. "What about a necklace or something?"

"That's the thing, I don't really have money."

"Make something?"

"Isn't that a little dorky?"

"Naw, I'm sure anything from you would make her happy."

"Denied."

I pondered for a moment again. "What about a picnic?"

He was silent for a second. "Your brilliant. I have so many ideas I can do with that! Thanks Soph. Your a life saver!"

"Hey wait!" There was a loud click before I could even get the words out.

"You know my birthday is tomorrow right?" I said to no one but me, myself and I. All I got was silence.

I stared at Nathan as waved his arms around wildly and occasionally stomping his foot. Something he did when he angry which I found adorable. But I couldn't hear what he was saying. All I could hear was that little voice in the back of my head.

Did he remember?

"Nathan!"

All our heads snapped up to see Sarah standing in the door way, smiling her perfect smile. Nathan jumped up, all the anger leaving his features , and gave her a big bear hug. And after exchanging a few whispers, they disappeared out the doorway. Stacy and Alana both gave me sad looks.

I smiled so big it felt like face would crack in half. "Don't give me that look. I'm okay!"

"Are you sure?" Alana asked.

"Of course."

Stacy whispered to me. "You know when you lie, you cross your legs. "

That's Stacy for you. I don't know if its the fact that she's really into psychology and observant or the fact that she's the one person who knows me better then Nathan and she can read me like a book. Either way, I know I can't lie to her. But I'm going to keep on smiling and saying I'm fine. Maybe, just maybe, one day I will be.

I only gave her a side glance before changing topics. "So you guys ready for the test today?" They both looked at me in horror," I guess not."

Stacy ripped open her binder and dug through her papers to find the notes. Alana didn't even bother to touch her binder, instead she grabbed me by shoulders and begged me for help. And I did. I helped them cram in till the bell rang and the teacher pranced in throwing tests down the isles. And judged by then panicked looks from several of the students when they got a good look at it, they weren't prepared either.

Can't wait to see our class average after this.