Love's Not A Competition

“Where’d you go after school?” Brittney asked me, sitting beside me.
“I just went to get a coffee.”
“By yourself?” asked Katie, sitting on my other side.
“I don’t have to be with someone to have coffee,” I said.
“What ever happened to that cute guy at the party?”
“What cute guy?” Brittney asked.

“Oh yeah, you were too drunk to notice. Jasmine hooked up with this really cute guy. What was his name again?”
“Jesse,” I said quietly.
“Hey, that’s my tutor’s name. He was cute as well.”

We all heard someone cough and turned towards the boys. They were all staring at us but it was Aidan that was glaring.

“I mean, he didn’t even compare to my gorgeous boyfriend,” Brittney said quickly.
“Uh huh,” Aidan said.

Brittney laughed slightly before turning back to look at me.
“That’s quite a coincidence,” Brittney said.
“Not really,” I said quietly.
“What does your Jesse look like?” Brittney asked me.
“Uh, I can’t really remember, I was a bit drunk,” I lied.

“Well, he had black hair with blue eyes and he was tall and muscular. He looked about 20 something and had a nice ass,” Katie said.
“What?” Zeke asked.
“I mean, he had some nice assets,” she said.

She winked at Brittney and me. I rolled my eyes and quickly stood up.
“Well, I guess I’ll see you later,” I said and walked out of the lounge before anyone could say anything.

Two weeks later and I was in the infirmary getting my ankle checked by the nurse. She had taken off the bandages and I saw that the swelling had gone down.
“Well, it’s healed really fast. Is there any pain when you walk on it?”

“No, not really,” I sighed.
“Well, you should wait a week before you start running again but other than that you should be fine.”
“Damn,” I growled.

She smiled at me cheekily before letting me go. I walked slowly to the library where I was meant to be meeting Jesse after his tutoring session with Brittney. I had been seeing him nearly every day. It was turning into a sort of secret relationship. I hadn’t told anyone about us and he was okay with that. If the school found out that he was dating one of the students then they would fire him so we had to meet in secret. Sometimes it was in deserted classrooms or the library but we mostly met in the café down the road.

I walked past Jesse and Brittney at the table and saw him look up as I walked by. I didn’t even glance their way before walking to the back corner of the library. It was only five minutes later when Jesse came. We were in the ancient history section and not many people came down here. As soon as he walked up to me he grabbed me around the waist and pulled me to him. It was after a few minutes of kissing that he rested his forehead against mine.

“What did the nurse say?” he asked.
“She said that my ankle should be fine in time for the run,” I grumbled.
“Have you picked out what you are going to wear?”
“Shut up,” I scoffed, hitting his chest.

He laughed lightly.
“What are you wearing?” I asked, raising my eyebrows.
“You’ll just have to come to the run to find out,” he said mysteriously.
I rolled my eyes and he started kissing me again.
“Oops.”

We both broke apart to see Katie standing there. Someone was walking behind her but they had books stacked up so it was covering their face but a part of me knew that it would be Zeke.

“Oh, you’re that girl from the party,” Jesse said.
“Yeah, I’m Katie,” she said.
“And Katie was just leaving, right?” I asked.
“Oh, yeah, right, bye,” she said.
She grabbed Zeke’s arm and led him away.
“Who was that?” I heard Zeke ask.
“Just some people from the younger class,” Katie said.

I looked at Jesse and smiled lightly. “I guess I should be going.”
“Why? I haven’t seen you all day and now you just want to leave?”
“I don’t want to leave. I have homework to do and I have to talk to Mr. Kingston.”
“Do you want some help with your homework?”
“Fine,” I smiled.

We walked out of the library and towards the dorm building. We were just going up the stairs when we saw the dorm head. She smiled at Jesse.
“Hi Jesse, what are you doing here with a student?”
“I’m helping Jasmine study for a big test tomorrow,” he lied smoothly.
“Oh, that’s nice of you. Carry on then,” she said.

She walked away from us and we both laughed as she looked back over her shoulder at Jesse. We walked into my dorm room and I was about to grab the books when Jesse grabbed my hand and pulled me onto the bed.

“Zeke could walk in at any minute,” I said.
“He was with his girlfriend.”
“So, they could come back soon.”
“Just be quiet for a few seconds,” he said before kissing me.

I smiled before pulling back. I pulled my textbook out of my bag and I tried to do my homework as he was trying to distract me. He was whispering things in my ear and kissing my neck down to my collarbone. I pushed my book away after a while and he pushed me down so I was lying on my back. He was just kissing me again when the door opened. We both turned and stared as Zeke stood in the doorway. I saw Katie’s head over his shoulder and saw her wink at me.

“What do you think you are doing?” Zeke asked quietly.
I sat up and ran a hand through my hair as Jesse just sat there.
“How long have you been seeing each other?” Zeke asked.
“A few weeks,” I said.
“Behind everyone’s back?”

“I don’t have to tell you guys who I’m dating and if I told someone then the teachers will find out and Jesse will get fired.”
“He’s a teacher?”
“No, he’s a tutor.”
“He’s too old for you.”

“Shut up. I told you already that you can’t decide who I date.”
“I think it’s kind of sweet. It’s like forbidden love,” Katie said from the doorway.

Zeke turned and glared at her before turning back to look at us.
“I think I should leave,” Jesse said.
“I think that’s a good idea,” Zeke said.

We both stood up and Jesse kissed me on the lips before walking out of the room.
“I should go to,” Katie said.

I waved at her before she walked off as well. Zeke stepped into the room and closed the door behind him. He stared at me angrily before I sighed.

“Are you just going to stand there all day?” I asked.
“You could do so much better than him.”

“Like who? Do you mean someone like you?” I asked. “You had your chance and you lost it.”
“Anyone but him,” he said. “That guys a player and you’re just going to get hurt.”
“How do you know that he’s a player? You don’t even know him.”
“I know what guys like him are like.”
“Yeah, he’s like you.”

Zeke stepped forward and I saw his face sadden slightly.
“That’s exactly why you shouldn’t go out with him. He’ll only hurt you like I did.”
“Then why are you dating Katie? Won’t you just hurt her as well?”
“I changed. I learnt from my mistake with you and now I’m trying to make it better.”

I turned away from him and sat down on the bottom bunk. “Can you just leave me alone for now?”
I heard him sigh before the door opened and closed.