Love's Not A Competition

Three days later I was rudely awakened by someone yelling. I peeked through my curtains and sighed as Katie and Zeke yelled at each other. They had been fighting off and on for at least the last two days and it was driving me insane.

“I’m not being rude or anything but can you two bugger off and go somewhere else? Some people need their sleep,” I said.
They both turned to glare at me.

“I have other stuff to do anyway,” Katie said angrily before storming out of the room.
When she left Zeke sat on the sofa and sighed.
“What was that about?” I asked.

“Who knows,” he said. “We keep arguing about nothing and half the time I don’t even know what we were even fighting about.”
“Why did this start? You guys were fine on the day of the charity run.”

“Yeah, right up until some guy started flirting with Katie and she didn’t even tell him to go away as she has a boyfriend already.”

I could tell that Zeke was really upset about this and got out of bed. I sat beside him on the sofa and awkwardly placed an arm around his shoulder. He sighed and rested his head on my shoulder. We both jumped when the door burst open again. I quickly moved my arm as Katie stared at us. I walked into the bathroom and tried not to listen in on the yelling but it was hard not to hear it.

“What do you think you’re doing?” she yelled.
“I was upset and Jasmine was just being a good friend,” Zeke sighed.
“Yeah, right,” she scoffed. “I can’t believe you. I leave for two seconds and you were already making a move on the next girl to come along. I’m glad I came back when I did.”

My heart panged and I turned on the shower but didn’t get into it.
“Why did you come back anyway?”
“I was coming back to apologize but it seems that you don’t need me here anymore.”
“You know what. I really don’t need you anymore. Why don’t you go and flirt with some other guy?”

I held my breath as I waited for her reply and had to push my ear against the door to hear it.
“Fine, I will. It’s over. I don’t want to be with you anymore.”
“Katie, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it.”
“Yeah, you did. We just weren’t meant to be and I’ve been unhappy with you for a few weeks. And in some ways we grew apart.”
“Katie,” Zeke pleaded.
“No, it’s finished,” she said quietly.

I heard the door slam close and I stepped away from the bathroom door. I couldn’t believe it. Katie and Zeke broke up? As much as I hated to say it, they were good together. Katie made Zeke happy and she always seemed to have a big smile on her face whenever I saw her. They couldn’t break up. If they did then Katie would be unhappy and Zeke would go back to his old womanizing ways. I pulled open the bathroom door and it banged against the wall.

“What are you doing?” I yelled at Zeke when I saw him lying on the top bunk.
He sat up slowly and glared at me. “I’m not in the mood for you right now.”
“Get your butt out of that bed and go after her!”

“It’s over, Jasmine. You heard her. She was unhappy with me and doesn’t want to be with me anymore.”
“No, she does want to be with you. She wants you to go after her and to fight for her.”
“No, she doesn’t.”
“Ask yourself this then, is she worth fighting for?”

He stared at me for a few seconds before jumping off the bed and running out of the room. I sighed loudly before finally getting in the shower.

It was during lunch time when I finally saw Zeke and Katie again. They didn’t come in together and Zeke sat with the boys from the track team while Katie walked over to us slowly. Brittney and I made Eric and Aidan go away so we could talk to Katie about what happened. I had already filled Brittney in with the fight and what I had said afterwards so she dying to find out how it went as well. Katie sat down and stared at the table for a few minutes before looking up at us.

“Well?” I asked quietly.
“Well what?” Katie asked.
“What did you say to Zeke when he came after you?”
“Came after me? What are you talking about?”
“He didn’t come after you?” Brittney asked, as surprised as I was.
“No, was he supposed to?”

“Yeah, I told him to fight for you and he ran out of the room after you so I assumed he was going to try to win you back.”
“Nope, I didn’t see him.”
“Well, maybe he couldn’t find you or something,” Brittney said.
Katie and I stared at her exasperatingly.

“If he hadn’t found her then why isn’t he over here right this second asking for her to come back?” I asked her.
“I don’t know. Maybe he’s waiting for the right moment.”
“Brittney, he isn’t coming over,” Katie said.
“He’s such a jerk. I’m really sorry about this morning, Katie. I didn’t expect you to think that and I hadn’t intended anything. I really was just comforting him.”

“I see that now and I’m sorry that I thought any different. I know that you aren’t one of those girls who would sneak around with her friend’s boyfriend behind her back.”

Brittney and I exchanged a look and I felt even guiltier. I had done that though. I had kissed Zeke several times while they had been dating and I had never done anything to stop it from happening because I had wanted it as much as he had. I stared across the dining hall at him and shook my head. I couldn’t think about that stuff now. It was in the past and there was nothing I could do to change it and besides, I had Jesse now. I turned back to Katie and grabbed her hand.

“I’m really sorry that you two broke up.”
“It’s okay. I was expecting it to happen sooner or later. The weird thing is that I feel kind of relieved. I know that sounds terrible but it’s the truth. I really hadn’t been happy for the past few weeks.”

“Is that really the reason?” I asked.
“Yeah,” she sighed softly.

I excused myself from the table and walked over to where Zeke, Eric and Aidan were sitting with the track team. They all looked up when I stopped behind Zeke who was the only one not looking at me. I bent down next to his ear.

“Why didn’t you go after Katie?” I asked quietly.
“None of your business,” he said.
I shook my head slowly and stood up. As I turned I bumped the back of his head hard with my elbow.
“Oops,” I said sarcastically before walking off.