Love's Not A Competition

I was being tapped on the shoulder. I sat up slowly, wincing from the pain of sleeping in a sun lounger and stared at Jesse as he handed me a cup of coffee. I looked around us and saw that the house looked quiet.

“Everyone went into town today,” Jesse said when he understood what I was thinking about.
“Why didn’t you go with them? I thought you would have jumped at any chance to get away from me.”
“You’re right, I wanted to go but I knew that we had to talk about this.”
“There’s nothing to talk about. You know what happened,” I said as I stared into the coffee mug. “I cheated on you last night.”
“You aren’t even going to try to explain or make up some lame excuse as to why you did it?”
“Why would I do that? Isn’t it better that I’m being honest with you and telling you what happened?”
“Do you like him?”

I turned to look at him before sighing loudly. “Yeah, I do.”
“You’ve always liked him, haven’t you? I could tell on the night of that costume party that you liked him. Well, I tried but I guess I just wasn’t good enough. I knew I shouldn’t have dated someone younger than me. You’re still a child who can’t make up her mind. Can I give you some advice?” he asked.
“Sure, it seems that I need it.”
“Don’t give up. I can tell that he cares about you as well but you should at least wait until Katie cools down a bit before dating him.”

“Jesse, I really am sorry. You’re a really great guy and I’m sorry that I hurt you.”
“It’s okay. We can still hang out if you want. Besides, we have a whole week before we head back so we may as well be friends until then.”
“You don’t want to be friends with me when we get back to the school?”
“You and I both know that it wouldn’t work. You would start dating Zeke and I would find another girlfriend.”
“I guess so,” I mumbled, not truly understanding.

We stared at each other for a few minutes before we heard the front door bang open. We both stood up and walked into the lounge where Brittney had just walked into.
“Jasmine, I brought you some stuff,” she said.
She handed me the two bags she was carrying and snapped her fingers. Aidan and Eric walked in carrying about twenty bags each.
“What in the world did you buy?” I asked.
“Just some clothes for the weekend,” she said.

“That’s a lot of clothes just for the weekend,” I said.
“No, the bags that Eric is carrying are for you.”
“You can’t be serious.”
“I’m always serious.”
“Where are Zeke and Katie?” I asked.
“They stayed in town since Katie didn’t want to talk to any of us and needed more time to cool off before coming back.”
Jesse helped Eric and Aidan carry the bags up the stairs while I stared at Brittney.

“Why would Zeke stay with her? I thought she was angry with him as well.”
“I’m not sure. She seems like she forgave him since he was the only one she would talk to.”
I frowned and sat down on one of the sofas.
“I guess I just can’t catch a break,” I said.
“Zeke doesn’t like her. He likes you but he just can’t admit it yet. Just give him some time until Katie’s backed off and then he will tell you.”

I nodded and she smiled before walking out of the room. I was just looking into the bags that Brittney had handed me when the door opened again. I looked up and gulped when I saw that it was Katie. She stared at me for a long time before running up the stairs. I sighed and looked down at the ground. How long would it take for her to forgive me? I hadn’t meant to hurt her and I knew that what I had done was more than wrong but they had broken up before we had kissed in the pool.

“What’s getting you down?”
I looked up and tried to smile at Zeke but I was feeling too deflated. My life had turned upside down in a short space of time and it was hard to keep a straight face.
“Nothing, I’m okay. I’m just tired; I’m going to head to bed. See you.”
“It’s two in the afternoon.”
“Yeah well, whatever,” I sighed. “Can I ask you something?”
“Sure,” he said.
“Why’d you stay in town with Katie?”
“Because she was upset and needed a friend. I didn’t want to be a jerk after I had already hurt her.”

I frowned before walking up the stairs and down the hallway. I was nearly at the end when I heard a door open. I saw Katie walk out of her room and we stared at each other again.
“I’m sorry for trying to drown you,” she said quietly.
“Oh, uh, it’s alright,” I said. “I’m sorry for not telling you that I liked Zeke from the start.”
“Well, I guess we can’t change that. I’m going to go now, bye.”
I nodded and watched as she walked down the hallway and down the stairs.

It was a few days later that Katie cooled off a bit more. She didn’t glare at me or walk out of the room when I entered it. It seemed that things were slowly getting back to normal. The only fact was that I couldn’t even look at Zeke without feeling guilty. I didn’t want Katie to be angry with me but I wanted to look at Zeke. I wanted to stare and to talk with him and to laugh with him. I wanted to be with him but every time I snuck a glance at him I felt Katie’s eyes on me and felt guilty all over again.

By the end of the week I was mentally and emotionally exhausted. I don’t think that I could take the stress of being cooped up in that house with everyone anymore. I was overjoyed when we arrived back at school. I was so excited to get home that I didn’t even complain about Brittney’s driving or didn’t comment at the way Katie and Jesse were getting a little too close when we walked towards the dorm building. I followed along behind the others with Eric while I watched Jesse and Katie laughing and joking around. I was angry, sure, but Jesse wasn’t my problem anymore and Katie was probably just trying to annoy me by flirting with him. I could see Zeke watching them as they entered the dorm building. I was turning to go up the stairs to our dorm when Eric grabbed my arm to stop me.

“I was wondering if you wanted to go to the movies tonight. Just the two of us,” he said.
“Yeah, I’d like that,” I smiled.
“Can I come?”
We both turned to see Zeke standing beside us. The others had already gone upstairs so it was just the three of us.
“Uh, I guess so. Is that alright?” Eric asked me.
“I suppose.”

Eric nodded and told me he would look up movie times and come find us when it’s time to go. I ignored Zeke before walking up the stairs to our room and unlocked the door. I smiled at the room, loving the familiarity. I was just walking into the bathroom when I heard the door open and close. I looked over my shoulder to see Zeke staring at me. I just rolled my eyes before walking into the bathroom. I took a long shower before walking back into the room. Zeke was lying on the bottom bunk reading a book and didn’t look up when I came in. I sat down at the desk and rested my elbows on it. I had homework that I should have completed over the break but I still couldn’t be bothered doing it. I was still in holiday mode. I pulled my backpack towards me and pulled out one of my textbooks and notebooks. I should really start on it.