Love's Not A Competition

I was sitting in my room after school, alone, when someone knocked on the door. I had just had a shower after training and pulled open the door. Katie smiled at me and I raised an eyebrow. She didn’t say anything and I stepped aside to let her in. She looked around the room briefly before sitting on the desk chair, facing me. I sat on the sofa and waited. I had no idea what she would want to talk about.

“I’m just going to come out and say it,” Katie said slowly.
“Okay?” I said, confused.
“Jesse asked me to prom. And I said yes.”

I was quiet as her words sunk in. I had seen them hanging out when we had gotten back from spring break but I had never guessed that he liked her. I nodded slowly while she stared at me.

“Won’t that jeopardize his job?” I asked finally.
“No. He’s going to quit and just tutor Brittney privately. He was only doing tutoring to get some money before he goes on an overseas holiday. He wants to go to Europe and Asia.”
They must have talked. I didn’t even know that about Jesse. We hadn’t talked about his job. I had never asked him what he had wanted to do with his life. I guess we hadn’t been together all that long. It had seemed to be over before it had really started. It had gone by so fast.

“Is that all?” I asked her.
“Don’t you have anything else to say? He’s your ex-boyfriend. I’m telling you to see if it was okay with you. Because I don’t want you to be shocked when you see us together,” she said pointedly.
“No, it’s fine. You go with him. I don’t mind.”
“Are you sure?”
“Katie, I have bigger worries to deal with than who Jesse’s dating.”
“Are you excited that Zeke asked you to prom?”

I nodded and she smiled brightly. I was glad that she wasn’t attacking me again. She left soon after that. I lay down on the sofa, confused. Had that really just happened? I knew that she was trying to be the bigger person by not getting angry but it still worried me. Was she really okay with me going with Zeke to prom? We had switched boys which I found sort of funny.

Zeke came back from training and sat on me heavily. I pushed him off of me but he just smiled before walking into the bathroom. He seemed to be getting friendlier as the days went by. He always held my hand under the table at meals and I always caught him looking at me. When we were alone in our room he would sit close by me and he hugged me a lot. I was pleased that he seemed to be showing his feeling towards me. Now I only wished that he would voice them, really tell me how he felt. Maybe he needed a nudge in the right direction. Would he tell Aidan or Eric if they asked? An idea popped into my head and I quickly snuck out of the room when I heard the shower turn on.

I checked the computer room for Aidan first and got lucky. Brittney was sitting on Aidan’s lap in front of a computer. They both looked up when I walked in and Brittney stopped the video they were watching. I sat in the chair next to them and looked at Aidan.

“I want to ask a favor,” I said slowly.
“What kind of favor?” he asked.
“Well, this is sort of embarrassing. I want you to ask Zeke how he feels about me and then tell me what he says. But I want you to be subtle about it. Could you do that for me?”

“Why do you want me to do this?”
“Duh, so she can find out how he feels,” Brittney said.
I smiled slightly at her, glad to have her on my side.
“Why don’t you just ask him yourself?”

“Because I don’t want to scare him off,” I told him truthfully. “But if you ask him then he might tell you or maybe it will get him thinking that he should tell me himself. I’m going to ask Eric as well so you two can work together.”
“He’ll do it,” Brittney said simply.

Aidan looked at her briefly before nodding at me. I thanked him and told him that he should do it as soon as possible. I ran into the lounge and spotted Eric. I was feeling good so I jumped on him. He was about to yell but when he saw the smile on my face he stopped. He smiled back and I sat down beside him.

“Will you do me a favor?” I asked him.
“Anything for you,” he said sincerely.
“Will you, along with Aidan, ask Zeke how he feels about me? And then tell me what he says?”
“When do you want me to this?” was all he asked.
“As soon as you can,” I grinned. “Aidan’s agreed, well, Brittney made him agree. Zeke’s alone in our room. You could do it now.”

He nodded and I led him into the computer room. Aidan and Eric walked upstairs while I stayed with Brittney. The butterflies in my stomach were going crazy as I waited. I knew that it would probably take more than two seconds but I wanted to know now. I didn’t want to wait. The thought that I wouldn’t like what I heard popped into my head. If he didn’t like me than I would live with that, I told myself sternly, because at least I would know for sure.

“What brought this on?” Brittney asked me after a few minutes.
“I just want to know. Is he being nice just because of what happened with my dad or does he really like me? I have to know.”
“I understand,” she smiled.

As I waited I thought about how Eric and Aidan might ask him. I hoped that they hadn’t just asked him right out. That would be too obvious. I hoped they had started talking about something else first. I knew Eric would be subtle because he wouldn’t want to give me away. He had known for ages that I had like Zeke. Aidan, I was so sure about him. He was smart and would try but I was uncertain. He was only doing this for Brittney. I hoped Eric asked and not Aidan.

When the door opened I jumped up but it was only Katie. She looked at me oddly and I sat back down. I turned back to the video Brittney had been watching while Katie signed into a different computer, checking her emails. I fiddled with a loose thread and jumped up again when the door opened. Aidan and Eric walked in, both expressionless. I pushed Eric out of the room so Katie wouldn’t hear what he had to say. It’s not that I wanted to keep it from her; I just didn’t want her to be angry at me if he did like me.

“What did he say?” I whispered.
Eric still looked emotionless and I waited desperately. I wanted to know. Why was he taking so long to tell me? Did that mean it was a no? Did it mean that Zeke had told them that he was only being extra nice to me because I was mourning for my dad? What was going on?

“Well?” I prompted.
“I asked if he liked you,” Eric started. “And he said yes.”