Love's Not A Competition: Senior Year

It was after lunch when Eric got back. I had been in my room sorting out some things when he had knocked on my door. Everyone was downstairs in the lounge, hanging out so I was alone. I was really happy to see Eric. I had missed him a lot over the summer. I hugged him tightly when I pulled him into my room, asking him how his summer had gone. We hadn’t talked as much as I had wanted to over the summer since we had both been busy. His hair was growing and it looked like he had been working out, even though he had been quite buff before since he played a lot of sport.

“How are you?” I asked him.
“I’m great. A bit sad about coming back to school but it’s definitely good to be back.”
“I agree,” I smiled. “What did you get up to?”
A look passed over his face as he sat down at my desk, running a hand through his shaggy hair. I looked at him carefully, recognizing that look. He had done something he wasn’t proud of. Eric looked at me and sighed.

“I can’t hide this from you. You might be the only person who would understand and I can’t hold it in. The guilt is killing me. I don’t expect you to be happy about it but please, just listen.”
“It’s okay. You can tell me anything. I won’t judge.”
“Well, I was at home for about three weeks during the summer. Amy and I weren’t meeting up until August since she was still on holiday with her parents. I had only just gotten back to LA when Katie had called me. I was really surprised but she had seemed upset so we had met up for dinner at this restaurant.”

I looked at him silently, not sure if I liked where this was going.
“She told me that she and Jesse had had a fight. That’s why she was so upset. We got really drunk and ended up at a hotel. We… we slept together.”

My mouth dropped open. Katie had always hated Eric and he wasn’t her biggest fan either. I was surprised that she had called him. She had told me that she had stayed in LA after the fight since she hadn’t wanted to go home. Who would’ve guessed that she would end up sleeping with Eric during that one week?
“Does anyone else know? Did she tell Jesse?”

“No and I didn’t tell Amy. I haven’t seen anyone yet. I know that Katie will act like nothing happened but the guilt is terrible. Please don’t tell anybody. I really like Amy, I do. She’s a great girl and I don’t want to lose her. Please Jasmine; promise me you won’t say anything.”
“I promise,” I said quietly.

I didn’t want Eric to go through what I went through when I had accidentally kissed Jesse but I also felt bad for Amy and Jesse. It wasn’t right to lie about it or keep it from them but that wasn’t my problem. Eric and Katie had to deal with that. I promised myself that I wouldn’t get involved, that I would keep my friend’s secret.

“So what did you and Zeke get up to this summer?”
I looked at Eric who had just spilt a big secret to me and sighed. I had promised Zeke that I wouldn’t tell anyone for now. I hadn’t even told Brittney. I smiled at Eric, preparing myself to lie to him.
“Nothing really,” I said. “I just showed him around the city.”
“So you two didn’t… you know?” he asked.
“Eric, that’s gross. Girls don’t talk to guys about that, best friend or not.”
“Right, sorry,” he said.

I smiled and we headed downstairs to see everyone. Zeke grabbed my hand and pulled me onto his lap while Brittney and Eric hugged. I noticed that Eric and Katie didn’t even look at each other. We all heard a squeal and looked up to see Amy run into the room. The smile on Eric’s face was almost painful to look at as he hugged her tightly. He really did like her, a lot, and this secret could ruin that. I looked at Katie and smiled when she saw me looking.

“What do you want?” she asked, sounding worried.
“Nothing,” I said. “I was just wondering if everyone wanted to go out for dinner tonight to celebrate being back.”
“Sounds like a good idea,” Brittney said.
“Talking of celebrating, Jesse rang me last night and asked if we all wanted to come to a party he’s having next weekend,” Katie said.
“Sure,” Zeke said.
“I’ll come,” Brittney said. “Can I bring Aidan?”
“Yeah, Jesse said to invite him.”

Brittney smiled and quickly hurried out of the room to go and call him. Amy asked if she could come and Katie looked at her quietly before smiling, saying that she was welcome to come. I had kind of expected her to say no but then that would’ve made people suspicious. I turned to look at Zeke and smiled softly. He kissed me gently and I rested my forehead against his. He grabbed my hand and rubbed his thumb over my tattoo. He had done the same gesture a hundred times after I had gotten it done.

“Get a room,” Eric said when Zeke kissed me again.
“Leave them alone, Eric. I think it’s cute that they are so in love,” Amy said.
“Come on; let’s get out of here before it gets too gross.”
I smiled and pulled back just to see Eric and Amy disappear through the door. Katie sighed and got up as well, leaving us on our own. Not many students were in the lounge, most were enjoying the nice weather outside. Zeke kissed me again and I smiled. He rested a hand on my cheek when he pulled back.

“I still hate the guy but the party might be fun,” Zeke said quietly.
I shook my head slightly but he smiled. I wasn’t entirely surprised that Zeke still hated Jesse, even if I had been the one to kiss him. I knew that if a girl kissed Zeke, I would hate her for a really long time. Especially if she had been one of Zeke’s exes, which would definitely make it worse.

We headed out for dinner the next night, not really knowing where to go. We stopped at an Italian place and sat at the round table. I was in between Katie and Zeke while Brittney sat next to Katie with Amy on her other side. Eric sat in between Zeke and Amy. I chatted to the girls while Eric and Zeke talked about the first football match of the season. Eric had been made quarterback when Aidan had graduated. I asked Katie about the cheerleading tryouts that were tomorrow. She said that she was nervous but really excited. Brittney said that Katie would be good on the squad since she was a good dancer as we had seen at parties.

“Oh yeah, that sprinkler move you pulled at Brittney’s birthday would really go well in the routine,” Zeke teased.
“Shut up, Zeke. Just because you can’t dance,” Katie teased back.
“I happen to think Zeke’s a very good dancer,” I said, pouting.
“You have to say that, you’re his girlfriend.”

I giggled and we chatted for a while longer before our food came. It was good to just hang out with my friends again. I hadn’t realized how lonely it had been over the summer without them. Of course, I had been quite occupied with Zeke. But I was glad to be back and to be with them. They were truly great friends and I trusted them all, even if I didn’t tell them everything. But there were some secrets you shouldn’t tell and were better off kept as secrets. I knew that and my friends knew that.