Stay With Them Tonight

JASON P.O.V.

I came back outside, unsure of what I just did. I had almost kissed Allie, after my own damn brother already had.

What had come over me? I had just followed her to make sure she would never ever utter that stupid nickname Trace gave me (and to avoid Tracey). And then, all of a sudden we were alone in a small space, and she was so close.

What the fuck was I thinking?

I walked out over the grass, planning on heading into my house and playing five straight hours of COD until I couldn’t think anymore. Where had Trace gone off to?

Kelly came out of nowhere, looking nervous as she came around to stand in front of me. She was attractive- even a blind man would see that. She was startling to look at, always seeming unique, no matter what.

Allie usually looked normal, to say the least. There was nothing really different about her, nothing someone would really think about. Sure, she was pretty, but next to Kelly, most people wouldn’t look twice.

Shit. Why the hell was I thinking about her again? She was like a mosquito bite or something; an itch I couldn’t scratch.

Kelly was talking about nothing, and I gave no real replies. I kept glancing at the door; salvation lay inside. She knew I wasn’t paying attention, and said my name a few times.

“Jason,” she said again, my brain catching up with hearing my name. Kelly was always more friendly than Allie, who acted- Holy fuck man, shut the hell up about her.

“Huh?” I asked. Kelly pulled me away from the group of people standing beside us, unfortunately further from my house.

“Listen, I was wondering . . . uh. Something happened between Ryan and Allie, didn’t it?” This wasn’t what I had been expecting- if I was expecting anything at all. She studied me, and I felt like a lab rat under inspection. How to get out of this one . . .?

“What makes you think that?” I asked in a bored tone, even though thinking of what happened had been bothering me slightly since that day.

What were Ryan and Allie thinking, anyway? They couldn’t go out, not unless they wanted to royally fuck up the Brady Bunch. I didn’t even know if they had done more, after. I tried not to look too closely at anything they did, whenever I was with them. Recently, I had avoided them enough that I couldn’t be sure of anything. I liked it better that way.

Nobody knew about what I saw, but somehow Kelly had figured it out. She straightened up and stared me down. I stared back, trying to be intimidating so she would just leave.

She wasn’t nervous anymore. Somehow she had seen that I knew something, and was going to find out what.

“Tell me what happened, Jason. Allie came to me a while ago, and she was upset about something. She won’t tell me what. I know she and Ryan hung out that day, and now I want to know what they did.” She said defiantly, cocking her hip and putting a hand on it.

“I don’t know-” I started.

“Don’t lie to me! Something happened. Have they ever kissed?” Knowledge flared in her eyes as I avoided them, pretending to look at the old man that had shifted infinitesimally towards us. “More?” she asked softly.

“No!” I said quickly, deciding to just tell her what I knew; she was determined to find out anyway.

“All they did that day was kiss. She left right after.” Kelly looked at me with sad, disbelieving eyes, and I didn’t know how to assure her. I wasn’t even sure about anything.

“-Jason knows!? And you didn’t tell me!?” we heard.

Kelly’s gaze whipped around, and we saw Allie there talking to Ryan. Well, not talking. They sure looked guilty, and from what we had heard, we could only assume the worst.

Kelly glared at Allie before turning away, not even glancing at me as she hurried past, towards her house.

Before I could go back to my house and lose myself in COD, Allie came storming up to me. My day was about to get a hell of a lot more complicated.

Fuck.

*****

ALLIE P.O.V.

“What the hell did you do, Jason!?” I went up and grabbed onto his shirt (which I then preceded to let go, not knowing what I was going to do in the first place), so angry I couldn’t think.

Kelly was walking away, almost running. I knew her so well I could almost predict how she would react- she would be furious, but the fury would hide the hurt. She would slam her door closed, curl up on her bed, and be angry. Every step I let her take away without me explaining hurt her more, made her more furious.

“Why did you do that!?” Ryan yelled at Jason. Now, we were making a scene. Knowing their parents and Danny weren’t in their house, I quickly grabbed them and pulled them across the yard, into the Luce house. I would talk to Kelly as soon as I was finished with Jason.

“I was going to tell her today!” I yelled at him as soon as the door closed. He just glared between us.

“How the hell is this my fault?” he asked quietly, scathingly, when we paused for an answer.

Kelly would be crying right now.

“Why did you tell her? It wasn’t yours to tell!” I poked a finger in his chest. Ryan just pulled me away slightly, bringing us further into the house. He was glaring at Jason along with me.

“Do you know what you just did!?” I screamed. I had always hated Jason, or at least disliked him, but this latest stunt blew that up to a whole new level.

“She already knew!” He yelled back. I took a physical step back, that’s how surprised I was.

“She knew.” He said again, quieter now that he had our attention. Ryan and I said nothing.

He continued. “She asked me, and I said no. She knew I was lying. And then I realized she was just shooting in the dark- she didn’t actually believe it.” He looked at me.

“I told her that it was nothing, and you just left after that. She didn’t believe me.” My eyes widened. She thought I was secretly doing something with Ryan? She thought I was that kind of a person? We had known each other forever.

I walked out the door, ignoring Ryan starting to talk behind me. I had to tell Kelly she was wrong- that I would never do that to her.