My Best Friend's Brother

“I feel like we need something to do.” Olivia said lying in the grass with me in the backyard. It was one of my rare days off that Olivia also had nothing to do since Dalton’s family was on vacation. “This is the first time we’ve hung out all summer.” I pointed out; it’s the beginning of August which means that Chad leaves in a few weeks for college.

“Well we could go to the gym, Chad works but we can act like we’re working out or something. “But Brenda works there and I really do not want to see her.” I never really liked Brenda; she would be a total bitch to me no matter how nice I was to her. I especially hated the fact that she was always after Chad.

“Well if we go then Brenda won’t have a chance to do anything with Chad. It’s not like we have anything better to do here anyways.” Olivia said getting up but I didn’t move. “Can we just have one lazy for once?” As much as I wanted to see Chad lately I’ve been busy going between work, babysitting Justin a lot, starting to fill out college applications and finding a social life somewhere in there.

“No, I will drag you out to the car if you don’t get up.” I sighed in defeat, knowing that Olivia wasn’t kidding. I got up and went to my room to get my keys.

“But if she tries to start shit then I’m out, I’m not in the mood to deal with it today.” Today was one of those days that you could definitely tell that I’m on my period. “Well it’s nice to see that you’re in such a good mood!” Olivia said sarcastically as she got into the passenger seat before I started the car.

“I think I would make a pretty good clown.” Olivia said randomly looking out the window. “If you love terrifying little kids then sure,” Olivia was probably one of the last people that wanted to go to college. “And don’t you have to go to clown college or something?”

“As long as I don’t have to go to a four year college I’m all for it.” Typical Olivia, trying to find an easy way out of something, “I bet my kids would be too scared to go near you.”

“Well if they were yours and Chad’s then they would.”

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here!”

Don’t get me wrong, I love Chad! But lately we haven’t exactly been our usual selves around each other. I just had a feeling that we wouldn’t last much longer. Maybe I was just being paranoid? It was probably just him being stressed about leaving soon. But what about the time that Blake asked if he’d cheat on me? What if Chad is cheating on me?

Snap out of it, Leighton! Chad would never cheat on anyone! I mentally slapped myself for even thinking that.

“Well you know what they say; never say never,” Olivia said with a shrug. Usually she would say that Chad and I would get married and have kids. Something was up with her. “What’s wrong with you?” I asked as I pulled into an empty parking space at the gym.

“Nothing….would you ever get back together with someone if they cheated on you?” She asked, I looked at her but she just looked down at her hands. I don’t know if I was just being paranoid or not but that did not help my nerves.

“If you know something that I don’t just tell me.” I said bluntly, if she knew something and didn’t tell me then I would be pissed and she knows that.

“Well I have this friend…she’s dating this guy and it’s only been a few months since they started dating. I know she loves him and he does too but he just started cheating on her. We’re the only three that know but she’s a friend and I don’t know if I should tell her or not.” Olivia said looking down at her hands, she looked uncomfortable and now her bangs were covering her face so I couldn’t tell if she was looking at me from the corner of her eye or not.

“Olivia, if you know what’s going on then you need to tell her. And if he’s cheating on her then he doesn’t love her.” This was really starting to freak me out. What she said was way too close to my situation.

“Would you choose family or friends?” She asked looking up at me. “It depends how close you are to your family.” I said taking my seatbelt off. I was getting too uncomfortable in this car right now.

I got out of the car while Olivia stayed still. “Maybe we should just go home and be lazy like you said!” She said looking out my door at me. Something was seriously up and she knew something that I didn’t. “No, I drove here and now I have to go talk to Chad.” I said slamming the door. Olivia got out and when I saw her face, she looked terrified.

It didn’t take long for me to find Chad once I got inside. He was talking to Brenda and they were a little too close for my liking. That doesn’t mean anything, they’re just talking. I told myself repeatedly in my head. “See, nothings going on. Let’s just go home and watch a movie!” Olivia said grabbing my arm. I was about to go with her but then I saw it.

Chad kissed Brenda. No, Brenda didn’t kiss him. He kissed her. The reason I know that is because he was the one pushing her against the wall, still kissing her.

I got out of Olivia’s grip and walked over to them. I tapped Chad on the shoulder, holding back tears the best I could. “We’re kinda busy over here.” Brenda said in her usual snotty tone. “Yeah, I can see that!” My voice cracked and I reached my breaking point, here come the waterworks.

Chad turned around and looked down at me. He looked guilty and shocked. “Leighton, what are you doing here?”

“What am I doing here? It’s a free country! The better question would be what the hell are you doing?!” I was shouting at this point, everyone looked at us but I didn’t care. “It’s not what it looked like!”

“Well it looked like you were the one that kissed her! Don’t even think about saying it was the other way around, I saw it with my own eyes and that position doesn’t help your case either!”
“Leighton, just give me a chance to-“

“No! I thought you were different from all the others! You’re exactly like the others! Don’t bother trying to talk to me anymore; I want nothing to do with you!” I shouted. I smacked him across the face and it was really hard considering the fact that it was already turning red before I turned to leave.

“Come on, let’s go home.” Olivia said reaching for my arm. “No, I’m not going anywhere with you!” I shouted, causing Olivia to jump. “Why not?”

”Because you are supposed to be my best friend and you didn’t tell me! If Dalton did this to you then I would tell you as soon as I found out! I don’t want to talk to you either! Both of you just need to stay away from me!” I said before storming out of the gym.

Once I got to my car I put my head on the steering wheel and started crying even more. I don’t think I overreacted. If anything I under reacted! I needed to get away from them.