The Last Goodbye

Chapter 5- Bella’s POV

“Do you like him?” asked Stella about Cameron. I didn’t know what to say.
I met up with Stella exactly 10 minutes ago and I filled her in with all the details. She was a really good listener.

I sipped some of my hazelnut coffee and said, “By like what do you mean?”

Stella gasped, “Oh my gosh! You do like him!”

“I didn’t say that! I asked what you meant!”

“Bella, you know what I meant!” I gave her a look. She gave me the, ‘I know you do’ look.

I gave in. “Maybe I do like him! But I cant! He’s my best friend!”

“So what? Best friends always fall in love with each other! Oh my gosh, this is so romantic!”

“No, it’s not! I like Jack remember? I can’t like Cameron, too! The last thing I need is drama!”

Stella sighed. “I still don’t get why you like Jack. He’s such a jerk!”

“No, he’s not! Just because he seems that way with his friends doesn’t automatically make him a jerk.”

“Bella, he’s a jerk. Do you see the way he behaves? He can be so mean sometimes.”

“Did you ever notice that he only behaves like that whenever he’s around his friends? I think there’s more to him. I think he really is sweet but he doesn’t show it with his friends around.”

“Well, he should be himself even if he’s with his friends!”

“I know he should! But he’s in pressure you know? He’s in this popular group and he got stuck in it. If he get’s out, all the popular kids will look down on him. He doesn’t even want to be in the popular group! He told me so in Freshman year.”

“When did he say that to you?”

“We were put into partners for Spanish to work on this paper and we had finished it before everyone else. Then we saw a bunch of these seniors walking down the hall. They were the popular kids. And Jack said he never wants to be in a popular group. That it changes people. He said he’d rather be normal like everyone else.”

Stella snorted. “Look where he is now! In the popular group! And besides he said all that before he was even in the popular group! I bet he loves it now.”

“I’m sure he got pressured into it.”

Stella sighed. “Whatever you say.”

Okay I seriously love Stella to death. But why was she acting like this? She’s always supportive about me liking other guys that she doesn’t like. She’s such a great best friend and now she’s not supportive about me liking Jack? I decided to just ignore that.

“So, what to I do now?”

“Are you asking me to tell you who to like?”

“Yess…”

Stella looked at me.

“Okay, fine, no! I know I’m being paranoid but I don’t know what to do!”

“I can’t tell you what to do, Bella. It’s your decision. Your life.”

I sighed. Of course she would say that.

“But I do know Cameron likes you. It all makes sense. The way he’s being with you these days. The way he looks at you. Flirting with you, holding you, holding your hands, and your waist. He really likes you! “

I stayed quiet and looked down at my napkin.

“And you like him too.”

I jerked my head up. “No, I don’t! I mean….at least I don’t think I do.”

“You said before you like him.” I gave her a look.

“I said maybe I like him!”

“Bella, you like him! In fact you love him. Don’t deny it. I noticed the way you looked and said everything when you were telling me how Cameron held you while you guys were walking to In-N-Out and how you guys had those two moments, how he said all those things to you that made you realize how much he cared about you. Bella, you love him. You really do! You love him for caring so much about you. And I bet you even want him to hold you the way he did at the beach more often. I bet you love him more than you know but you just don’t want to admit it.”

“Wow, you sound like Oprah or some kind of a dating counselor.”

Stella laughed. “I guess I do!”

“So you think I’m being in denial?”

“I think that you’re fantasizing about being with Jack so much and you just don’t want to admit that you love Cameron because it would just ruin everything with you and Jack.”

I sighed and put my head down. “I don’t know, Stella. I love Cameron to death but because he’s my best friend and has always been there for me. I don’t know if I feel that way about him that you’re describing. But you might also be right. I just need to figure this all out.”

Stella nodded. “I’m here for you.”

“I know you are.” I smiled at her.

“Hey Bella,” said a familiar voice out of nowhere.