Shooting Love in Real Time.

“Marissa!” I shouted, barging into her house and slamming the door shut behind me. I needed to tell her what had happened today before anyone else did.
“She’s not here,” Jack told me from the sofa as I stormed into his living room. “She’s at work. What’s up?”
“Everything,” I stated, sitting down next to him and taking the crisps from his hands. “I assume she filled you in on the argument I had with James?” He nodded slowly. “Well, he decided he wanted revenge because I don’t like him the way he likes me. That has resulted in flyers strewn around campus, showing everyone that I used to date Alex. But that’s not the bad bit, because I’d happily tell everyone that until I’m blue in the face. No, the bad bit is, he made one to oust Marissa! He decided it wasn’t enough to spill my secrets, he wanted to spill the secrets of someone else who had done nothing but trust him. How petty can you be?! Is this the kind of ‘revenge’ teenagers get on each other nowadays?!” I stopped for breath, shoving a handful of crisps in my mouth and waiting for Jack to say something. It took him a second to process what I had said before he replied.
“She’ll live.” I choked on my food and burst out laughing. I’d barely paused for breath, spilling nearly everything and that was my response? Jack eyed me warily as he waited for the laughter to subside. “What was that?” He asked, finally.
“I’ve just missed you. You don’t take anything too seriously. I mean, in I come, freaking out and shouting about everything, and that’s all I get? You remind me not to take myself too seriously.” Jack shrugged.
“What did you do to him, anyway?”
“I did what any self-respecting girl would do. I drew a crowd and told them all everything anyway. Jasey Rae doesn’t let gossip get her down; she embraces it.” Jack stared at me for a second, waiting to see if I was serious or not before replying.
“You mean, you told everyone that you and Alex used to be a thing? You don’t care about what will happen now?” I shrugged. No, I honestly didn’t care anymore.
“I’m not ashamed of it, Jacks. Alex and I went through so much together and I would do anything to make sure he knew that I still loved him beyond words. I know this was something he struggled with and now I think about it, I don’t know why I cared so much in the first place. I don’t care who knows. Up until now, I still felt like the girl who hid behind her name and tried to avoid anyone knowing who she was. I’m not Holly, the timid little girl in Arizona who didn’t talk about her past: I’m Jasey fucking Rae, and I’ve got everyone I could ever need in my life already, so fuck what everyone else thinks or does.” I paused for a second, trying to decide whether to tell Jack the next bit or not. Like I said, I’d gotten to the point where I didn’t care what anyone else thought and it only felt freeing to let the secrets flow. “Do you know what Marissa and I found out the other day? We ran into Jodie Stephenson in Starbucks on Sunday. It’s the first time I’d seen her since before what had happened with her and Alex. She apologised to me, for her ‘little trick’. Do you know what she meant by that? She meant kissing Alex and making him think he’d slept with her that night. He was so black out drunk he believed it.”
Jack gaped at me, unsure as to whether I was telling the truth or not.
“When are you going to tell him?”
“I don’t know. I’m finally starting to feel like me again, that confident teenager who didn’t let anyone get to her, but I’m so scared to tell him this. He deserves to know, don’t get me wrong, but I can’t find the appropriate time to just be like ‘hey, you know you cheated on me and I left you and everyone I loved behind? Well, surprise, you didn’t cheat on me, I just freaked out like a moron!’” Jack snorted.
“You didn’t freak out like a moron. You freaked out like Jasey fucking Rae and did what you thought was best for you at the time. Hell, man, I hated him for what he’d done. We all had things we said to him about it. You weren’t the only one who was hurt, Jasey.”
I smiled. This was my best friend. I had always imagined he had something to say to Alex, but I’d never quite known before. Like I said, it was a taboo subject and I never even mentioned it when I was at my worst.
“I know this is a little late, and it probably means nothing now, but thank you for having my back, Jack. Sometimes I forgot that you were my best friend. I mean, these past few weeks, we’ve barely spoken, because I’d forgotten that you’re my best friend just as well as you are Alex’s. I felt like he had more of a right to you than I did. I was wrong about that, and I’m sorry.”
Jack just smiled at me and grabbed me for a hug. “I’m always here for you, Jase. You know that.” A small cough echoed out from the doorway behind us and we turned to look at who was there. Alex stood there, hands in his pockets, looking at us both.
“Jasey, I think we need to talk.”