The Bet

I was lying on my bed staring at the ceiling, the sound of Blink 182 blasting through my speakers. I heard Chelsea talking to me but I didn’t bother trying to listen to her. I didn’t really care what she was saying. I rolled over onto my stomach, reaching over for my cup of coffee. My eyes immediately fell on to the picture sitting next to my bed, it was a picture of Ian and I walking into the sunset, our hand intertwined. I remember Chelsea had taken it two summers ago on the boardwalk where we had spent most of our summer vacation.

“I shouldn’t have pressured you to move on.” I jumped when I heard the sound of Chelsea’s voice coming from the doorway. I felt guilty once again. This wasn’t Chelsea’s fault at all.

“Chelsea I don’t blame you. This is not your fault.” I sat up on the bed. I knew that I looked like complete shit, my makeup from last night was smudged all over my face and I was wearing and old highschool sweatshirt and spandex shorts. “You were just trying to help, like you always do,” I chocked, feeling tears about to fall.

Chelsea rushed over to me. I felt her arms wrap around me. “Honey its okay,” she cooed. For the second time in two days I felt myself crack. The tears started to fall and I broke down.
“Shhh everything is okay,” Chelsea comforted, rubbing circles on my back soothingly. I pulled myself away from Chelsea. I wiped my eyes and nose. I felt Chelsea’s eyes on me. She had a bad habit of staring at me when she knew I was upset. I stared back at her. We sat there for a while just staring at each other until Chelsea finally cracked. She burst out laughing. The buzzer rang and Chelsea jumped up from the bed.

She came back a few seconds later, quickly running a brush through her hair. “Who was that?” I asked noticing that she had changed her outfit.

“Jonathan is coming over.”

I quickly jumped off the bed. “Please tell me Brent isn’t with him. She hesitated. I started to panic. I rushed to the bathroom and saw my red puffy reflection. I splashed some water on my face and quickly tossed my hair in a ponytail. I pulled off my sweatshirt and grabbed a clean white v-neck from my closet.

I heard Chelsea open the door and I ran out of my room and immediately ran into Brent’s muscular chest.

“Oh I’m sorry,” I quickly apologized. I felt Brent’s hands wrap around my biceps, steading my small frame.

“No it’s my fault.” I avoided looking at Brent’s face. I knew that I if I did all the feelings from last night would rush back and I would end up climbing Brent like a mountain. I felt his eyes on my bare legs. I shifted uncomfortably.

“We should get back.”

“Yeah we better make sure Jon and Chelsea aren’t getting to crazy.” I followed Brent into the living room.

“Do you want to watch Jersey Shore?” Jon asked.

“Yes I still haven’t seen it yet.” I rushed over to the big comfy chair before anyone could steal it.

“So do you guys have work today or anything?”

“No I worked a 14 hour shift two days ago and my next one isn’t till tomorrow,” Chelsea explained.

“Yeah I don’t work till tomorrow.”

“So I know that Chelsea is a nurse but what exactly do you do Sydney?” Jon questioned.

“I work part time as a 1st grade teacher.” I felt Brent’s eyes on me.
“Alright who is ready to GTL it up?” Chelsea asked coming to my rescue.

…..

“I am fucking starving,” Chelsea cried out after we finished watching Jersey Shore. She got up to go order pizza, leaving me alone with the guys.

“Where is the bathroom?” Brent asked talking for the first time since we started watching TV.

“Down the hall second door on the left,” I show him, pointing towards the hallway. I sat back down in the chair, letting out a deep sigh.

“Is everything alright?” Jon asked.

“Yeah, I’m just tired.” I knew that Jon didn’t believe him.

“Excuse me one second,” I said getting up. I walked down the hall and walking into my room. My heart jumped when I saw Brent standing in my room.

“What are you doing?” I exclaimed. I saw him holding the picture that sat next to me bed.

“Who is this?”

“What are you doing in my room?” I countered, stepping closer to him.

“I asked you first.” I could smell his cologne as we get closer to each other.

“No I believe I asked you what you are doing in my room.”

“Alright fine I was curious okay?” Brent admitted, “So now tell me who that is?”

“Why do you care?” I took yet another step towards him almost completely closing the gap between us.

“Because I like you.”