Forget About It

“Uh, Corinna, can I talk to you?” Candace asked as she sat down at the foot of my bed.

“Sure thing, bitch.” I chirped, not even bothering to look up from my magazine.

“So… uh… what is going on with you and Alex?” She bit her lip and looked away quickly.

“What do you mean by that?” I asked as I put my magazine down, mentally remembering the page as I sat up straight to look at her better.

“I mean, are you two going to start dating or something? You sure do spend a lot of time over there nowadays. And people are talking…” She faded off as she looked down at her hair and began to pick at all of the split ends. It was a nervous habit of hers I had been trying to break for years. It was even more difficult to get her to quit than it was to convince her mother to let her wear contacts. And believe me that was not an easy task.

“Me and Alex? No way!” I laughed, “Maybe a year ago, but not anymore. Alex and I are just best friends. Besides… I like his older brother Daniel now.” I whispered as if it was a secret. It was hardly a secret though, almost everyone knew except for Daniel himself.

“So… since you don’t like Alex anymore… do you think it would be okay if I liked him?” She blushed furiously and tried to bite back the smile forming on her face.

I wanted to tell her to go for it, but the minute she admitted she liked him I had the insatiable need to rip her head off. But I didn’t like Alex anymore so it shouldn’t have mattered, right? The first thought that should have gone through my head was that Alex told me week after week that he hated her. The first thing that should have gone through my head was that Alex threatened to stop being my friend if I kept being friends with a “bitch like Candace.” It certainly shouldn’t have been anger and jealousy that someone else liked Alex – no – I didn’t like Alex anymore. I liked Daniel. Tall, muscular, popular, high school aged, football playing Daniel Gaskarth.

“Corinna?” She asked, “So do you think he likes me?” She asked quietly, “I mean, it’s pretty obvious right? Guys are almost always mean to the girls they like.”

“Uh, I don’t really know.” I shrugged as I leaned back on my pillows again, “I guess I can ask him later.”

“You’re the best Corinna!” Candace squealed as she jumped up and hugged me, “Now go over there right now and ask!”

“Wait, what?” I said, “Right now?”

“Yeah, GO!” She shouted as she pushed me off the bed and out of my own room, “I’ll wait here for you to get back. I don’t mind waiting for a few hours if that’s how long it takes.”

“Only because you’re my best friend,” I glared at her as I trudged downstairs and out the door, “You fucking owe me!” I shouted as I slammed my front door closed.

It took me twenty minutes to walk the trail to the Gaskarth’s house. Once I had left my own house, I went into my backyard and through the woods until I reached the clearing we had made in Rian’s own backyard. It was our usual hangout place back in seventh grade, but we hadn’t really used it since. Now that we were in eighth grade, we were apparently “too cool” to use the area anymore. Once I made it back out of the woods, I walked through Rian’s large backyard and onto the street. Thankfully, Alex only lived two streets over so I was almost there. Hopefully I wouldn’t be too sweaty in the August heat, I wanted to look slightly decent in case Daniel was there.

As I thought about Daniel, my mind wandered back to the conversation I was having with Candace. Were guys really mean to the girls they liked? Daniel was never mean to me at all. Maybe he just thought of me as one of Alex’s little friends. But if that were the case, why would he hang out with me so much?

When I finally arrived at the Gaskarth’s, I just let myself in and walked up to Alex’s room. “Hey Lexy.” I grinned as I lay down on his bed and stretched out. He quickly closed his lyric book and turned to face me with a goofy smile on his face.

“What are you doing here, Rinna?” He chuckled as he came over to his bed to lie down next to me.

“Just coming to hang out with my best friend, is that a problem?” I raised a brow at him as I wrapped my arms around his torso and rested my head on his chest. I listened to the rhythm of his heart beat and we just sat there for a while until I could feel myself falling asleep. I quickly sat up and crossed my legs as he did the same with a confused look on his face. “So I’ve been thinking.” I stated with a nervous smile on my face. Now that I was going to ask, I was actually very curious to know his answer.

“What about?” Alex yawned as he leaned back on his elbows in an attempt to get comfortable.

“Well… I was kind of wondering if you… ya know, liked anyone?” I bit my life and blushed furiously. Even though Alex and I were best friends, we never really talked about these things out in the open like this. I usually told Adrienne and Candace while Alex talked about these things with Jack and Rian.
“What, why are you asking?” Alex asked quickly as his face turned red.

“Umm… I’m just curious.” I lied, “I mean, we tell each other everything, but we never talk about who we like with each other, you know?”

“Well, why don’t you share who you like first?” Alex raised an eyebrow as he moved closer to me and grabbed my hands, “Come on, Corinna. You can tell Alex.”

Now it was my turn to blush, I couldn’t possibly tell Alex that I had a crush on his brother. He would totally laugh at me or even worse, tell me that Daniel has a girlfriend.

“Alright, I’ll go first.” He took a deep breath and then looked me in the eyes, “I like-“

“Hey faggot, do you remember the name of that hot girl from the party the other- oh, hey Corinna.” He winked at me which made me forget anything he was saying about some other girl besides me.

“Hey Daniel.” I blushed as a soft giggle emitted from my lips. I watched as Daniel looked over at Alex with a smirk before he met my eyes again, his smirk growing even wider.

“I hope you don’t mind, but I would love to spend time with you two.” He laughed as he jumped onto the bed and squished his way in between the two of us, even though there was no room to begin with. My stomach erupted into butterflies as his arm wrapped around my shoulder and he pulled me closer, “So what are you two kids up to in here?”

“The point of detention, Miss Weir, is to reflect on what you did wrong, not to sleep.” Mr. Klinect said after he threw his pen at me, causing me to wake up. I looked to my left to see Alex smirking slightly. I looked down at the table when I noticed something – Alex still had the same lyric book from all those years ago. The one I gave him for his thirteenth birthday. He was back to scribbling madly in it the moment he stopped laughing at my expense.

“Miss Weir, do I need to find something for you to do silently?” Mr. Klinect glared at me, “I have plenty of worksheets you could fill out.”

“No sir.” I sighed as I pulled out my text book and began to pretend to study. I could get through two and a half more hours, couldn’t I? Maybe if it were Jack or Rian or Zack sitting there, but probably not Alex.

It was about half an hour later when Mr. K stood up and cleared his throat, “Um, I have to go to a meeting. If I hear about any trouble, you two are going to be serving Saturday school.”

“Yes sir.” We both said as he left the room. I exhaled deeply once he was gone and looked over at Alex. Strangely, he was staring at me too. When he noticed I had looked his way, he shook his head and looked back at his book.

“Corinna,” Alex whispered a little while later, “Psst, Corinna!”

“What?” I hissed in response as I continued to look at the open door, watching for Mr. Klinect to come back. I couldn’t risk a Saturday school this early in the year, or at all even.

“What is that thing you used to say all the time when we were younger… Jealous hearts will… something?”

I sighed and looked at Alex intently, “Jealous hearts will leave us all in ruins.” I watched as he quickly jotted it down in his book before he turned around again.

“Why?” I asked suddenly, “You’re not using that in a song, are you?”

“No…” Alex answered somewhat nervously, “Of course not!”

“Then why’d you need it?” I narrowed my eyes at him, “And why are you even talking to me about it?”

“Because I was just curious as to what you used to always say to me, damn!” He said as his voice cracked, “And you’re the one talking to me, Corinna.” He spat back at me.

“You started the conversation!” I nearly screamed, “Quit doing things like this to me Alex.”

“What was that Miss Weir?” Mr. Klinect said as he came in the room.

“It was nothing Mr. Klinect. Sorry sir.” I muttered as I crossed my arms over my chest.

“Sorry doesn’t cut it, Corinna. Maybe a Saturday school would remind you that talking during detention is prohibited. You two may be dismissed.” He said curtly as he sat back down at his desk. I sighed as I stood up and left the room quickly, not even bothering to plead with Mr. K about my Saturday school. It was a lost cause anyway; I was bound to get one at some point this year. Once I was out of the school, I quickly pulled out my phone and dialed the first number I could think of.

As soon as they picked up the phone I began to speak, “Hey, are you still not talking to me?”