Love on the Brain

It felt as though Jade’s stomach was twisting at the sight of her friend. She instantly pulled her hands off Brian and looked over at the blonde girl, who looked anything but pleased.

Michelle soon took off, leaving the two of them, as utter silence fell over them. The sensation that filled Jade made her entire chest ache and the guilt was all but shoved down her throat.

“Jade!” Brian called after her, as he watched his girlfriend leave the bedroom.

“I’m sorry, but I gotta do this on my own,” she said, just barely turning around to face him, before she reached the stairs and hurried after Michelle.

“Michelle!” Jade called after her friend who had recently escaped into the kitchen where she searched for more alcohol to drown.

“I can explain everything,” the brunette told her, as she was now standing next to the fridge, facing her friend, who was busy cracking her beer.

“No need,” Michelle responded. “I don’t wanna hear it,” she stated rather coldly.

“Michelle,” Jade sighed. “I’m so sorry,” she muffled.

“Were you guys seriously gonna have sex in my bedroom?” the blonde asked, obviously disgusted.

“What? Of course not!” Jade tried to insure her. “Michelle, please let’s talk this through,”

“What’s there to talk about? I think I’ve seen everything I needed to see,”

“But you haven’t! You’ve been such a good friend to me and I care about you so much,” the brunette told her.

“Do you now? You care so much about me that you would sneak into my room to hit on Brian?” Michelle said a little louder, causing Jade to hush at her friend. “You know, it’s really cheap of you. I can’t believe you’ve pretended this entire time that you didn’t like him, meanwhile you’ve been into him!”

“Michelle, I would never do that to you! I’ve been seeing Brian for a short time now, and I really wanted to tell you, I just wasn’t sure how to,” Jade muffled, searching for Michelle’s eyes.

“Why? What exactly were you afraid of?” Michelle asked, this time sounding somewhat less angrier.

“This reaction,” Jade admitted.

“You know what? I think you should leave,” the blonde girl said, her fingers hooked around a Bulmers.

“Michelle,” Jade sighed, feeling hopeless. “Please don’t do this. I wanna make things right again,” she insisted.

“You can’t. At least not for now. I need some time alone, or at least some time without you,” Michelle announced. “I’m sorry,” she muffled.

Jade felt a lump in her throat as she nodded, realizing that it was nothing she could do in order to change Michelle’s mind right now. The brunette soon went to grab her messenger bag from the living room, avoiding the way Val kept looking at her, before she fished for her phone and typed a message to her cousin.

'Oli, can I sleep over at your place tonight? A lot of things happened, and could really need my cousin now…..'

She slipped her phone back into her bag, knowing that her cousin would probably throw herself into the car within the next minutes, as she slipped out of the door, not completely sure where to go as she waited for Olivia.

The guilt kept pinching her stomach. Michelle had been so kind and sweet to her from the second they met, and now Jade had somewhat managed to ruin one of the best friendships she had ever had.

She walked down the pavement, her mind completely occupied by all kinds of anxious thoughts, as she had no idea how to make everything okay again. Even though Michelle never told her that she had a crush on Brian, it was still obvious that she had. She would always protect Brian, no matter what he did or who he did it with. She was fond of the guy, and now Jade had ruined her chance of coming forward with her secret in a way that wouldn’t damage their friendship too much.

What am I gonna do?

The thoughts just kept spinning, bugging her, as Jade went to fish for her phone again, realizing that Olivia had already messaged her a place to meet her. The brunette glanced at the message, before she started walking into the direction she had been told to, also noticing the amount of messages that both Val and Brian had left for her, both of them worried sick, as they had no idea what was going on between Michelle and Jade right now.

“Care to tell me what happened that almost made me drive over an old lady on my way here?” Olivia mumbled, her eyes resting on the road, with one hand on the wheel and the other one searching for good music on the radio.

“I just had a fight with Michelle. I don’t really wanna talk about it,” Jade muffled.

“Okay. Mom’s already messaged your parents, so they know where you’re sleeping tonight,” Olivia said, making Jade a little calmer. “And I have lots of chocolate and just the right movies for us to watch, so you don’t have to think about anything right now, sweetie,” her cousin went on, this time glancing over at her friend.

“You really are the best,” Jade giggled, as it was so typical of Olivia to step up her game when it was necessary. “I really need this,”

“No problem, honey. We can talk about whatever happened when you’re ready,” the dark-haired girl insured her, as she drove into her driveway and pushed the keys. “Now you have to get ready for a little girl’s night!” her cousin announced happily, squeezing Jade’s shoulders, as she climbed out of her car.

Jade had just stripped out of her clothes and instead slipped into one of Olivia’s satin shorts and a comfortable tank top. She had also borrowed one of her cousin’s robes.

“Dark chocolate or cookies?” Olivia asked from her queen-sized bed, holding up two bowls of Ben N Jerry’s.

“Cookies,” Jade announced, her cousin smiling cheekily as she buried a spoon inside the ice cream and went to check on her phone.

“Good choice,” Olivia stated, meanwhile she cracked open two cans of coke.

A sigh left Jade’s face as she returned to the bathroom in order to take off her makeup. Just as she had swept a pad over her face, her phone started buzzing again. Jade had, so far, done an excellent job avoiding everything that ticked in, but now she realized that she couldn’t keep going.

“Hello?” she held her phone up to her ear, waiting for Brian to start talking in the other end.

“Jade! Om my God, finally!” Brian sounded worried, as he ran a hand through his hair. “Where the hell are you? Val’s been worried,” he told her.

“I’m so sorry!” Jade said, playing her locks.

“What happened?”

A sigh left her lips, as she plumped down on the toilet. “I tried to talk with Michelle,” she said.

“And it didn’t work?” Brian guessed.

“Not at all. She thinks I’ve been lying to her this entire time and she’s furious. I think I’ve ruined everything,” Jade muttered.

“Honey, no! She’s just surprised, but she’ll be okay,” Brian insured her, rubbing his fingers into his temple.

“I don’t know, Bri. She was furious,” Jade admitted. “I feel so terribly bad,”

“That’s because you care about her, and she’ll see that. You just have to give her some time,” he promised. “In the meantime, I’ll be by your side,” he went on.

“I’m so sorry for dragging you into this, Jesus Christ,” Jade exhaled. “I have to talk to Michelle, I just don’t know how,”

“Everything will be all right,” Brian said. “I promise. And don’t apologize, sweet. This isn’t your fault,”

“How about Val?” the brunette asked. “Does she know about us?”

“I haven’t told her anything, but Michelle might have,” he shrugged. “I doubt it though, or else she
wouldn’t have been so worried,” he expressed thoughtfully.

“This is a mess,” Jade mumbled.

“J! Are you done? The ice cream is melting!” Olivia bellowed, hitting the door with her knuckles impatiently.

“I’m coming!” Jade responded to her cousin, listening to the sound of Brian’s chuckling.

“Oh, so that’s where you are now,” he sniggered. “I won’t keep you busy. Have fun, and please don’t blame yourself for tonight,” he added.

“I have to go. Thanks for being so amazing, Bri,” she smiled brightly.

“No problem, babe. That’s just who I am,” Brian said cockily.

“Jade!” Olivia yelled again.

“Goodnight,” Jade said to her boyfriend, before she hung up and walked over to the door, trying to save what was left of her now melting ice cream.