April 17th, 2008

“Sometimes I hate living in California,” Chelsea informed us randomly as we sat in the food court.

Aimee shot her a weird look. “And what do you hate about it? Hot surfer guys, the warm weather almost year-round, or the fact that we’re the only state with an In-N-Out Burger on almost every block?”

Chelsea shook her head, taking a sip of her soda. “I hate STAR Testing.”

AJ snorted. “Well, who doesn’t?”

Before any of the girls or I could agree with her, I felt something heavy resting on my head. I wacked it off and looked up to see Dallas grinning down at me, and I immediately felt a lot happier just by the sight of him.

I know I had said that I would just be around Dallas as a friend, but I just couldn’t do that. I really did love him with all my heart and I was sure I was always going to. Even if he was still with Trinity…

Dallas was with a few of his other friends that I didn’t know, so Austin and Hunter weren’t with him. Austin had a dentist appointment today, and who knew what happened to Hunter. I barely knew what the guy looked like anyway so it didn’t even matter…

“You want our table, don’t you?” Aimee asked before I could even say anything to Dallas. Boy, she knew him too well. Whenever there wasn’t a spare table for Dallas and his friends and we were at the mall, he’d come up to us and pretty much kick us out. Not that I really minded, since it was Dallas and everything… “You’re lucky we’re all done and we were just talking.”

Dallas winked at her. “Thanks, Aims.”

She wrinkled her nose. “Ew. Don’t call me that.”

Dallas snorted. “Alrighty then.”

I got out of my seat, it immediately being taken by one of Dallas’s friends. I rolled my eyes, turning toward my friends and waiting for them to get up before heading off out of the food court with only one last wave to Dallas.

“I’m glad you don’t like that jerk anymore,” Aimee sighed once we had gotten out of earshot. “He’s not good enough for anyone like you.”

I shrugged. “Yeah, well…”

So I had told my friends that I didn’t like him anymore… It would be the best to just not tell anyone that I liked him. It would have just made things easier if no one thought that I liked Dallas more than a friend…

“Can we go in there?” Lexi suddenly asked, pointing to a store that we all hated but she absolutely loved. “Please?”

“No way,” Chelsea, AJ, and Aimee all said in unison, freaking me out just a little.

Lexi now turned to me, giving me the cutest puppy dog eyes she could muster. I let out a sigh, turning toward the store and muttering out, “Fine.”

She giggled, following after me after she had told our friends that we would meet them back at the food court later. I wasn’t really looking forward to being in this store since I thought all the clothes were really tacky, but if Lexi liked it, then I guess I could bear.

Okay, maybe I was wrong. After only five minutes of her going through clothes, I thought I was going to explode. How could she like clothes like this? Whenever we went in here, she never ended up buying anything anyway! I didn’t think I would ever be able to understand my best friend when it came to shopping…

“I know you still like Dallas.”

At the sound of this, I almost jumped because I had been zoning out and I wasn’t expecting it. Why would she think that I still liked him? It had been four months since I had told all my friends that I didn’t like him anymore.

“What?” I asked, feigning innocence. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Lexi rolled her eyes. “Don’t play dumb. I know you still like him.”

Lexi and I continued to bob through the different clothes racks. Lexi had been my friend since we were little kids… I could tell her anything. But I really didn’t want anyone knowing that I liked Dallas still.

“Fine,” I sighed, giving up now. There was no use trying to trick her. “I still like him. A lot.”

Lexi shook her head and sighed. “It’s not a good idea to like him, Jordan. He’s been dating Trinity for the past four years…”

“I know he has,” I snapped, not even bothering to apologize for it like I usually did. “I’ve known that for a while. I know he only sees me as a friend, and I accept that, but I can’t stop seeing him asmore than a friend. Especially after his birthday party…”

Lexi immediately stopped walking. I bit down on my tongue, almost slapping myself in the head. I did not just say that! I promised I wouldn’t tell anyone what happened at Dallas’s birthday party!

“What happened at Dallas’s birthday party?” Lexi asked, asking the question I feared the most.

It wouldn’t be a good idea to tell her. It definitely wouldn’t be a good idea to tell her. If I told her, it could go back to AJ, Chelsea, and Aimee, and then it could go back to Dallas… He knew that we had kissed, but he didn’t know that anyone else knew. Trinity obviously didn’t know what had happened since they were still dating and everything…

“Okay… I never told you this, but…” I sighed, rubbing at my arm nervously. “But a few months ago, at Dallas’s birthday party, he got drunk and came into my room…”

Lexi’s eyes widened at me. “This isn’t going to turn into a rated R story, is it? You don’t have a baby inside you, do you?”

I grimaced at her joke. Dallas had said the exact same thing the morning after this all had happened. I didn’t want to joke about something that was serious… I didn’t want to joke about something that I hoped happen with him in the future.

I shook my head, smiling slightly. Hopefully she didn’t notice it was forced. “No. It’s merely PG. Maybe PG-13. Depends on how you look at it, really.”

Lexi nodded. “Okay, go on.”

I let out a breath. There was no going back now. I told myself that I wasn’t ever going to tell anyone that this had happened, but Lexi had been my best friend ever since we were little kids. Just like Dallas had been…

I continued to walk around the clothes racks as I told her about Dallas coming into my room and kissing me. I made sure to tell her that he also told me that he loved me, and she was the only other person that knew that. I told her that Dallas knew that he had kissed me, but he didn’t know he had told me he loved me since he had been drunk. I went on to tell her how we both fell asleep in my bed together and how I really liked it.

“And… I think…” I swallowed, not sure of my words. “I think… I really love him, Lexi. I don’t want to, but I do. I don’t want to love him, because I know it’ll just end up in heartbreak on my part, but I do. I’m in love with him.”

“Jordan…” Lexi whispered, pausing as if she was trying to think of what she was supposed to say. She closed her mouth when she thought of nothing. I didn’t blame her.

I walked passed another clothes rack, immediately bashing right into someone when I did. I looked up, my eyes widening when I saw who the person was. It was Jesse, who looked so angry that I thought he could have torn the whole tacky store down. His face was all red, too…

“Oh, no…” I gulped, looking at where he was and where Lexi and I had been for the talk we had just had. “How much did you hear?”

Jesse’s angry demeanor suddenly changed, and he was smirking like he always did. But his eyes were different. They were still angry.

“Just about all of it.”

Oh, no! No! This wasn’t going to end well!

I bit my lip, looking back at Lexi who looked equally as freaked. She might have not had anything on the line, but I knew she was worried about me.

Jesse smirked. “I bet Dally’s girlfriend’s gonna love hearing this.”

He took off then, and it took me a second to realize what he was doing. I stood there, completely frozen, and I couldn’t believe what was happening. Before I even knew it, I was taking off right after him. I couldn’t see him because he had gotten lost in the crowd, but I knew where Dallas and his friends were.

There was no way he was going to ruin Dallas and Trinity’s relationship, because I knew he was going to blame it on me! If I broke them up, Dallas was never going to forgive me!

I saw Dallas and his friends by the food court where I had left them, and my heart sunk when I saw that Jesse and Trinity were there as well. Jesse was talking, and I knew it wasn’t something that I wanted to hear.

“We’re over, Dallas!” was the first thing I heard Trinity shout, causing my eyes to go wide with complete and total shock. Did she really just say that? Did she really just say that she and Dallas were done? These were the words that I had been waiting to hear since I had met Trinity. And now she was saying them, and I was more upset than happy. But that was because she was saying them because of me.

Jesse was smirking, and I wanted to hit him so hard that it wasn’t even funny. It was his fault that this was happening! If he hadn’t been there, he never would have overheard what I was telling Lexi and he never would have gone and told Trinity what Dallas and I had done! Why is everything always Jesse’s fault?

When Dallas saw me, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. I was guessing Trinity had already told him what he had done while he was drunk before I got there, and even though he had known about the kissing, he didn’t know about telling me that he loved me.

Trinity stormed off, purposely ramming into my shoulder as she did so. I stumbled, but didn’t fall over. I was completely frozen with fear, not knowing what I was supposed to be doing. Not only had Jesse told Trinity what Dallas and I had done, he had told all of Dallas’s friends…

“Jordan was pretty excited when you told her you loved her,” Jesse continued on, that snide smirk still plastered on his face. “Because, you know, she likes you a lot.”

I would kill Jesse Jacobsen! He had just told Dallas the one thing I had been keeping from him since before I could even remember! He really just told Dallas that I liked him in front of all of his friends!

Dallas’s friends started guffawing, and I felt my cheeks heat up. I wouldn’t have been surprised if my entire face looked like an overcooked tomato. My secret had been revealed. People were laughing at me. I really thought I was going to faint…

“Really, Jordan?” Dallas asked, his eyes widening at me. “You like me?”

I was hyperventilating now, I knew. I wanted my friends. I wanted my brother. I wanted anyone there with me that would be on my side. I just wanted to get out of there now and never go back ever again.

When I felt tears rush down my cheeks, I suddenly snapped out of my trance. I took one look at Dallas, then at Jesse, and then at Dallas’s friends before taking off. I couldn’t cry in front of all of those people. I couldn’t cry in front of Jesse and Dallas. I just couldn’t cry. I had to wait until I was at home to do that.

J~J~J~J~J~J~J~J~J~J~~J~J~J~J~J~J~J~J~J~J~J~J~J~J~J~J~J~J~J~J~J~J~J~J~J~J~J~J~J~J

Jesse’s P.O.V.

When I saw her at the mall, I was really thankful that we lived in such a small town. It was a lot easier for me to find her when we lived in such a small town…

I followed her and her friend Lexi into this tacky store, and I couldn’t believe Jordan would actually want to shop there. But when I saw her face, it was obvious that she wasn’t the one that wanted to be there, but Lexi was instead.

I might have been a stalker for following Jordan around whenever I saw her, but you can’t blame me. It’s not my fault that I fell in love with her. It was hers. Completely hers…

Five minutes of silence went by, and I was starting to wonder if I chose to do the right thing in follower her around. They weren’t even saying anything to each other… I was hoping that there would be some kind of gossip or something that they would talk about. Something that was interesting…

“I know you still like Dallas.”

At the sound of this, I immediately perked up and listened in even more. Jordan hadn’t even mentioned Dallas for months. She had told me how she was going to get over him, and I believed what she had said. Was she seriously not over that asshole?

“What?” Jordan asked, and any idiot could tell she was feigning innocence. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Lexi rolled her eyes at her beautiful friend. “Don’t play dumb. I know you still like him.”

Damn it! No, she couldn’t like him! If she still liked him, I… I didn’t know what I would do! I’d definitely be pissed, I know that for sure!

Jordan and Lexi continued to bob and weave through the different clothes racks, and I had to continue moving so I wouldn’t get caught. I had been thinking about just revealing myself because they hadn’t been talking at all, but now I definitely didn’t want to get caught. I wanted to hear what they had to say more than anything now.

“Fine,” Jordan sighed, and I was afraid of what she was going to say. Please say you didn’t like him anymore… Please say you didn’t like him anymore… “I still like him. A lot.”

I felt my heart snap. It literally felt like I had been stabbed about twenty times. I really thought that she didn’t like him anymore… I really thought that she was over that asshole. But she wasn’t. Of course she wasn’t. She was an idiot, and so was I.

Lexi shook her head and sighed. I could only hope she would say some kind of wise words that would snap Jordan into reality and show her that Dallas was not a good guy. “It’s not a good idea to like him, Jordan. He’s been dating Trinity for the past four years…”

“I know he has,” Jordan snapped, and I wanted to just go up and hold her. I wanted to know what it would be like to really hold her. But she’d never come near me. “I’ve known that for a while. I know he only sees me as a friend, and I accept that, but I can’t stop seeing him as more than a friend. Especially after his birthday party…”

What? Birthday party? What the hell was she talking about?

Lexi immediately stopped walking, as did I. We both obviously wanted to know what the hell Jordan was talking about, and I wasn’t leaving until I found out what they did at that asshole’s birthday party. I swear, if he touched her in any way, I was going to kill him. I really could, too.

Jordan looked scared, and I wanted to kiss her like I had at her Christmas party. I’d relive that night over and over again if it meant I could just kiss her for the rest of my life…

When did I start getting so sappy? I needed to stop.

“What happened at Dallas’s birthday party?” Lexi asked for me.

Jordan seemed to be thinking about whether to tell her or not. If she didn’t tell her, I was just going to have to force it out of her later. Somehow. As long as I didn’t hurt her it should have been fine… Not that I wanted to hurt her or anything.

“Okay… I never told you this, but…” I sighed, rubbing at my arm nervously. “But a few months ago, at Dallas’s birthday party, he got drunk and came into my room…”

Lexi’s eyes widened, and my jaw clenched so hard that I thought it was going to get stuck. This wasnot how I wanted this story to start out. If it ended the way I thought it was going to, someone was seriously going to find Dallas’s body in a ditch in the morning…

“This isn’t going to turn into a rated R story, is it?” Lexi asked her now. “You don’t have a baby inside you, do you?”

Jordan grimaced at the joke, and I did as well. I didn’t even want to think of something so repulsive. If Jordan was ever going to have a baby, it was going to be mine.

Okay. I needed to shut the fuck up. My anger was getting the best of me, and I didn’t like it.

Jordan shook her head, smiling slightly. I could tell it was forced. “No,” she answered, and I felt the breath I didn’t know I had been holding exit my lungs. “It’s merely PG. Maybe PG-13. Depends on how you look at it, really.”

Lexi nodded, and I realized I was holding my breath again. “Okay, go on.”

“Well, Dallas came into my room all drunk, right?” Jordan started quickly, and I was afraid that she was going to speak this quickly during the entire story. I would have really liked to know what she was saying, so I hoped she didn’t. “And he kissed me. I was really shocked, especially when he told me that he loved me, too. You’re the only person that knows this, Lexi, so you better not tell anyone. Not even the girls. Dallas knows that he kissed me, but he doesn’t know about him telling me he loved me and everything, since he was drunk and all… But then we both fell asleep in my bed and I actually really, really liked it…”

Well, so much for her not saying it quickly… Luckily I heard all the important parts, which were just enough to get me so pissed off that I thought I was going to tear the store part.

But that was before Jordan continued.

“And… I think…” she started, and I was scared of what she was going to say next. “I think… I really love him, Lexi. I don’t want to, but I do. I don’t want to love him, because I know it’ll just end up in heartbreak on my part, but I do. I’m in love with him.”

“Jordan…” Lexi whispered, stopping herself and pausing as if she was trying to think of the right thing to say. She clamped her mouth shut when she thought of nothing. I didn’t blame her. I didn’t think I was able to speak either, but because of a completely different reason than hers.

Jordan walked passed another clothes rack, the one I was hiding behind, but I didn’t even bother moving. My entire body felt numb. I didn’t think I would be able to move. The girl I loved so much, more than anything, just confessed to her best friend how much she loved some other guy. Some other guy that wouldn’t even give her the time of day. I was willing to give her the world. I was willing to give her anything. I was willing to die for her. But she wouldn’t even look at me.

She immediately bashed right into me. She looked up, her beautiful brown eyes going wide when she saw who she had run into. I couldn’t help but wonder if she noticed I was furious. I hoped my face wasn’t red…

“Oh, no…” she gulped, looking at where I was and where Lexi and she had been for the talk they had just had. “How much did you hear?”

I tried to change my angry demeanor suddenly so she wouldn’t get suspicious, so I smirked like I always did when I was around her. As long as she thought I was a jerk, everything was perfectly fine…

“Just about all of it,” I grinned.

The horror in her face made my stomach turn, but I kept my smirk on my face.

She bit her lip, and I couldn’t help but find that incredibly sexy. It made me want to kiss her even more. She looked back at Lexi, who looked equally as freaked. I couldn’t help but wonder why she looked so freaked out.

My smirk grew even more. “I bet Dally’s girlfriend’s gonna love hearing this.”

I took off then, using my quickness to my advantage. I was surprised that Jordan didn’t immediately follow me, but it just gave me more of an advantage, and I got farther away from him and closer to Dallas. I had seen him at the food court…

If I told this asshole that Jordan liked him, he would reject her and it would all be over between them. There wouldn’t be any contact between them any longer. I wouldn’t have to deal with competing with him anymore.

I saw Dallas and his friends by the food court, and I started walking normally when I came into their view. Trinity was even there with them. That was even better. If I broke them up, Dallas would blame Jordan and they’d never talk to each other ever again. Just what I wanted.

“Hey, Dally,” I grinned the second I came up to him.

Dallas glared at me, but Trinity looked interested. “What do you want, Jacobsen?” he snapped

“I have some news for your girlfriend,” I informed him with my usual cocky grin.

I then recited exactly what Jordan had said, about how Dallas had kissed her and told her that he loved her on his birthday. At first I didn’t mention that he was drunk, but when I finally did, I made sure to remind this blonde bimbo that everyone’s true feelings come out when they’re drunk.

Trinity turned toward Dallas slowly, and I was waiting for her outburst. This was going to be so good…

“I can’t believe you!” she shouted, pushing herself up out of her seat. “That girl is fourteen-years-old! She’s just a kid! You go and kiss her? You tell her you love her? What about me, huh? You’ve never told me you loved me when you were drunk! Only when you were sober!”

Dallas said nothing. He looked like a scared little puppy. Ha!

“We’re over, Dallas!” was what Trinity shouted when I saw Jordan coming our way, and her eyes went wide when she heard what Trinity had shouted. I was surprised that she wasn’t happy that Trinity had just broken up with Dallas, but I guess she wasn’t really happy because of the circumstances…

I forced out my smirk, and Jordan looked like she really wanted to hit me. I didn’t blame her, since everything that was happening right then was my fault. But she had to see that Dallas wasn’t a good guy… and I wasn’t a good guy either.

When Dallas saw Jordan, his eyebrows furrowed at her. It pissed me off a little that he was looking at her that way. I couldn’t tell if it was out of anger or confusion. I sure hoped it was out of anger, because that would have been better for me. I knew that Dallas knew about kissing Jordan, but not telling her that he loved her…

Trinity stormed off, purposely ramming into Jordan’s shoulder as she did. Jordan stumbled, and I wanted to catch her. She didn’t fall, but I kind of wished that she did so I could have caught her. She was almost completely frozen as she glanced at all of Dallas’s friends that were standing behind him.

“Jordan was pretty excited when you told her you loved her,” I continued on now before anyone could stop me, my snide smirk still right on my face. “Because, you know, she likes you a lot.”

Anything to get him to reject her… Anything that would separate these two for good! I wasn’t about to tell Dallas that Jordan was in love with him, because I wasn’t that cruel. And I was afraid that if I told him that she was in love with him, he would somehow feel the same way and everything would be ruined.

Dallas’s friends started laughing like complete and total idiots, and I saw Jordan’s cheeks turn red. She kind of looked like an overcooked tomato. I had revealed her secret, and she was angry. People were laughing at her, and she was upset. She looked like she was about to fall over…

“Really, Jordan?” Dallas asked, his eyes widening at the gorgeous brunette girl that stood before us. “You like me?”

She was hyperventilating now. It was obvious. I was afraid that she was going to faint or something, and I was ready to jump into action and catch her if I had to. I wasn’t going to let her get hurt anymore. Especially not physically.

She looked at Dallas, and then to his laughing friends who were now shooting snide comments and sarcastic remarks about a freshman liking a senior. I really felt like punching their faces in, but I knew I couldn’t do that in front of Jordan. I knew who I was going to be putting on Hunter’s list of people to beat up later…

Jordan’s eyes immediately turned puffy and red, tears brimming her bottom eyelids.

Shit. I didn’t want her to cry!

Tears fell down her face, and I didn’t know what to do. She took one look at Dallas, then at me, and then at Dallas’s stupid friends before taking off, away from us all.

Before Dallas could turn toward me, I took off as well. I didn’t feel like getting in a fight right then when I was all alone. I might have been a good runner, but I had only been in the gang for a few months. I still wasn’t that great when it came to fighting just yet. I still needed to work on that. And I really didn’t need to do anything else anyway. I had done enough damage already.

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I feel like Jesse was kind of out of character in this chapter. What did you think? Do you agree with what he did or disagree? Are you on his side or are you against him? Was he being too bitchy or was he acting rationally? (LOL xD)

The infamous chapter... It's kind of weird writing it when I've been writing about it for so long.

Told you there was going to be a major time skip. ;D Four months to be exact... <.< >.>

It's surprising that I uploaded, right? I mean, it's been only five days and not three weeks... I told you I'm trying to get back to my five to six day pattern! :D

Please COMMENT, VOTE, and FAN! <3