Episode 23

EPISODE TWENTY-THREE

A few days turned into a whole week, Brooke called many times but I didn’t pick it up even once, I just want to think about things and decide what I want to do, I did cry but after that, I just felt sad. I trusted Brooke but it seems like my trust was nothing to her…

I went back to school the following week.

“How’ve you been?” Jamie asked during one of our classes

I shrugged “fine”

“You don’t sound fine”

“Really? I haven’t noticed” I said sarcastically

“You’re being sarcastic” Jamie commented “Now I’m sure you’re not fine”

“It’s been only a week Jamie, of course I’m still not fine”

“Yeah but it’s not like you and Brooke have been together for years”

“I know that, I guess I’m just bummed” I said “I’ve already fallen for her then she does this!” I continued “I’ve had relationships before but I’ve never been once cheated on so I don’t know what to do”

Jamie spoke “I suggest you go talk to Brooke about this and try to fix things or at least end things properly”

“That’s not an easy thing to do”

“Dude, nothing in life is ever easy”

I sighed, I hate it when Jamie’s right…

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Since I have a 30-minute vacant time, I decided to go to the library and read. I kinda want to be in a quiet place for a while so I can rearrange my thoughts

I was reading Greek mythology when I heard someone pull out the chair in front of me. I looked and saw Arden, she then gave me a warm smile.

“Hey” she quietly spoke

I put down the book, “hey” and I smiled slightly at her “thanks again for bringing me home when I got drunk”

“No problem, you did the same before so I guess this makes us even” she said “Have you talked to her?”

“No, but I plan to, later”

Arden became quiet for a bit then she stared at me and asked “are you getting back together with her?”

“I don’t know” I answered ”right now, I just want to clear things with her”

Then my phone started ringing, I looked at it and saw Brooke’s name flashing on the screen

“Speaking of the devil” I said and put my cell phone on the table and watched it as it continued ringing

“Are you gonna answer that?“ Arden asked

I shook my head “I’m just gonna send her a text later, I want her to explain to me everything personally”

Arden stared at me “what about you and I?”

I looked at her “I may have fallen for Brooke but my heart never stopped loving you and it always will” I said “but with you leaving in two weeks, I don’t think us being in a relationship is the best choice. I just don’t want to fuck up whatever we have right now”

“I understand” she replied “when you settle things with Brooke, can we make my remaining weeks here as fun and memorable as possible?”

I smirked “challenge accepted”

She smiled and stood but before leaving, she called my name and said “my heart will always love you too”

I smiled at her and Arden left the library

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I did text Brooke earlier, I told her to go meet me at the park at 4 pm, so right now I’m on my way.

I walked around the park and saw Brooke sitting at the park bench so I approached her, when she saw me, she quickly stood

After almost two weeks of not talking and seeing each other, here we are now, face to face. Time to know the truth

“I’m sorry” Brooke sadly spoke

“I know you are” I replied and sighed “I just want to know everything so just tell me”

“If you think I did this on purpose, I didn’t Nicky, He just happened to be there, we talked, got drunk and one thing lead to another and I woke up beside him”

“Yeah but you told me you’ll go home early but you didn’t”

“To be honest, I didn’t plan on going home early, I figured I’ll just explain things the next day. I never knew that this one small lie would lead to us falling apart” Brooke continued “and I regretted that night Nicky, I still regret it now, I risked our relationship for something I thought was just for fun”

Brooke then moved closer to me, took my hand and put my half of our necklace on my palm and closed my hand

“I will never do that again Nicky, I love you, please forgive me and give me a second chance” Brooke said with pleading eyes “give us a second chance…”

I looked at the necklace then at Brooke, “I forgive you Brooke…” I said “but the thing is I can’t trust you anymore, I trusted you wholeheartedly but you didn’t value that…”

I then took her hand and gave back the necklace “and even if we try, we won’t be able to fix this, so to avoid any more pains and regrets, let’s just end things here, okay?”

I slowly turned and walked away but Brooke ran after me

“It’s Arden isn’t it!?” Brooke shouted, her voice cracking a bit

I stopped, looked back and saw Brooke crying

“I’m not stupid Nicky. I know you still have feelings for Arden even after we became a couple!” she said, trying to stop herself from crying “and I know that even if I didn’t cheat on you’ll still break up with me so you could be with her!”

“I do have feelings for Arden but I didn’t think about leaving you because believe it or not, I loved you” I said

“You loved me?” she spoke

“Of course I did Brooke, We’ve only been together for a short time but I did love you and when I finally decided to be with you and forget Arden altogether, you decided to hurt me instead” I wistfully looked at Brooke “I never thought you could make me feel that way, I guess I was wrong…”

and I turned around and continued walking, this time Brooke didn’t follow

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I walked home slowly, just taking in the evening air. I arrived and found Jamie at my door step

“Hey you!” Jamie called out and smiled

“Hey yourself” I grinned “what are you doing here?”

“I was just passing by and I got hungry, so I figured I could crash here and have dinner”

I laughed and opened the door, translation: I want to know how you’re doing and if you talked to Brooke yet and I’m really hungry

I went to the door and opened it “Be thankful I’m your best friend” I smirked

“Thank you, now let’s eat” and Jamie went directly to my fridge and I just laughed

I also do the same thing when I’m at her house, Jamie and I are so freaking alike, I swear we’re fraternal twins that are separated at birth

I sat at the living room and opened the TV, after a few minutes of ransacking my fridge, Jamie came to the living room, tossed me a can of soda, sat next to me and opened the big bag of chips she’s holding and we watched TV

“By the way, this is your last bag of chips” she said while eating

“Remind me to get chips at your house tomorrow” I said “and six more cans of soda”

“Noted” Jamie said “that reminds me, have you talked to Brooke yet?”

“Yep, we talked earlier”

“And?”

“And I broke it off officially”

“That’s good” she commented

I looked at her with a what-the-hell expression on my face

She noticed it and smirked “You know what I meant beside I never really liked her that much so yeah”

I shook my head a bit, Jamie’s always been frank with me

“And what about you and Arden, where does this leave you two?” she asked again, with a hint of seriousness

“Friends? I don’t know. I want to be with her so badly but she’s leaving in 2 weeks, I don’t want us to end up like those couples who decided to call it quits after a few months of being apart” I said “and that’s only months, Arden and I will be apart for two years!”

“You know, it’s funny that Arden thinks the same way you do” Jamie smiled “She loves you so much that she’s afraid of losing you because you’ll be apart for a few years” she continued “but I think even if you two are apart for centuries you’ll still love each other wholeheartedly”

I stared at Jamie, she’s a real joker sometimes and she a very happy-go-lucky girl but once she realized something, she never hesitates to tell me what she thinks about it and she never did lie about those kinds of things

“She even took good care of you when you got drunk!” Jamie commented “heck she even sang to you while you’re asleep!”

I jerked my head “she sang to me?”

Jamie nodded “you two actually look like a scene from a chick flick and I have to admit, it looked so sweet”

She sang to me? “Whoa wait a sec, how did you know that?”

“Because I was here” she said “actually I was about to leave then I heard her sing, you never told me she had a beautiful voice, you two should do a duet sometimes”

Jamie smiled and finished her can, she then stood, “I gotta go, it’s getting late, see you tomorrow”

”Hold on a sec, you’re not gonna leave me hanging” I quickly pulled her shirt before she could walk out “you have to tell me what other things happened that day and what song did she sang!?”

Jamie smirked “that’s for me to know and for you to find out…by asking Arden!” she then quickly pulled her shirt from my hand and ran straight outside, laughing. I tried to catch her but she’s a fast runner so she was pretty far away but I can still hear her laughter

And I just found myself giggling

“You are a freaking tease!!” I shouted at her

“One of my best characteristics!!!” she yelled back and continued running away

I laughed out loud and went back inside the house