Knowing Me, Knowing You

Waterloo

"I'm sorry I didn't answer right away," Ryan said over the phone as Jessica walked back to her car. "I was at the movies, and I had to turn my ringer off."

"You don't like going to the movies. You'd rather watch them at home," Jessica slowly said before gasping. "Don't tell me you're on a date!"

"No, no," Ryan laughed. "Regina wanted to see that new Jane Austin movie, and I thought it looked good too, so I figured what the hell?"

Jessica sat in her car, staring dumbly out the windshield. "Regina? Isn't that Carter's best friend?"

"Yeah? So?"

"Nothing. I'm just...surprised you would want to hang out with her since she's the friend of the enemy."

"Again, Carter is not my enemy. Xander made his choice long ago, and I should have respected it better. That's it. Honestly. I'm happy for them. Now, why did you call me?"

Jessica inhaled sharply as she attempted to fight off the new wave of tears. She let out a whimper, prompting Ryan into high alert.

"Jess, what's wrong?"

"Trevor broke up with me."

"Meet me at my house. I'll be there in ten."

Jessica sat in Ryan's living room, waiting for him to return home. He said he'd be ten minutes, but it was more around twenty. The moment he burst through the door, Jessica jumped up and hugged him. He led her up to his room and sat on his bed, allowing her to cuddle on his lap and into his chest.

"I just don't understand what I did wrong," she exhaled, unable to cry anymore. Ryan rubbed her back, and she cuddled further into his chest. "Things were going so well. I thought we were going to move in to an apartment together and get married and have a family."

"Maybe he does want all that, but he's just scared. College is a scary time, and we don't know what's going to happen next. He might just need some time to figure it out," Ryan encouraged.

"Dante said something similar to that," she muttered.

"You saw Dante?"

"I ran into him before I came over." She looked up at him and glared. "You were late, by the way."

"I had to drop Regina off, and her mom was talking to me while I was trying to leave the parking lot," he chuckled. "She literally had to drag her mom away for me."

A strange sense of jealousy formed in Jessica's chest, something she didn't like thinking about. She was happy Ryan made a new friend, but there was something about him wanting to spend time with Regina that seemed off. She assumed it was because Regina like Ryan, and now that Trevor and her were no longer dating, she was jealous that her best friend had someone to be with. She hated the feeling.

"But what did he say?" Ryan asked.

"Said something about him not wanting to hold me back. That he wouldn't want me to give up my scholarship to Notre Dame just to follow him to Chicago."

"Well, then, maybe that's the case," he encouraged. "I bet that if you two still remain friends and stay close even through college, you two will be back together in four years and have the family you want."

"But what if that's not the reason?"

"Why wouldn't it be?"

"Because if that was the case, he would have told me that was why," she insisted. "He would have been direct and told me that he wanted me to go to school out there and that a long distance relationship would be too much work and that he'd want me to enjoy my time there. Instead, he just told me he can't see a future with me...and he didn't even bother to tell me why."