Stubbornly Falling in Love

Chapter 24

Since last night, I had been floating on air. I spent the night at Jared's, but mostly because we hung out with Joey and Brandon. We all spent the night watching a movie together in the living room, which I finally had the chance to see. It was huge, almost like the size of a movie theater room, and the flat-screen television was to die for. We spent the night watching a variety of comedies, including one of my all-time-favs, White Chicks. 

Jared and I cuddled on the couch; Jared had wrapped his arms around me as I snuggled into his chest. Joey, on the other hand, was laying on the other side of Jared's shoulder and Brandon sat on the floor, his back against the couch. When Joey and Brandon both fell asleep, Jared and I talked for most of the night. 

Jared told me about the help he was offering Joey. Mostly that he promised Joey he would give him the bail money as long as he wouldn't talk to his father again, which I one-thousand-percent agreed with. Joey should never talk to that jerk again.

Jared also told me about what happened between Lucas; he felt like it was something he had to tell me, espeically now that we were dating.

"Valerie?" Jared hushed, as his arm held onto me. 

"Yeah?"

"I have to tell you what happened between me and Lucas." He whispered. We were trying to be quiet, espeically since Joey had fallen asleep on Jared's right shoulder and Brandon was asleep nearby; it was actually adorable. I'm glad that Jared had such good friends. They kind of remind me of the relationship I had with Anthony and Cleo; they were two people I would legit die for. 

"Tell me," as I snuggled my head into his chest.

"You might change your view on me, though, when I tell you." He whispered. I looked at him to find his expression changed; he was worried now. Something seriously bad must have gone down between them.

"Jared," I took hold of his chin in my fingers, "there is nothing you could do that would change the way I feel about you."

"I don't know..." he uttered.

"Jared, tell me." I pleaded.

"Okay...Lucas and I used to be really good friends, to be honest. Actually, he was one of my closest friends." He whispered. This was beginning to sound like a story that Jared should have probably told me in another room, without Joey and Brandon around, but they were both sound asleep. 

"Back when I was, you know, not the best guy," he continued, "he and I used to play these games."

"What kind of games?" I asked. The pit of my stomach felt uneasy. Knowing Lucas like I did now, the games they must have played were, most likely, no joke.

"The kind of games that could ruin someone's life." He breathed.

"Oh," I let out.

"We, um, w-we used to go to parties together and play this game called Lovers-or-Labors. Or LL, as he liked to call it. But, it really should have been called "how many blows could you get in a night?"

My stomach was now turning; I suddenly felt like my heart was going to drop. 

"Basically, the goal of the game was to see how many sexual favors you could get near the end of the night, " Jared gulped as he continued, "and whoever got the most would win."

"But that's not even the worst part." He added. Oh God, there's more?

"The winner would have to chose the ultimate prize of the night, so basically the person they wanted to sleep with. The loser would have to sleep with the ugliest person in the room."