I Almost Killed My Crush's Mom

Chapter 23:: Video Game Victory

Chapter 23// Video Game Victory

One thing plagues my mind for the rest of the day.

What does Jesse want to find out? Is it about me?

Is it about Rita and Everett's relationship?

Why is everyone lying to me?

I consider this for a second, curling up further into the couch. Rita and Everett are dating secretly. I saw Rita and Jesse arguing about it in front of the party. What if they're planning something? What if Rita is asking my crush to get me off her trail, because I'm the only one who knows that she's seeing both guys? I bet she's fed Jesse lies, and I can't help but curl my fists at that thought. I'm a selfless person. In fact, I'd say that I've done a list of pretty selfless, kind things so far this year. I've been spending day after day helping Jennifer. I practically won my crush his love back, for Pete's sake! However, there's only so much hurting myself that I can do. When I feel like everyone is keeping secrets around me, I don't think I can take any more. Even my own brother is hiding something.

When Jesse and I almost kissed this morning...was that a tool too? Is everything around me a lie?

I speak to the only person that I know I can trust. My mom.

"What's the matter sweetie?" She asks, hugging me into the crook of her arm. She's back from the studio early tonight- apparently her latest project is almost complete, so she's in a great mood. She happened to stumble in on me shovelling food into my mouth and watching The Notebook earlier, which obviously alerted her that something was wrong with me. Now she's trying to coax it out of me, by giving me a hug on the couch and feeding me chocolate.

Not that I'm complaining about the latter.

My mom and I aren't close enough for me to tell her all my secrets anymore, seeing as I guess I've kind of grown out of that dependence, and I have Everett to trust instead. Yet, when I need her, my mom is always there to listen, even if it's about something petty or stupid. It's probably one of the things I love best about her: that she respects my privacy, but still cares. "I don't know what to do," I sniff, curling my legs up next to hers and leaning into her shoulder. She smells of paint, and something faintly musky but they are smells that are familiar to me, comforting even. "I feel like everyone is lying around me. Everybody has secrets. Things they haven't said."

"Who might this be about?" She murmurs, rubbing her hand down my arm comfortingly.

"Everett is a main one," I sigh, "He has a secret girlfriend that he hasn't told me about. I think it is Rita Hall. She's one of the girls I've recently made friends with...and she's also the girl that Jesse likes." I groan and take another mouthful of chocolate. "See what I mean? It's a mess."

"I can imagine it's hard," Mom nods, "You're a very open book, my girl, but other people aren't quite as welcoming as you are. Everett is in a difficult stage in his life. I'm sure he has a reason for not telling you; he tells you everything! If he hasn't said anything, then he probably just likes this girl a little more than usual. That's enough to scare a boy this age a hell of a lot." I can't help but sigh as I hear this. That sounds an awful lot like something my brother would do. Scared of commitment.

"It's not just that though," I sniff, "You know I like Jesse, well..."I glance at my mom. Should a daughter be telling her mother this? Ah screw it: I need to get everything off my chest, "Well we almost kissed this morning. I think we would've if it wasn't for a cashier. I didn't know what to do afterwards, because I'd been told by Rita that the pair were going on a date in the afternoon, so I ran. Turns out, Rita and Jesse didn't go on a date after all. They were at some kind of meeting," I spit the word out viciously. "They were talking about me...about how Rita lied to me."