Bet Me

Chapter 17

James’ Point of View

“Well, I’d be upset if I were her to but she over-reacted.” She told me. “Um, yeah, sure.”  I said. I couldn’t bring myself to tell her what else happened. If she knew what else I had said, she’d understand why Carly was upset. “So, are you guys like officially broken up?” she asked me. “I don’t know. Maybe.” I answer. “Are you sad?” she asks me. “Umm, not really. I never really wanted to date her. I just did because my ex-best friend said I should.” I tell her. “Then why were you with her so long?! That’s not fair to her.” She exclaimed. “No, it’s not like I never liked her. It’s just, at first, I didn’t know her but once I got to know her, she was a lot of fun. The first few months we were together, I really enjoyed the relationship. It’s just recently, since the beginning of the year, I began losing interest in her.” I say to her, wondering if she’ll hear my hint.

“Oh.” She said. We stood in silence for a few minutes before I spoke. “What going on between you and Luke?” I ask her. She just shrugs. “Are you guys together or something?” I ask, hoping to get a more definite answer. “I don’t know.” She answers me. “Well, do you like him?” I ask her. “Yes.” She answers. I turned and looked at her.  She also turned and looked back at me. God, she’s so beautiful I think to myself. I wanted to tell her everything and hold her close to me but she just told me that she likes my best friend.  Why does love have to be so complicated? I think to myself. “Do you like me?” I ask her. She looked away from me and shrugged. “Do you like me?” she asks me. I hesitated for a second and answered. “No. We’re just friends.”

She continued staring out into the backyard, letting my words sink in. “Yeah. Just friends.” she repeated.  I could hear the sadness in her voice and I almost took back what I said, but I couldn’t. She deserved someone better than me. She deserved someone that would be drama free. She deserved someone with no excess baggage, especially not as big as mine. “Well, I’m going to go now.” she says, walking towards the door. She avoids looking at me directly. “Why? I thought you were sleeping here tonight?” I ask, reaching towards her. She pulled back from me and it took me every ounce in my body not to grab her and kiss her. “Um, I don’t think so. I told Luke I’d be staying with him tonight.” “Oh, okay. See you tomorrow, Friend.” I say, forcing out the ‘friend’ part. “Okay. Good night…..Friend.” She says turning away from me. I could tell she was upset but hey, it would make it easier for Luke to slide in and comfort her.

As soon as she left my room, I walked back inside my room. I stared at the door for several minutes fighting the urge to go after her. I took a seat on the edge of my bed and began arguing with myself. Why did you say that! You know you love her! Why would you just let her walk out of your room like that? A voice in my head said. Because I’m an idiot and she deserves better. Another voice answers. I spend an extra few minutes in the shower before I finally got out. I put on my sweatpants and got into bed. Ever since Elena and I made the bet, I’ve had so much fun hanging out with her. She is so nice and funny. She always puts a smile on my face. Ever since we started spending more time together, I began missing her whenever she wasn’t near. Especially these past few days. Having Carly here meant that she didn’t spend the night, here with me. She hasn’t slept in here since she heard that Carly was coming. She’s barely spoken to me. I wish things were a lot simpler. I thought to myself.

“I should tell her the truth.” I said out loud. I got up from the bed and walked to the door. I opened it slightly when I heard voices in the other part of the house. I turned off my bedroom lights and opened the door a little farther so I could hear the voices. I recognized Elena’s and Sierra’s voices and I began listening into their conversation.

“Well, good night.” Elena said. After a few seconds, I heard Sierra say, “Is everything alright? I might have been listening to ya’ll’s conversation.” Elena pauses for a second and said “Yeah. Everything is fine.” “You know you can tell me anything.” Sierra says. “Yeah, I know. I just don’t have anything to say. He said he doesn’t like me and that’s it.” I hear Elena say. If only you knew I thought to myself. “You know he’s lying.” Sierra says. “I don’t care.” “Yes you do.” Sierra interrupts Elena.“Well, even if I do, it doesn’t matter anymore. I’ve liked James since freshman year and neither of us has made a move. Luke on the other hand, he’s sitting there saying that he likes me but if I prefer James, he’ll still be happy.” Elena says, sounding exasperated.