"Dude now we even have confirmation that Penny likes you... You should really go for her, man." sometimes it seemed like Andrew liked her more than me. He was all about how I should go for Penny.
"Andy listen," I kinda lost my nerve, "I told you I don't wanna date Penny. Besides, I'm not sure if I wanna date anyone..."
"Whut-- why?" he asked.
"Parents... You know what happened about Stella, right?" I said, getting nervous.
"Yeah you told me about it.." he got a little serious, "that bastard Peter sure did screw you up."
"Yeah.. I just don't wanna get scolded again." I said.
"But bro, if you just keep ignoring your feelings like this, someone else is gonna try their luck on those girls."
"Yeah I know.."
"Look, Ray," he moved a bit closer to me, "you've got two choices. One is the super hot girl who likes you back, and then there's this cringy childhood love thingy that's keeping you tangled with this girl who doesn't even like you in that way... Like man, accept it. You're best friends, not lovers."
I didn't reply. I didn't want to.
...
It was all my fault. If I hadn't tried going after Penny, she would never have developed feelings for me. What's more, I didn't feel that way about her anymore, but I didn't even want to hurt her. I was damn confused. Like I really wanted Serena, but I didn't want to hurt Penny either. This was all a big mess.
...
"Serena, what's wrong?" I asked as I sat backwards on the bench in front of hers, so that I could face her. Serena was off the past few days. She was different from the Serena I had known.
"Nothing,"she said, looking down as she took a bite from her tiffin, "why?"
"I just felt you were off..." I said, still concerned.
"I wanted to ask you something..." she said, looking up.
"Yeah of course, go on."
"Do you talk to Peter now?" she asked.
"Yes." I replied as I felt something tug at my chest. I didn't like this. Why did she even care about him? Peter and I had started to talk more once again for the past few weeks or so, but why was she asking about him?
"How's he? Does he talk about me?" she asked.
"He's fine, and no, he doesn't talk about you." I replied.
"And does he-" I interrupted her.
"I'm sorry I need to go." I said as I got up and turned to leave.
"No, wait!" she said, but I was already gone.
...
Why did she even care about him? Like he literally dumped her and she still wants to know what he's up to? What the hell?
All this was making my heart sink. I couldn't see her with someone else, and Peter? Never again.
YOU ARE READING
The Ocean
RomanceA teenager's brain is a mess. Anxiety. Overthinking. Everything seems to be against them. Raymond's problems got worse though. He fell for his best friend.
