Bet Me

Chapter 19

 “You won the bet.” He says to me. I don’t know how to respond. Last night, he told me that we were only friends but now, he admits that I won the bet? What is going on? The moment I thought I could move on and be happy is ruined. “What?” I say. “You won the bet. I was wrong and you were right.” He says again. “What the hell James! Why do you keep doing this?!” I say, throwing my hands up in exasperation.

I turned around and began stomping back towards the house. “Are you mad at me?” James asks me sounding confused. I stopped walking and turned towards him. “Yes. I’m mad that you can’t make up your mind. I’m mad that you keep messing with my heart. And most of all, I’m mad at myself for wanting you over the guy who actually cares about me.” “What are you talking about? I care about you too.” He says to me, reaching out his hand.

I step back away from him before he could touch me. “No James. No you don’t. You care about Carly. If you cared about me, you would have told me this earlier.” I say to him. “I don’t care about Carly. All I want is you. I’ve wanted you since the beginning of our bet.” He says to me. I sigh and look at James. His eyes seemed so sincere but I couldn’t understand why he didn’t tell me earlier if he liked me so much.

“If you felt that way then you should have told me earlier.” I say to him. “I didn’t want to lose the bet.” He says to me. “That’s the problem James. If you really cared about me, you wouldn’t have minded losing the bet.” I tell him. “Well I’m telling you now. I’m throwing the bet.” He says, stepping closer to me.

“It’s a little late for that.” I say, laughing a humorless laugh. “What? Why?” he asks. I tilted my head to the side and looked at James. “You know why.” I tell him. At the same moment, Luke opened the door to the backyard and yelled to us. “If ya’ll want something to eat, ya’ll better come in now.” James turned to look at Luke and everything clicked. I noticed his face go from confused to grim. He turned and looked back at me. Neither me or James responded to Luke.

“Is everything alright Elena?” Luke shouts out to me. “Yeah. We’ll be there in a minute.” I shout back to him without taking my eyes off James. I heard Luke say okay but it took a few minutes before I heard the door to the backyard close.

Since it seemed that James had nothing else to say, I turned and began to walk away from him. Before I could get far, James grabbed my arm and pulled me to him. He put one hand on my waist and the other was still on my arm. He looked down into my eyes. “I think I love you.” He says softly, his eyes silently pleading me.

I look up at him and I felt a familiar pang of butterflies in my stomach. Although I’ve been waiting for this moment since freshman year, I knew that I had to do the right thing. I couldn’t just drop Luke and go after James. I looked away from James and I heard him sigh a resigned sigh. “I’m sorry James.” I say. He lets go of me and steps back.

“If you would have told me earlier, things would be different.” I say to him. He was looking everywhere but at me. I tried to place my hand on his arm but he moved away from my touch. When he finally looked back at me, I saw that his expression had become distant. His eyes had a resigned look to them.

I wanted to reach out and give him a big hug but I knew that I shouldn’t send him any mixed signals. He walked past me and headed into the house. I followed him in and watched him reject the plate that Luke held out to him. He grabbed his car keys and walked right out the front door. When he slammed the door, all the chatter in the house stopped and everyone stared at the door.

“What’s wrong with him?” Luke asks me. “Nothing. He just needed to go get something.”  I answer him. “I’m going to run to the bathroom first.” I tell Luke, handing him back the plate he gave me. “Okay.” He says, smiling at me. I returned the smile and turned away from him and headed to the bathroom. Once I entered the bathroom, I turned on the faucet and began to mindlessly wash my hands. While I was drying my hands, I heard a tap on my door.

I opened it slightly and saw Sierra standing there. “I’m coming in.” she says to me. I open the door and let her in. “Come in why don’t you. It’s always better to share a bathroom.” I say to her sarcastically. “Shut up Elena.” Sierra says rolling her eyes at me. “So what happened with James?” she asks me. “I told him about Luke and he got pissed.” I answer simply.

Sierra just nods her head. “It’s funny how you’ve wanted him for so long but when he wants you, you have someone else.” She says. “The irony of love.” I say laughing. Sierra nods her head in agreement. “Okay, let’s get back out there before all the food is gone.” I say to Sierra opening the bathroom door. “Plus, it looks weird that me and you are sitting in the bathroom together. It makes it seem like we can’t be separated long enough to use the bathroom.” I say to her as we walk out the bathroom. We return to the living room laughing, as if nothing had happened a few minutes ago.