you belong with me | c.w. ✓

five [It's kind of a long story.]

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f i v e

"It's kind of a long story."

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"Ooh, let's play kiss, marry, kill," Maggie suggested, grabbing another handful of popcorn.

Zoe raised her eyebrows. "Isn't it supposed to be fu-"

"Shut up! I don't want to scare Riley the first time she's sleeping over with us."

I laughed. "Oh, don't worry, I'm used to it."

"Still," Maggie said, laughing. "Okay Zoe, out of Zac Efron, Louis Tomlinson, and Dylan O'Brien, who would you kiss, marry, or kill?"

Zoe thought for a moment, then said, "Kiss- Zac Efron, duh. Marry - Louis, and kill - Dylan."

Raegan gasped overdramatically. "You did not just say that. Dylan is the love of my life, and frankly I'm disappointed you don't know that after eight years of friendship."

I smirked. "Are you sure you don't mean Jaden?"

Her face turned red, and she threw a pillow at me. "Shut up, we're just friends."

Scoffing, I said, "Yeah, and Shawn Mendes isn't the most gorgeous person on the planet. Let's be real."

"Well, as long as we're 'being real,' why don't you tell us what's going on between you and Cole?" Raegan smirked.

"For the last time, nothing is going on. We're just friends, and besides, even if there was something, nothing would happen."

Zoe reached for the popcorn bowl and glanced curiously at me. "Why not?"

I sighed. "It's kind of a long story."

Raegan shrugged. "We've got time."

Taking a deep breath, I began to explain. "So I have this thing, like a vow, I guess. It's basically a promise to never date one of Jaden's friends."

They looked confused. "Why?" Zoe asked.

"Last summer, I started spending a lot of time with one of his friends. His best friend, actually. I started to have feelings for him, and he did too, so we started dating. And Jaden was totally fine with it, I mean, yeah he wasn't too thrilled about his best friend dating his sister, but he didn't really care. Then, three months later, I found out he was cheating on me. So obviously we broke up. But I didn't tell Jaden that he cheated; I said it was my fault, that I was the one who wanted to end it. I know I should have told him the truth, I just didn't want to ruin their friendship. Turns out it didn't matter, because the guy ended up ditching Jaden anyway - because of me. Jaden still blames me for ruining their friendship, so he made me promise to never date any of his friends again."

I looked up at the girls, who all looked shocked.

Raegan was the first to speak. "But why wouldn't you tell Jaden that he cheated on you? He can't blame you if he knows the truth."

Zoe nodded. "And I get that you didn't want to ruin their friendship, but he shouldn't be friends with a guy like that anyway, no matter what happened between you two."

Sighing, I ran my hand through my hair. "I know I should have told him. But if I tell him now, he'll just think I'm lying so he won't get mad if I say I have feelings for Cole."

"Well, do you have feelings for Cole?" Maggie asked.

I hesitated, thinking over my answer. "I'm not sure. Obviously I like him as a friend, but I've only known him for less than a month. I don't know yet if it's anything more." Yet as I said this, all I could think about was the 'moment' we had several days ago, when we fell asleep together during the movie.