Relationship With My Boyfriends Best Friend

Chapter 11.

Lunch is tense. At least for me. On one hand, I have Jace who seems to take every chance he can get to look at me or touch me in some way. For example, when I reached for pasta salad, he just so happened to think to put his hand out at that exact time. Subsequently knocking knuckles with me. On the other hand I have Eric who keeps trying to reel me in with his gaze as a type of method to get me to talk. And then, on the third hand that I do not have literally, is Caleb. He's watching Eric, watching him reach for a biscuit, watching him take a drink of lemonade, and watching him chew.

I can deal with that one. The other two are quite harder to handle due to the fact that I'm having mixed feelings.

What Jace and I did - what I did - was wrong. I have a boyfriend despite the tension between the two of us, and I had no right to be so close to another man. I've never done anything of the sorts. I don't know what I was thinking, but I do know it'll never happen again. That's not who I am. I know that Eric will look past our differences, and that'll be that. I have faith in us.

"Isn't that right, baby?" My mom is speaking. I snap my gaze to her and she's smiling at me. What did she say?

"Oh - uh," I swallow, my cheeks filling with red. "What was it that you said, again? I zoned out."

I feel both Eric and Jace looking at me and I squirm under the attention.

"You are working on that research paper about 'Women's say', that's going good?" My mom clarifies, a bit of questioning in her eyes as she stares at me.

"Oh yeah," I peppily say. "It's going great. So far I've had a few sources back up my claim. Some students and some politicians. It's going great."

And we delve into the topic.

•••

"-My family?" Braylee looks up from the red card.

Aunt Brittni raises her eyebrows, looking around the room as if we don't already know it was her that put down the card.

"I can see where the love is," Braylee scowls.

"What?" Aunt Brittni asks, incredulously. I laugh, for the first time today. You better bet that when you're around the Long family you'll get to that point.

"You think we're leeches?" Uncle Jackson eyes his wife with a look of disdain and confusion.

She rolls her eyes. "Well, the kids take all my money, and you seem to suck on me-"

"Okay!" My dad stands up, a drink in his hand as he holds his other one up in a "stop" gesture. "It's guy time."

Brittni rolls her eyes at the mention of the private time for all the grown men.

"Ooo!" My uncle James jumps up with a grin, clapping his hands. "I love guy time!"

And he runs past my dad towards the stairs where his office slash man cave is. Jackson throws his hands up and walks behind James.

"Looks like its 'girl time' then," my mom waves her hands in mock.

As the older women leave, the teenagers are left and I can feel the heavy silence fall amongst us. Usually, it's never like this. Conversation usually immediately starts up due to the fact that the elders have left the room, and yet here we are. Silent.

"Well," Caleb leans back on the couch, his arms swinging out to rest against the back. "This is awkward."

I shoot him a glare and Eric just looks uncomfortable. Go talk to him you coward. Maybe what you heard isn true.