Hearts ✓

Twenty - One 💕

All I ever wanted was the truth

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Jake jogged away at some point. My ear was pasted with thick, unremovable glue on the door, a force holding me into place, I was shivering slightly. Would I be scared to see Jake if I had opened the door and he was still leaning on the opposite end? Just do it, my brain calmed me, so I did just that. I briskly opened, and slightly yanked the door open and drove towards the only place that I could possibly run into Darren.

School.

The drive isn't long, there aren't any clogged roads because the entire population of Narven High doesn't seem to want to linger longer at school than they already have to, so when I find myself face to face with one car in the entire lot, I call myself lucky. The navy blue car that my attention was stuck onto was Darren's, the last student left in this school.

It was one hour after school ended, and while I had crossed my fingers, praying, that Darren would somehow be here for no particular reason, I was beginning to ask why. Darren was one of those average-type kids. Not too enthusiastic about school, but not rock-bottom, either, so all possibilities of asking for extra work, or extra credit, have been allegedly eliminated.

Darren isn't anything like what people claim him to be, and although I didn't have any interest in unveiling more of his true personality, I needed the truth, the raw words. Unedited, unfiltered.

"Darren!" I call out to a lone figure wearing a dark hoodie. The hood is up, covering his hair and face, but I'm certain it's Darren. The figure also wore dark jeans and black boots. Slowly, the words were eating me up, the figure didn't respond immediately as my mind started spinning burning questions of who this person might be. Is this a burglar, could this be Jake?

Before I could come up with more controversial topics, the figure had spun around immediately at my consistent shouting, a habit I had learned from Jake.

It was Darren."H-How" He stuttered.

"Darren," I murmur. "You are going to tell me the truth. Right here, right now."

Photography isn't quite my hobby, but when I see the colors teal, and white fusing like an illustration of salt and water dissipating on his face, it almost makes me appreciate the art. Darren's face is pale, and he's taking slow steps backward, putting a safe distance between us before he begins speaking.

Narven High is generally empty by now, at this hour. Besides us, there are no more students, a huge portion of teachers seem to have headed out already, and the guards are heading back to the guardhouse to lock up, so it doesn't quite make sense to me why Darren is looking around for suspects for a possible eavesdropper. Maybe he's stalling, or likely bracing himself for what was to come, but either way, he starts.

"Are you pertaining to Jake."

I make slight nod and for a second I swear I hear Darren swear simultaneously in eight different languages. This boy was certainly talented with his tongue. He could talk his way out of things and say the same, fluently, in different languages.

"Fine. What he said wasn't true. I saw you and two other girls, and I made sure that he would tear a hole in your heart, and kind of make you quit, but of course, that didn't happen." He sighs. "What Will said about Lauren wasn't planned though."

"What do you mean what he said?" I asked. "Didn't he just call her dumb, like he always does?"

He swears once more, this time in Italian, "I hate you."

I flash him a cheeky smile. "I know."

"After you girls left, Jake and I were the only ones who noticed, Will started rampaging about Lauren was the biggest joke he'd ever done, and continued saying more shit about her."

I paced my breathing, attempting to relax my now furious brain. I couldn't take it out on Darren though, he was finally telling me something I needed to know.

As I open my mouth to ask another question, Darren speaks up before me. "Jake asked me how you knew about the event, and this alarmed me, so whatever you saw was my doing. I changed the entire lineup, and I staged what Jake would say about you.

"One more thing, Darren," I ask. "What was the event for?"

"We were celebrating Jake's birthday." A small cluster of tears clouded his eyes. "And I made him break the heart he was starting to love on his birthday."

"I-I."

"Callie, I knew Jake was going to lose a week in on the dare. But I don't think it's just Jake that's going to lose." Darren turns to face me. "I think both of you are."

"Why aren't you out to kill me then. Aren't you afraid of Jake losing."

"Callie, as heartless as you try to picture me as, if my best friend is in love, he should keep it. Some of us have never had it."

"Darren."

A buzzing sound interrupts our reluctant conversation. The source of the sound is identified to be Darren's phone as takes it out to answer, however, before he does accept it, he puts his finger to his lips motioning me to keep silent throughout.

Nodding, he answers the call, and I instantly recognize the voice on the other line.

"Darren." The mysteriously familiar voice laments. "Why."

"Jake."

"No, Darren, you don't understand," Jake whispers. "She forgave me. She did."

"Then why do you sound so dejected?"

"Nothing is ever going to be the same. Callie's never going to forgive me."

My eyes meet Darren's as he draws a slit on his throat with his finger motioning that if I speak then we would both be dead. I close my eyes trying to hold back the tears that were fighting to be let out.

I grip myself and hunch down. I never knew that the truth could hurt this much.

"I'm sorry, Callie." Darren sympathizes me. The call ended a few seconds ago. "He's at the bench perpendicular to the park nearest to your house."

I'm still on the ground when Darren gives me a slight hug, and before long, he backs his convertible out and heads off. I'm still lost in my own thoughts before, I too head off.

People are staring. I'm being irrational at this very moment, I'm over the speed limit, frantically honking my car, and swearing at passersby. I could be pulled over soon, my license could be taken away, but I'm desperate to see Jake.

The truth hurts, so Darren giving me the truth, because he wants his best friend to be happy, has a good heart, but his facade was very much the opposite of vivacious.

I find myself freeze up as soon as I see Jake. He's hunched over and just looks like he's lost in his own thoughts. The tears are evident in his puffy and red face, and he's trying his best to wipe it away.

I put my hand through my hair as if it's some meditation procedure and then, I tell myself to just do it.

Seeing him cry hurt.

All I ever wanted was the truth.