The Guy from the Insane Asylum

Chapter 33

"Everything's  funny, as long as it's happening to somebody else." — Will Rogers.

Chapter 33

It has been three days since the ball. And Adelaide was still not talking to Bethany. She had absolutely no right to be angry, but she was. And everyone knew why. It wasn't a secret any longer.

Zach was beginning to feel at fault for the sisters feud. And he figured it was time to talk to Adelaide. He was trying to be nice to her. But when things started going downhill with Beth and Adelaide, he knew he had to do something.

"Hey," he called after Adelaide who had her back to him. "Can I talk to you?" He asked when she turned to face him.

"Uh, sure." She shrugged and sat besides him on the backyard furniture.

"I know." He simply said. "About the way you feel . . . towards me."

Adelaide was trying not to show how nervous she was. "How?"

"That's not the point of this conversation. Look, Adelaide, you're a really amazing girl. And you deserve someone who will be able to reciprocate your feelings." He felt like he was doing this wrong. He had never had to reject someone, normally, he'd ghost them. But he couldn't do that. "I just—I don't want to be a jerk. But I don't feel the same way, Adelaide. And you're really hurting your sister. And she's hurting you. I know that too. But she doesn't mean to. Neither one of us planned to become so fond of one another. It just kinda happened."

"You do really like her, huh?" Adelaide frowned and began pulling at her hair, unknowingly. She did that when she felt even the slightest bit uncomfortable.

Zach nodded. "And I don't want to hurt you. But I also can't keep myself from feeling the things I do for your sister. I'm sorry."

Adelaide scoffed, trying to play it cool. "It's a silly crush. Okay? It was never more than that. And yes, I was jealous. But I'm also a sixteen year old girl, I was going to get over you eventually." Adelaide tried to make less of the situation. She felt bad enough for all the troubles she had caused. It wasn't that she was oblivious to them, her jealousy just took over her.

She had never had a guy look at her the way Zach looks at Bethany. And Beth had always been closer to Joey than she had. And Bethany was a daddy's girl, she knew her father loved them both but sometimes she forgot. And ever since they found out they were psychics, their mom had grown closer to Bethany, it felt like she was being forgotten. Bethany was perfect! She even knew how to be a good psychic. It was annoying. Zach only made things worse because he made it seemed like Bethany was getting the perfect romance, too.

Adelaide wasn't like Bethany. She was clumsy. She was shorter. And her hair didn't have that natural shine and it wasn't abstinent to frizz the way Beth's was. She also had never had a boyfriend. And . . . the attention Zach had been giving her lately, it was nice to have.

"Uh," Zach muttered. "I can—I can read your thoughts. Sorry, I didn't mean to. I just—reading minds sometimes happens naturally when someone is feeling vulnerable. Again, I'm super sorry." He was mentally slapping himself for not being able to control his mind-reading abilities to the point.

Adelaide would've been embarrassed, but she felt her thoughts worded how she felt better than her actual words. "It's fine, I guess now you know why—,"she choked on her words and looked away from Zach.

"It's okay," he whispered. "I know."

~

"I need to know when this happened." Bethany sat down on Evana's bed and placed her purse besides her. She was visiting her because she hadn't talked to her since the ball. You know, since she caught her and Joe making out in a dark alley. Totally sketch. "And why it happened. Joe is disgusting, Eve. You could've done better. You still can! Don't think you're stuck with him. You aren't! You shouldn't be."