The Middle - Volume Three ✔️

Chapter 52

Jamie

Noah, 20:18pm: Patrick???

I re-read Noah’s message. I can’t believe how dumb I was, telling them all about the fucking rough patch the band is going through. Of course Noah would figure it out. Fuck, why am I so stupid? I’m sitting here listening to Aubrey gushing about how beautiful Scotland is (she’s been there before, and she’s super excited that I’m going soon) but all I can think about is texting Noah back, or running over to his dorm to talk to him. But I’m with Aubrey, and he’s with John and Zach. Double fuck. I need to talk to him before I leave the fucking country.

By the time Aubrey and I have stopped chatting, the diner is closing and Kim is clearing up her last table. The three of us leave together, and before we go our separate ways, to my horror, Aubrey and Kim each give me a hug and tell me to have a good trip. I’m not a hugger. They know this. What is it with people who insist on hugging you when they know damn well that you don’t like it? But, whatever. I’m making my way home now, and finally I can text Noah. I’m glad to see that he’s online. Good, he should reply quickly.

“Can we talk please? Do you think you could come over once you’ve left Zach and John?”

He’s typing.

“They’re already gone, and Will’s staying at Maddie’s. Come over?”

I don’t bother replying, I redirect my feet back towards town, heading for the dorms.

**********

Patrick

“That’s Jamie.” Amanda says, pointing out the car window.

I turn my head in time to see her stepping through the main door into Noah’s dorm building. I sigh.

“And that’s Noah’s dorm building she just walked into.” I inform Amanda.

“Oh.”

We’ve just spent the past few hours sitting in Starbucks talking, and as much as I tried to steer the conversation away from Jamie, Amanda just kept pulling it back. She’s convinced herself that Jamie does in fact have feelings for me, because she is no longer seeing Noah. Apparently. I’ve tried to tell her, but she won’t fucking listen. Just because Jamie apparently told Noah she doesn’t wanna be his girlfriend, doesn’t mean she suddenly does want to be mine. Amanda just wouldn’t hear it though.

“So, do you believe me now?” I ask her as I pull into the parking lot of her dorm building.

“Hmm, I don’t know.” Amanda frowns and continues looking out the window in the direction of Noah’s dorm. “It could be innocent enough, maybe they just have stuff to talk about.”

I put the car into park and turn to face her. “Or maybe they are still seeing each other.”

She rolls her eyes at me and I laugh. “Oh come on, why would she be meeting up with him at Marley’s and going over to his dorm at this time of night if everything was totally over between them, huh?”

As I say the words, I realise I’ve kinda answered my own question. Maybe they’re just hooking up now. But whether they are still seeing each other, or just hooking up, it doesn’t matter. She’s still spending time with him. He's still on her mind. I know she's still into him.

“Yeah, I guess this doesn’t really look too good…” Amanda finally admits.

“So you’ll stop going on about her now? And let me start actually trying to get over her?” I run a hand through my hair and sigh, I need to stop fucking talking about Jamie. And I need to get away from the dorms now. I can’t stop picturing what she and Noah are getting up to in that building over there, and I fucking hate it.

“Okay.” Amanda says with a smile. “No more talk about Jamie. Thanks for the ride, I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“No, I’ll be at the youth centre after classes.”

“Okay, that’ll give me a chance to catch up with Fiona. Or homework.” She laughs before getting out of my car.

I drive back over to the apartment, and I actually feel a little nervous about seeing Joel again after the talk we had last night. I haven’t spoken to him much this past week, which is weird. He’s my best friend, we talk all the time. But not so much right now.

I know this is on me, and I need to be the one to fix it.

But when I get in, there’s no sign of him. It isn’t that late yet, I guess he’s hanging out with Jay, since Jamie is busy… so I head to my room and get ready for bed.