Lover of Mine ~Chase Elliott

when we were young | 5

J A D E    W R I G H T

Spending last Saturday with Chase reminded me of old high school us. We were a very carefree couple during the old days, always finding adventure and joy in the little things, like getting coffee. Everything that happened Saturday was deja vu, a lot of old memories came into light for me that day. My biggest shock that day was that I so easily opened up to Chase enough that I indirectly mentioned Thomas, my previous relationship.

Monday after school, I was secretly hoping that it was Chase's day to pick up Mackenzie. Not only to see him, but something about Lauren didn't sit right with me. For the first time, I walked my kids outside for a very selfish reason, to hopefully see Chase again. Wishful thinking can let you down in many ways and I was let down by the sight of Lauren and Chase fighting in the parking lot. Chase's eyes were filled with anguish as he starred into Lauren's eyes, as people started to take notice of the commotion.

"Where have you fucking been?" I could faintly hear Chase confront Lauren.

"None of your business." Lauren snaps back. I take a shaky deep breath and headed over to stop their bickering as they were making quite the scene in front of the students and staff.

"Excuse me, could you take this conversation elsewhere? There are kids around-" I professionally walked up to Chase and Lauren. Chase's brown eyes soften at the sight of me speaking up, mostly to shut Lauren up with all the nonsense that was leaving her mouth.

"Whatever, I'm taking Mackenzie. End of story Chase." Lauren grabbed Mackenzie by the hand and dragged her off towards her car. Chase frustratingly hit the hood of his truck as he watched Lauren take his daughter away.

"You need to get custody, I barely know her, and I'm already over her," I commented.

"I know." He sighed with a hint of irritation. "Can we talk? I really need to talk to somebody. I have all this built up frustration-"

"I get it Chase, of course, we can let's go back inside." I motioned.

We walked inside together, into my classroom where Chase vented about all the horrible and horrific things about Lauren. I could feel a wave of steady anger start to build up within me as Chase talked about Lauren, maybe even a sense of hatred. Lauren didn't deserve Chase even for the short time they were together. All Lauren did was use Chase for financial security just so she could stay afloat, she didn't care about Chase's feelings or their daughter's feelings for that matter.

"I can't believe I've dealt with her for over ten years." Chase huffed, sinking in the seat.

"I'm so sorry you go through that, I had no idea."

"I'm just glad Mackenzie isn't being affected or influenced by Lauren's behavior." Chase brushes through his hair, ruffling it up. "Life sucks sometimes."

"I think that's something everyone would agree on."

"It's funny to see how much we've changed since high school, in a good way of course," Chase said, catching me off guard. "Remember my proposal to prom-"

"Which one? Because they were all rememberable." I chuckled setting my work to the side, completely invested in the conversation. "The one where you accidentally spill soda on me, or the time where you stood up on the lunch table and fell-"

"Alright, alright, give me a break I was a scrawny, awkward guy." Chase laughed. "But hey, it all worked out, well kinda."

| f l a s h b a c k |

"You better tell her soon, or she'll find out herself-" Judd's voice trailed off seeing me standing under Chase's doorframe. "Or she'll find out now." Judd sighed. Judd's hesitation caused Chase to spin around, seeing me there.

"What going on?" I questioned nervously. Chase's eyes sadly searched mine, wondering if he should tell me his secret. "Chase?"

"I'll leave you guys to talk." Judd excuses himself, squeezing past me. I stepped in, closing the door behind me giving both of us privacy.

"What's happening Chase?"

"Uh, um, I got a call about a month ago. I'm moving after graduation to North Carolina." Chase nervously starched the back of his neck. "I got an amazing opportunity J."

"For what?"

"Racing." Chase sighed.

"Were you planning on telling me? Or was me seeing a moving truck in your driveway your way of telling me?" I questioned, feeling absolutely hurt and helpless in this conversation. I could tell my words were correct upon seeing Chase's scared and hesitant body language. He was never going to tell me. "So, you were going to leave me. Nice to know that I've wasted a whole year of my time with you."

"Jade, come on, you don't mean that-"

"You not telling me about this, says a lot about your priorities," I argued back. "You will always choose racing, over me, over everybody! I get that racing is what you wanna do, but did you ever think you could have me and racing?" I implored.

"You can't just expect me to pass this opportunity, Jade. We're talking about NASCAR level racing here!" Chase slightly raised his voice.

"I know Chase! But that's not the problem here. The problem is you were going to leave without telling me, and just expect me to wait around for you." I argued back. "It's always about how you feel, it's never about how I feel."

"Why do you always put the blame on me? I'm always the bad guy to you!"

"I'm sorry that you decide not to communicate with me! But I can't really help it, you're always keeping things from me! How do you expect me to trust you?" I forcefully wipe escaping tears from my cheeks. "I can't keep doing this Chase!"

"Then why don't you just break up with me? It'll end both our suffering!"

"Maybe you're right." I quietly said. "Goodbye Chase."

| e n d   o f   f l a s h b a c k |

"Earth to Jade?" Chase waved his hand in front of my face, snapping me back into reality. "You okay? You spaced out there for a while."

"Yeah, sorry." I awkwardly chuckled.

"You were thinking about it weren't you?"

"Yeah, I was." I sighed. That day, was one of the worst days of my life. I always wondered what could've been if I didn't drop everything Chase and I had. What if I had handled that situation differently? That's one day I wished I could redo over and over again, there were so many things I could've done better. "Do you think we could've made it?"

"I think we could've of, if I told you the truth from the beginning. I didn't handle that whole situation well in the first place. I'm sorry about that if that means anything to you now."

"It's fine, I understand Chase. We were young, I didn't handle the news the best either."

"But hey, on the bright side, we're here now together." Chase laughed off the building tension in the room. "If I'm being honest, Jade, I don't think I ever got over you-"

"Jade-" A colleague of mine knocked. "Oh, I'm sorry to interrupt. We have a group meeting starting now."

"Well, I guess that's my cue to leave then," Chase says, he gets up and walking towards the door. He stops at the doorway, with a longing look in his eyes, before walking out and leaving our conversation to an abrupt ending. My brain still attempted to process what he'd told me.

Chase had never gotten over me...