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I let out an exaggerated gruff. “Didn’t you just have a massive fight with her? You’re on my side now. If you asked me any of Luke’s secrets I would spill right away. You don’t even have to ask, did you know until he was six he wouldn’t even look at Ella because he was so jealous of her?”
“Bro!” My friend exclaims. “This isn’t about me.”
“Jake, have you ever thought that if Jamie never told you about her boyfriend maybe, just maybe, she didn’t want you to know?”
“Exactly. Because she didn’t want me to stop pursuing her.”
“Or maybe, for once, she just wanted you out of her business?”
She wanted you out of her business.
Maybe she really did. Maybe I really was the only one falling for her. Otherwise, why would Emily, the girl who knows her better than anyone, tell me to just drop it.
My tone is low when I speak again. I’m almost ashamed to ask. “Does she love him?”
“Do you mean, is she in love with him?” Emily is pushing my buttons. I don’t know why but she’s not with me tonight, she’s completely on her friend’s side.
“You know what I mean.”
She doesn’t reply and that’s when it hits me. Emily has been my little informant for the past two months. She is an extrovert, she loves going out, chatting, and making friends. That’s just her personality. And since I broke up with Camila, she has been trying to set Jamie up with me.
When she saw I was showing more than a little interest, we got closer. More often than not, she accidentally spills more than she should. But not about Jamie’s boyfriend, she never said anything, not a hint, nothing. And I can see it in her eyes right now that she doesn’t know if her best friend is in love with my brother or not.
“You just found out,” I think out loud. “You didn’t know until the ball, did you?”
“I’m not going to entertain you anymore tonight, Jake,” she sing-songs.
“Just tell me,” I say in one last attempt. “Do you think…do you think she loves him enough to get back with him?”
“Honestly?”
I nod.
“Honestly, I think she was falling in love with him. But I couldn’t tell you if she could get over the lies. Or the fact that you guys are related. What the fuck, how did no one know you and Rose had an older brother?” She shakes her head like trying to put it all together in her drunken mind. “She has more than enough reasons to not get back with Nathan. She also has more than enough reasons to not become your girlfriend, including you going around and talking about deflowering her. That’s low, Jake.” She grabs her drink and turns around, grabbing Luke’s hand before heading out of the kitchen.
In case my heart hadn’t taken enough tonight, Emily’s words are like a knife in it. It’s deep, it hurts, it makes me bleed.
Jamie Williams played me. For weeks I thought I had the girl in the palm of my hand when she was the puppet master all along. Playing me, playing her boyfriend.
This isn’t even the worst. The worst is how I lost control around her. I can’t be trusted when I’m with her, I become a danger to her and to myself. I become a shadow of myself, a monster from the past. This isn’t something I should have let happen. She loves Nate? Good, I can go back to my usual act. The normal Jake White, the one who is friends with everyone, who fulfills the expectations.
My twin walks into the kitchen, holding a bottle of whiskey in one hand and Rachel Harris with the other. Are they together right now? I’ve lost track of their on and off relationship. My sister is smarter than me, she never lied to Rachel about not being able to commit to one person like I did to Camila. The girl knew exactly what she was getting herself into.
“Why do you look like a lost puppy?” Rose asks as she offers me the bottle of whiskey. Her raspy voice that usually gives her an uninterested tone is tenfold worse when she’s drunk.
“You’re not getting that back,” I announce before taking a mouthful of the burning alcohol.
She shrugs and lets Rachel wrap both her arms around her.
“You guys look disgustingly in love,” I grumble.
Ozy lets out a loud cackle, neither confirming nor denying if she is in love with Rachel. She never does. Not to us. “Hater.”
“Is Jamie not coming to the party?” Rachel asks in her crystal voice. This girl is the incarnation of innocence. How she ended up with the immoral soul my sister is will forever be a mystery.
I take another swig of whiskey before answering, “No.” My voice doesn’t really allow questions.
I leave them to be the happy fucking couple they deserve to be and walk around the house, as I drink the rest of the bottle.
