The Romance In Our Rivalry

30 | Consoling Nova

Nova

I heard a knock on my door, but my mom wasn't home to protect me if push came to shove, so I quite dramatically grabbed a knife from the kitchen before answering. When I got there, I didn't bother to check the peephole because I had a weapon on me anyways. So instead, I just swung the door open.

I expected to see Nick, Hailey, or maybe even my mother, but I saw nothing close to that.

"Aubrey?" I asked, as she stood in front of me, with her boyfriend and Lewis behind her. Lewis had several coloring books and Aubrey held flowers. Jason had nothing. "What are you guys doing here?"

"You've had a rough week, and your birthday is like, days away, so we decided as a group that you probably needed this right now" Aubrey said with a smile. I didn't wanna jump the gun on my judgment with Lewis, but I knew for certain that I didn't trust Aubrey and Jason. Especially not Aubrey. As Aubrey spoke, I put the knife down under a stack of newspapers on a very close by side table.

"Look" Aubrey said as she watched me give her an unimpressed look. "We can leave this stuff here and you can figure out what to do with it if you'd like, but we do wanna spend some time with you." Lewis showed agreement with Aubrey through his expressions, and Jason kind of just gave me a sympathetic look.

I raised my eyebrow, "Jason aren't you and Nick like, best friends?" I asked, and he shrugged. "Something like that" he said, "but regardless of what I am to him, or what he is to me, I don't tolerate abuse."

"He and I ain't even friends as of right now" Lewis said to Jason, chuckling. "He thinks I took his girl."

I scoffed, "I'm not his girl anymore, I blocked him on everything." Lewis smiled at that, but Jason seemed unsure. "And how long will that last?"

"I'm serious!" I retorted, causing Jason to put his hands up as if a cop had ordered him to. "He held a knife in my face, threatening my life. There was nobody else in the house to save me say something happened. All because I didn't wanna be with him! Imagine how scared I was Jason."

"I'm sorry" Jason said, but I shook my head. "It's all good, y'all have nothing to be sorry about. I guess that just means you two win the whole prom thing."

Aubrey looked at me funny, "Lewis why don't you date Nova?" she then suggested at random, causing looks of confusion from all of us.

"Huh?" Lewis, Jason and I questioned in unison.

"If she doesn't have a date then I won't have competition" Aubrey insisted.

"Isn't that a good thing?" I asked. She shook her head. "No. I like competition. Reminds me of my time doing pageants. Lewis looked back over at me.

"Well, if she wants to be with me then I wouldn't mind it" he admitted, "or we can just be a fake relationship. I can't imagine how she's feeling right now, and I'm sure a man is the last on her mind."

I nodded, "I'm too drained, I like the idea of faking it for now. We can talk real life later." Lewis smiled.

Aubrey

The whole time that we sat in Nova's living room coloring, I couldn't help but question myself. Why on Earth would I suggest that Nova and Lewis date? Thankfully I was able to come up with an excuse, but I think the real reason why I suggested it was because I was trying to hide my budding feelings for Nova yet again, and didn't wanna make some cute, sappy, comment when she made the prom remark.

I felt like I had to out-nice Lewis, because he was a sweet guy and I had no doubt that he was gonna give Nova the world, even if they weren't serious. I had to do it subtly though, because everybody already suspects some shit and I don't want my relationship to quickly go down the drain like Nova's had. Even though I genuinely feel like I'm forcing myself to be with Jason.

"Hey" Lewis randomly stood up, "I needed to pick up some cashews for my mom before the shop on Launch Avenue closes. Can I leave my stuff here, or do you guys all just wanna come with me?"

Everybody looked at Nova, who seemed a little overwhelmed by it all. "Sure" she said, "let's go."

She left and went into what I assume is her room, and came back with cute fuzzy slippers on. I smiled, but quickly dropped my smile when Nova saw that I had been smiling. She kept her gaze for a few seconds, I could see that from the corner of my eye.

"You two sit in the back" Jason instructed as he took the passenger seat of Lewis' car. I was surprised that he wanted us together in the back after what had happened in the past, but of course I wasn't gonna question that type of opportunity. I followed suit and sat, Nova did the same.

Brynn

The girls and I were planning a little get together at my house, but we had divided up the duties, so Leigh and I were picking up food while Sophie and May were picking up material items, games, and toiletries.

"What the hell" I said, quickly whipping out my phone and snapping a picture of Aubrey, Nova, Lewis and Jason. Lewis was May's on and off kind of boyfriend, but lately he had began acting weird. May was gonna flip when she sees that Nova is damn near linking arms with that boy.

"What?" Leigh asked, slowly looking over to where she saw me looking, "oh no!"

I nodded, "looks like Nova really might be a hoe after all" I said, shrugging. Nova and Nick had broken up a few days ago, and word went around fast, but I didn't expect Nova to move on this fast.

"Should we put it in the newspaper?" Leigh asked, and I looked at her as if her question was dumb.

"Uh duh!" I began, "we have to. It'll make sales for our club go up that much higher."

I didn't exactly dislike Nova, I just didn't like whatever she was doing with Aubrey. I mean, if you two want each other that bad, just go for it. It's 2021, nobody's stopping you or bitching over same sex relationships anymore.

"Are we gonna tell May?" Leigh asked, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Nah" I said, "let's wait for the girls night to be over, then you and I will make the cover for this week's issue. May won't see it until it's out, but I'll make sure to add a snobby comment or two about Nova so she knows we're on her side.