My Brother's Best Friend 

Chapter 12: How Many Times am I Going to Run Into Him?

Edited

Once class was over and I was gathering my things to leave I made sure to completely avoid Jared's line of sight otherwise something would happen giving him more clues to come to the conclusion that I secretly though he was the hottest person on the earth.

Really?! I did not just think that!

"Oh!" I heard Kaley's voice squeal.

When I looked up she'd dropped all of her papers and books on the floor, trying to pick them up frantically as others just simply walked by her and refused to help. I immediately set my things down and walked over to help her gather her things, almost getting kicked in the face by another kid.

I handed her the stack of papers in my hand.

"Thanks, Mallie," she whispered as we both got up and I smiled back at her.

She left, so I grabbed my things only to bump into someone on the way out. When I looked up to discover who it was, I sighed. Jared. How many times was I going to end up running into this boy in my life span?

"Sorry," I mumbled, trying to not look into his eyes and waiting for him to leave.

He gestured towards the door, telling me to go first, so I did, trying not to smile on my way out. I'd never really noticed how sweet he was. Asking me if I was ok when I was crying and being a gentleman. There aren't many guys like that in this world anymore.

Oh, be quiet! It's not as if he's the only gentleman in the world!

Yeah, but Nathan had never done that for you.

Just the thought of him no longer being with me—I'm not going to lie—made this feeling of complete and utter relief wash over me. It was almost as if being with him was... a burden.

Well, considering all the things that we never did together that I wanted to do with him, that never happened, then yes I can totally understand why I feel relieved to no longer be with him. He was never really there for me and I will never understand why our relationship didn't work considering how many times I'd tried to fix it and failed. If he had been willing to fix it then maybe we could've lasted, but even then I don't think he truly wanted to be with me.

He was just never there.

"You look really deep in thought there," his voice startled me and I immediately jumped, putting my hand over my heart.

"Are you following me?" were the first words to come out of my mouth.

He chuckled. "I have the same third period as you."

I looked at him as if I was completely and utterly lost at the words he was saying. Until, I remembered that in fact he did have third period with me because he sat in the seat directly behind me.

"Oh,"

"What's the matter?" he smiled. "Secretly wishing that I was, in fact following you?"

I raised my eyebrows. "In your dreams,"

"Are you sure it's not in your dreams?" he asked.

I turned to him and hit him with my binder lightly, making sure I didn't do it too hard.

"Owww!" he laughed as I giggled.

As soon as we'd gotten into the classroom we both took our seats, waiting for the teacher to come into the room and begin class.

I felt him shift forward in his seat as I turned around to look at him, eyebrows raised.

"So..." he said.

"So?" I asked, trying to keep the smile off my face.

Why is it that he makes me smile so much?

"Has anyone told you how absolutely beautiful your smile is?" he whispered.

My breath hitched in my throat as I looked at him, gulping, and feeling my heart start to pound like a drum. That escalated quickly.

I looked at my hands. "No," I whispered quietly looking up at him through my lashes.

He seemed confused. "You're telling me in all the months that you and Nathan had been dating he didn't once tell you that you were beautiful?"

I shook my head shamefully, wishing that I was in fact lying, but I wasn't. Nathan and I had dated for five months and he'd never once called me beautiful. Not once.

Now that I think about it, I don't know why I hadn't broken up with him sooner. I mean, honestly I don't know what was going through my head at the time.

Maybe it was the fact that I'd wanted a boyfriend so bad that instead of falling in love... I'd fallen in love with the idea of being in love. Maybe Nathan and I never really loved each other. Maybe we were both just with each to be with each other.

And as soon as that thought had crossed my mind I thought, how could that even be true? It's true, our relationship may not have been the best one, but I definitely tried to make it work, no matter what the circumstances were. I always tried to fix us. He just didn't care. He didn't care at all.

"Alright class..." the teacher walked in and I turned around without another word. 

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Team Jared? or. Team Nathan?

~Katy