My Middle School Crush (BoyxBoy)

Chapter 39

Chapter 39: Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer

Mason's feet thumped loudly against the concrete sidewalk as he walked back to his house. This morning, he'd been feeling especially down. His relationship with Mark hadn't changed at all and now it has been two days since he'd last seen him. But recently, he was feeling the absence of Jasmine's presence even more so than the lack of Mark's.

Even with how badly things have turned out for him and Mark, he always assumed that Jasmine would be there for him when he needed to talk and vent. This was far from the first time Mason was essentially heartbroken by Mark. Though it usually revolved about Mason being sad about a new girl Mark had hooked up with or dated, he was still wrecked to the point where he went to Jasmine for comfort. She'd always been there, ready to dry his tears and tell him weird jokes when he had cried for too long, just as Mason did for her.

But Mason was dealing with this one on his own. He and Jasmine still weren't talking. Mason considered turning to Clark or Aiden, while he never relied on them for this before, he knew they would try their best. But Clark seemed to be in a more complicated situation than Mason and Aiden was out of the country. So Mason had taken to spending sad days in front of the TV alone.

Today, he'd finally gotten sick of the sadness and tears. Yes, his feelings were valid and he was allowed to be as heartbroken and sad as he wanted, but at this point being sad and crying was getting exhausting. As an effort to improve his mood, Mason went to the gym this morning.

Like always, Mason forgot the importance of consistency and gave himself an incredibly intense workout that was far too much for someone who hadn't been to the gym in weeks. Now, Mason struggled to make the walk back home.

After a few more minutes of post-workout torture, Mason was finally back in his own home. Even though he should have gone immediately to the shower, it felt like so much work to clean his body at the moment. Instead, he fell into a chair at his kitchen island.

The marble felt nice and cool on Mason's heated skin and he relished in finally giving his body some proper rest. Considering how tired Mason was, one would have thought he'd lie down on the counter for a while. But only a minute after getting back home, Mason's mind drifted to what he'd been thinking of on his walk back.

He really missed Jasmine.

Not just what she did for him, which was more than he could even fathom, but he missed being around her. She was one of the funniest, most interesting people he'd ever met and for some reason, she continued to spend time with him after all of these years. And he repaid her by essentially ghosting her for two months.

It had been over a month since their fight. At first, Mason hadn't thought he'd done anything wrong. He refused to apologize for something that wasn't his fault and had been waiting for Jasmine to come to her senses. Then, Mason understood just how badly he'd treated her.

Mason vividly remembered the moment when he first realized what an idiot he was. He'd been looking at an old photo of Mason and Jasmine. The photo was taken by Jasmine's ex-boyfriend at Woodbine beach. As Mason stared at the image of him and Jasmine smiling with their skin already a bit burnt by the sun, he remembered how their relationship had never changed while she dated that guy. They still hung out all the time, visiting each other's houses and going to the mall. The only change was that sometimes instead of talking about people they found cute, Jasmine would talk about sweet things her boyfriend had done for her. Or their days at the mall would have an extra guy in the mix.

Even back then, Jasmine understood the importance of treasuring every relationship you had, old and new. But Mason hadn't done the same.

From then on, the only reason why Mason hadn't apologized was because he was too nervous. You'd think after knowing her for so long, Mason would just do it. But before he knew it, half a month had gone by and he still hadn't spoken to Jasmine.