The Importance of Getting Revenge

by Amanda Abram

  What do you think you're doing?! You are making out with Jase! The guy who is only pretending to be your boyfriend! The guy who is crazy in love with Kylie! In fact, he's probably pretending you are her right now! So stop this! Now! Before it's too late! Before you...

  Before I what? I was unable to finish that train of thought before another alarm sounded, only this one wasn't inside my head.

  And this one sounded a lot like Trish's voice.

  “Oh my God!” she shrieked and instantly, Jase flew off me with impressive speed.

  My heart began pounding furiously in my chest as a feeling of dread pooled in my stomach. I wasn't sure what had just happened between me and Jase, but I was sure Trish was the last person we wanted to have witness it.

  “Trish,” Jase said, trying to catch his breath. His voice was a mixture of shock and guilt. “You're home early.”

  Trish glared daggers over at him. The color of her face was beginning to resemble the color of her hair as she said, “Yeah. I am,” she said, her voice cold. “Thank God I got home when I did.” She averted her gaze to me and suddenly I felt very small and...well...scared for my life. “What did I just witness?”

  “Nothing,” Jase and I answered simultaneously. We sounded so innocent for two people who had just been horizontal with each other on a bed.

  She didn't look like she believed us for one second. Keeping her eyes locked on mine, she said in a low voice, “Lexi, my room. Now.”

  I gulped. She sounded angry. And when Trish got angry, she got scary.

  I didn't even dare to glance over at Jase, so I didn't. Although, something told me he was making sure to avoid looking over at me as well.

  “Now,” Trish repeated, crossing her arms tightly over her chest.

  Just as she said that, I could hear the faint sound of the oven timer go off downstairs.

  “Cookies are done.” Jase jumped up from the bed. “I should...go...get them.” He sprinted out of the room so fast that if I had blinked, I might have missed his departure altogether.

  I already missed his presence. In all honesty, I was afraid of Trish. And the thought of being alone with her right now made me want my mommy.

  With her hot on my heels, I made my way out of Jase's bedroom and headed for hers down the hallway. As soon as we were both inside, she slammed the door behind us, making me flinch.

  “Dammit, Lexi,” she said in a controlled voice. “You are such an idiot.”

  My eyes widened and I suddenly felt like crying. “What are you talking about?”

  “I'm talking about what I just walked in on!” she practically yelled.

  “But you don't even know what you walked in on.” I didn't even know what she'd walked in on.

  “I know it wasn't 'pretend', whatever it was.” She began to pace the floor in front of me. “Neither Jeffrey nor Kylie were here, so you obviously weren't doing it for their sake. In fact, there wasn't anyone here until I showed up and caught you practically having sex with my brother!”

  “I was not practically having sex with him!” I exclaimed. Because I wasn't. Yeah, I mean, I could see how it might have looked like that to Trish, but I certainly wasn't about to have real sex with my fake boyfriend. I definitely would have put a stop to...whatever it was...even if she hadn't interrupted us.

  “He was on top of you! On his bed! And his hand was under your shirt!”

  “Just barely...” I said weakly. “Look, it was just a harmless kiss and it just happened. It was an accident. A mistake. And it wasn't going to lead anywhere.”

  Trish stopped pacing for a moment and gave me a deep frown. “Oh, Lexi. It already has.”

  “Huh?” I said, confused.

  She took a deep breath and ran both of her hands through her hair. “You've fallen for him. You've fallen for Jase.”

  My jaw unhinged and almost hit the floor. “What?”

  She began pacing again, shaking her head furiously from side to side. “I knew this was going to happen. I knew it. That's why I thought this whole idea of yours was stupid from the very beginning.”

  “Trish.” I reached out and grabbed her arm, forcing her to stop. “You don't have any idea what you're talking about. I haven't fallen for Jase.”

  “I really hope you're right,” she said, folding her arms tightly over her chest. “Because he doesn't like you. Not like that.”

  My heart skipped a beat. I swallowed hard. I blinked. “I know that.”

  “He's in love with Kylie,” she continued on, as though she hadn't heard me. “And no offense, but you just can't compete with someone like her.”

  I felt as though she had slapped me across the face. “Wow, Trish. Offense taken.”

  She looked like she felt terrible and I could tell she regretted what she'd said. “I'm sorry, I didn't mean that,” she said in a shaky voice. She sounded as though she was going to start crying, even though I was the one who had just been brutally insulted by my best friend. “It's nothing against you. You're amazing, you know you are, but Jase will never feel about you the way he feels about Kylie.”

  “Don't you think I already know that?” I snapped. “I know Jase doesn't like me as anything more than a friend. But that's perfectly fine with me, because I haven't 'fallen for him'. But even if I had, way to be supportive. You're supposed to be my best friend.”

  “I am your best friend! That's why I can't just sit back and watch you throw yourself at my brother and humiliate yourself in the process.”

  I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I'd always known Trish was capable of being bitchy, I just never knew she was capable of being bitchy with me. She came home and found me and Jase kissing. Kissing each other. But she was making it out to sound as though she'd seen me holding a gun to his head and forcing him to. Even though I knew it was an accident of sorts and it didn't mean anything, it takes two to make out, and if he'd had such a problem with it, he would have stopped it from happening.

  “I haven't thrown myself at anyone, Trish. Jase and I got caught up in the moment, and it just happened. It was no big deal.”

  “No big deal?” she echoed. “If it was really no big deal, then end this stupid fake relationship of yours right now. Once and for all.”

  “Right now? As in right now?”

  She nodded. “Right. Now.”

  But I didn't want to do that. Doing that would require I go downstairs and talk to Jase. I wasn't quite ready for that yet. We hadn't even discussed the fact we'd kissed yet, and Trish wanted me to just end our pretend romance on a moment's notice? I couldn't believe she was so intent on torturing me.

  “Fine,” I found myself saying anyway. “I will.” And with that, I turned on my heel and headed out of her bedroom.

  However, when I got downstairs, Jase was nowhere in sight.

  I searched both the living room and kitchen before searching the rest of the floor. He appeared to have vanished. Lucky him.

  “Forget it,” Trish mumbled behind me. She was looking out the window next to the front door. “His car's gone. He must have left to avoid my wrath.”

  “Smart boy,” I mumbled back.

  “Tomorrow,” she said. “You'll end it tomorrow. Call him on the phone. Come over and do it in person. Either way, I don't care. Just do it.”

  “Trish.” I felt defeated as I turned around to face her. “Why are you acting like this? What is your problem?”

  “My problem?” She sighed. “My problem is that for the past four years, I've had to watch my brother date countless girls. Girls he never really cared for. For the past four years, I've had to put up with these girls coming to me, crying, asking me what was wrong with them. Asking me why my brother didn't love them. And to be honest, it never really effected me, because I never cared for any of those girls.” She paused as she moved closer to me. “You're my best friend, and I love you. I don't want you to be one of those girls. If you fall for him, you will be. I can't just sit back and watch that happen. I refuse to.”

  “Oh,
Trish,” I breathed. I leaned over and pulled her into a hug. “I really appreciate you looking out for me, I do. But you have nothing to worry about, because I haven't fallen for Jase.”

  “You swear?” she asked, holding me tight.

  “I swear,” I promised. But as I said it, it didn't quite sound right.

  Perhaps what Jase had suggested earlier was correct. Maybe I had been born a natural actor after all. Or, at the very least, I'd been born a very good liar.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  I woke up the following morning next to a fiery redhead staring intently at me. It was kinda creepy.

  Trish had convinced me to sleep over, and I’d somehow managed to fall asleep next to her, despite the fact I was so sure that some part of her wanted to kill me for what happened with Jase the night before.

  Oh God. The kiss.

  I could feel myself blushing as the memory suddenly flooded my brain, and I hoped Trish didn’t notice.

  If she did, she ignored it. “So you’re breaking up with Jase first thing this morning, right?” she asked.

  Groaning, I rolled over onto my stomach and buried my face into Trish’s pillow. “Yes,” I replied in a muffled voice.

  “Good,” she said brightly, sitting up and removing the covers from me. “Then you’d better get a move on, because he’s leaving soon.”

  I lifted myself up to glare at her. “You want me to do this right now? Trish, I just woke up.”

  “There is no time like the present!”

  It wasn’t even eight o’clock in the morning and she was already getting on my nerves. So this is why she had wanted me to spend the night: so I could end things with her brother before breakfast.

  “Can I at least go to the bathroom first?”

  She appeared to mull it over. “Yeah, whatever, okay. But you’d better do it right after. Hurry!”

  The girl was relentless. And when Trish became relentless, she became nearly impossible to be around.

  “Fine,” I grumbled. Slowly, carefully, I rolled out of bed. As soon as I stood up, I caught a glimpse of myself in her full length mirror on the wall and wanted to scream. I was never a pretty sight in the morning, and that morning was certainly no exception. All of the hair on the left side of my head was tangled and sticking up and out in various places. The hair on the right side of my head wasn’t doing much better.

  I attempted to smooth it down with my hand, but it was no use. I figured I could just wet it with a brush in the bathroom to try and tame it and it would probably be okay. I just hoped I wouldn’t run into Jase until after I took care of the issue.

  But of course, as soon as I stepped out of Trish’s room, I stepped right into the Jase’s path as he was heading for the stairs.

  “Lex,” he said in a weird tone. I couldn’t tell if it was because of the awkwardness of the night before, or if it was because he couldn’t figure out what was going on with my appearance. If I had to venture a guess, I would have said it was probably a little of both.

  “Jase,” I replied and I noticed my voice had the weird tone to it as well.

  His gaze moved to my hair and it looked as though he was trying to suppress a laugh. Instantly, I brought my hand up to my head and tried once again to flatten the mess of snarls. When I realized it was a lost cause, I just sighed and gave up. What did it matter, anyway? It was just Jase standing there in front of me. I had no reason to want to impress him.

  “That’s a good look on you,” he said, not bothering to hide his grin. “Instead of ‘just rolled out of bed’, it’s like ‘just rolled over by a bed.’”

  “Haha, very funny.” I made a face at him. I wished I could have come back with a witty retort about his appearance, but I couldn’t. As usual he looked hot, even in just a simple pair of faded blue jeans and a earthy green T-shirt that read You Can't Handle the Truth.

  The hallway fell silent then, and our gazes went in different directions. During this time, I crossed my arms tightly over my chest with the sudden realization I was standing in front of Jase wearing nothing but a pair of tiny pajama shorts and a skimpy tank top with no padded bra underneath to make it look like I had boobs. Despite how mortified that made me, on the bright side, it made me forget how atrocious my hair looked.

  “So,” I went on to say, hoping that engaging him in conversation would keep his attention away from my sleepwear.

  “So,” was all he responded with.

  After another few seconds, we both looked at each other and grinned sheepishly. “So,” I said again. “How are you?”

  Jase tilted his head to the side and studied me for a moment. I could feel myself blushing under his scrutiny and prayed he would say something soon.

  “I suppose we need to talk, don't we?” He was avoiding my original question, which was just as well.

  “Yeah, we do.”

  “Would you like some breakfast?” he asked. “I think my mom made pancakes.”

  “No thanks. I’m not hungry.”

  Jase gave a chuckle and shook his head. “Three words I never thought I’d hear you say in that order.”

  I hit him playfully on the shoulder. “You make me sound like such a pig.”

  He threw his hands up in the air. “Well, if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck— ”

  “—it’s a pig?” I finished for him.

  “Exactly.” He smiled at me for a moment before clearing his throat and changing the subject with, “Look, about what happened last night...I'm sorry.”

  I blinked. He was sorry? For kissing me? I couldn't tell by the tone of his voice if he was saying he was sorry because he thought I hadn't wanted him to kiss me, or if he was saying he was sorry because he wished it hadn't happened.

  “It's okay,” I said, keeping my voice as normal as possible.

  “No, it's not okay. I shouldn't have kissed you without at least a warning, and I definitely shouldn't have left you to deal with Trish by yourself. That was lousy of me, and I apologize.”

  “No, Jase, it's okay, really. I mean, regarding Trish, I can handle her. We've been best friends since forever, and half the time she's blowing up about something, I tune her out anyway.”

  “Yeah, me too,” he said with a smirk. He glanced down at the floor. “Look, I know what Trish thinks she walked in on, and I just wanted to let you know that...she's wrong. There's no way I would have let things go that far.” He returned his gaze to mine. “I would never have sex with you.”

  I inhaled sharply at his blunt declaration and couldn't help but be offended. It's not like I wanted him to have sex with me or anything, but he didn't have to be so honest about not wanting to.

  I could tell he regretted his words as I watched the color drain slightly from his face. “Wait,” he said, attempting damage control, “I just meant that—”

  “Let me stop you right there,” I said quickly. I really had no interest in hearing him try to backtrack his statement. “I know things wouldn't have led to sex, and as for the kiss, I know it didn't mean anything, so I don't want you to worry that, like, you know, I read anything into it or whatever, because I didn't. I mean, it meant nothing to me, and I know it meant nothing to you either, so there is really nothing to apologize about, because it was all just one big mistake and everyone makes mistakes, right? I mean, certainly neither you nor I are immune to making mistakes. So we made one together, big deal. I'm already over it. So don't apologize, please, because there is nothing to apologize for.”

  I took a deep breath after I finished my monologue, after realizing I hadn't breathed at all throughout the entire thing. Once the oxygen hit my lungs, I then inwardly cringed at everything I'd just said. I was blabbering like an idiot.

  The expression on Jase's face was an unreadable one. He looked neither relieved or disappointed. He had on the perfect poker face.

  “You're right,” he said finally. “I know it didn't mean anything, I just wanted to make sure everything was okay between us. I don't want things to be weird because
of it. I mean, we're just starting to become friends again, and I'm so happy about that, so I wanted to make sure that some stupid kiss didn't screw that all up.”

  Stupid kiss? He thought our kiss had been stupid? Of course he had. Why wouldn't he have thought it was stupid? It had been stupid. Two people who have absolutely no romantic feelings for each other, kissing? That didn't even make any sense!

  “No way,” I said with a dismissive wave of my hand. “We're cool.”

  He arched an eyebrow. “Really?”

  “Yeah. Really,” I assured him. “But we need to break up.”

  Those words had come out a lot sooner than I had expected them to.

  Jase looked surprised. “Huh?”

  “We need to break up,” I repeated. “Like, soon. Like right now, probably.”

  Jase's brow furrowed as he placed his hands on his hips. “Is that your idea, or Trish's?”

  There was no point in hiding it. “What do you think?”

  “I think she needs to mind her own business.”

  “She does, but...”

  His gaze flickered back to me. “But what?”

  “But she's right. We need to end this. There's no reason to keep it going anymore. Jeffrey is a lost cause. If he doesn't give a damn yet that I'm dating you, then he's never going to. And Kylie wants you bad, and she might not wait around for you forever. Besides, you've now completed your goal of showing me what having a good boyfriend is like. So now it's time for you to go be deliriously happy with the girl you really love, and it's time for me to move on and find a good real boyfriend.”

  I could feel my heart sink in my chest at the last part. In all honesty, I didn't want to go out and find a good, real boyfriend. And the thought of Jase being deliriously happy with Kylie was making me feel kinda queasy.

  Jase shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “I guess you're right. We'll break up this week. How about Wednesday?”