The Accidental Heartbreakers

T.A.H (1) - Morgan Adams

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T.A.H (1) - Morgan Adams

❝It's not how we make mistakes, but how we correct them that defines us.❞ 

- Rachel Wolchin

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  "Chug! Chug! Chug! chug!"

       Loud chanting filled the greasy food scented and chatter-reverberating cafeteria. Over fifty students surrounded Sage Connors, Mason Holmes and Wyatt Blue - or as I'd like to call them the 'dare freaks'. There used to be four of them until one of their partners in crime, Chris Flanning, moved away.

Sage's blonde hair and bare chest had been dyed red thanks to the tub of cold spicy chili he was ingesting. The crowd cheered as he slammed the empty tub of what used to be chili on the table in triumph.

"And that Ladies and Gentlemen is how you chug a tub of spicy chili all in one go!" The cafeteria erupted into applause, and Sage thrusted his fist up into the air victoriously. Mason and Wyatt stood by laughing at their friend's red-stained exterior.

I tore my eyes away from the sight and shook my head. "No sense whatsoever, I swear."

"High school," Delilah said in mock seriousness, pointing her plastic fork in my direction, "can be a very confusing time in a young boy's life. We must not judge our fellow classmates for their idiocy and stupid antics. We all find different outlets to deal with our raging, angsty teenage hormones, and Sage Connors' might be to down tubs of chili. Who are we, really, to judge?"

I cracked a smile as Dakota laughed, glancing over at Sage, who was now thumping his chest triumphantly.

"Ethan would never do something so dumb," I said, stealing a fry off Dakota's tray and popping it in my mouth. She swatted at my hand and shot me a glare that I stuck my tongue out at once I had swallowed the fry.

"Yes we know, we know," Delilah sighed. "Ethan isn't like the other lunatics that make up the population. He's mature and handsome and smart and -"

"I do not sound like that," I snapped, cutting off my friend's bad imitation of me with a scowl.

Dakota stifled her laughter by stuffing her mouth with a bite of her hamburger as her twin sister shrugged, a ghost of a smirk twitching at her lips. "I thought it was pretty spot on."

I rolled my eyes.

I did not gush about my boyfriend 99% of the time, as my best friends always made it seem. But it was true; Ethan was smart and funny and kind-nothing like the posse of 6-year-olds passing for teenagers who felt their time best spent completing stupid dares. If you took away their good looks and natural charm, their immense popularity would've been stripped away from them.

At least that's what I like to think.

Ethan and I had been together for over three and a half years, ever since he asked me to homecoming freshman year. Sure we'd had our ups and downs, but he was the love of my life-everything I could ever ask for in a boyfriend. He was sweet and romantic, but never clingy or annoying.

When he said I love you and caught me so off guard I wasn't ready to say it back, he was completely understanding and waited patiently until I realized how stupid I was not to have uttered the three little words right then and there. He never pushed me or pressured me into anything, but challenged me in the best ways possible. We were utterly and undeniably perfect together.