The Flirting Game

I awoke the next morning like usual.

            I got up, got dressed in a simple tank and jeans, brushed my teeth and hair. I walked to the mini kitchen in the dorm and poured myself a bowl of cereal. I leaned against the oak wood counter and chewed on the cornflakes slowly, stirring the contents of the bowl with my spoon.

            It had been three days since I had gone to Ashton’s house. Three long, depressing days. Every day I woke up early, ate breakfast, and went to the roof of the dorm to star at the sunrise. Now, today though, I stopped my routine and tried to continue my life normally.

            But when Ash had said it was “nothing”, I had stared at him. I stared at him with huge, innocent blue eyes and waited for him to say something, taunting him with my eyes. He gazed at me calmly, waiting for me to leave. Finally I turned around abruptly, muttered a goodbye and walked away.

            “And they lived happily ever after,” I muttered, placing my bowl in the sink and wiping my mouth with the back of my hand. Laying down carefully in the couch, I sunk into it and smiled. Really, I could use some rest.

            When I awoke from my long nap, the first thing I saw were blue eyes.

            They were deep and soulful, glittering like the ocean. Flecks of green and brown surrounded the pupil, the different shades of aqua swirling in orbs of blue. I was mesmerized. I could stare at these eyes all day.

            “Victoria, you’re awake,” Ash broke my trance as he pulled his head away.

            “Hey, babe,” I replied absentmindedly, completely forgetting our “fight” three days or so ago. (Or was it a fight? More like a mutual disagreement. Hm.) I swung a leg over the couch, adjusting my shirt and leaning over to kiss Ashton on the cheek. He pulled away and frowned. “Babe?” I asked worriedly.

            “Um, Victoria?”

            “Yes?” I said, motioning him to sit down next to me. He obliged (reluctantly) and looked at me grimly. I pressed my lips together and knew something was wrong. Very, very wrong. “What is it?” I put a hand on Ashton’s shoulder when he put his head in hands.

            “I think . . . I think we should see other people, Vic,” he said slowly peering up at me with those gorgeous aqua eyes of his. I blinked at him, not comprehending.

            “We should . . . what?”

            “See other people,” he hesitated, then continued, “I don’t think . . . I just . . . We should see other people. Okay?”

            My eyes were watering, and I could barely speak. So I simply nodded, pressing my lips together to hold back a sob. I never imagined that this would happen. I couldn’t believe. Everything was going so well, until . . . until . . .

            “Megan,” I croaked out, a tear slipping down my face. But by the time I said her name, Ashton had left.

            Megan was the one who started liking Ashton. Megan was the one who made me paranoid and jealous. Megan was the one who made me fight with Ashton like that. Megan was the one to break us up.

            It was all Megan’s fault. All of her freaking fault.

            I curled into a ball, my heart sinking, my stomach churning, my head spinning. Just the thought of my best friend, my dorm mate, skanking around my back with my boyfriend made me want to puke my guts out. I bit my tongue and breathed slowly.