Secret Rulebook of Cheating

Rule #3: It's No Fairy-Tale

 I steered clear of Jason for the rest of our time at the pool. Whenever he was in the water, I wasn’t. I strategically went in right after he went out and for short periods only – just enough to cool off and not let my body overheat. So the chance of him surprising me again was close to none. I did the same with the bar area. Whenever the others sat there and he joined, I stayed on my lounger, and whenever he decided to skip the bar, I went. I tried to do all that as subtle as possible. Having to explain why I was avoiding him would have been worse than not avoiding him at all.

At some point, when the plan stopped working and Jason decided to join Mila and me at the bar just as we settled on two of the stools, I suggested she and I take a walk to the dam lake. Mila thought it was a great idea – bless her – and we fled. It was a lot easier not to think about that haunting pull I was feeling toward him when he was out of sight.

As soon as we got back to the room, Mila and I started getting ready for the evening. We took quick showers and then did all the other stuff girls do before going out – dress, hair, makeup. I went for a short halter dress, straight hair and light make-up.

The first part of the plan for the night was to grab a bite at this local place near the dam lake Mila and I discovered during our walk earlier. For such a remote place, the restaurant was strangely packed. The hostess managed to find us a table and I sat as far away from Jason as possible. It was too noisy to hear what he was saying or to have his voice play with my insides so everything went smoothly.

We never got to the second part of the plan, because it changed when we bumped into a friend of Jason’s at the diner. Collin – that was the guy’s name – also happened to be on vacation for the weekend with some friends of his own in one of the other houses in the area. They invited us over to party with them after dinner. The more – the merrier.

Their house looked a lot like ours, just different disposition. There was enough space on the first level for all of us, in which we soon dispersed, in small groups.

Mila seemed to be having a great time with Collin. I could hear her laugh even over the music. He was either ridiculously funny or that was the alcohol laughing. I had taken the third cup from her hand, deciding two was enough to drown her sorrow over her recent unrequited crush Sam.

I was now enjoying the company of another boy, Kyle. He was nothing like Jason, shorter and stumpy, brown eyes and short dark hair - nothing to remind my eyes of the sexy athlete and make my mind wander in the wrong direction. I tried my best not to look to where he was standing, at the other end of the bar, chatting with Dayan. But I couldn’t help the occasional glance. And as earlier - the occasional meeting of his eyes. But I knew it was nothing. People looked around. It was what everyone did. Every now and then you meet someone’s eyes. That didn’t mean you were purposely trying to catch their gaze. It just happened.

It was all fun and light until Kyle suggested we go up to his room. I looked around hoping Rob or Dan would recognize my cry for help but since they were both absorbed in their girlfriends I uttered something about going to get some fresh air and headed to the door.

“So what do you say?” Kyle’s voice startled me. I hadn’t seen him following me outside.

“About?” I asked not realizing what he meant at first.

“Going up to my room. Or we could go to yours.” There was determination in his voice, which I didn’t like.

“Listen, Kyle. It was fun talking to you but I think we should call it a night.”

“But the night is still young,” he protested. “We could make the best of it.”

“Really, Kyle, I appreciate the offer, but I have to say no.” That was as blunt as possible.