Seth's Point of View
Nobody ever said life was fair. There's always two types of people, people who have the odds stacked in their favor and people who have the odds stacked against them.
Miles is one of those people who have the odds stacked in their favor. He gets awesome test grades with barely any effort. His parents are around, cooking his dinner and buying him clothes.
Now, he goes out on one double date with Peyton, a girl who rarely ever dates anyone, and they're suddenly together.
"Man, what are you doing out here?" Logan appears beside me. I hadn't seen him since we walked in together a while ago.
"How does he do it?"
Logan follows me eyes and we both watch as Miles leans down and pecks Peyton on the lips.
"If you wanted to get with her than you should've said something before they started dating," he says.
"Well, I didn't."
"Why do you care so much anyone? You just met the girl. You have Liz, who's super hot. Possibly even hotter than Peyton."
Then we watch as Miles smiles and heads inside.
"This is my chance to talk to her, man."
Logan grabs my shoulder, "Don't go over there. It's not worth it."
I swig down the end of my beer bottle, I don't remember what number I was on, and walk over to her.
I clear my throat behind her, "What an adorable couple."
She looks at me and the ghost of a smile dissapears from her face.
"Seth, what are you doing here?"
"Why him? Why would you date him?" I hate the way my voice sounds.
"We have a lot in common, he treats me great, and I can rely on him."
"We have things in common, too."
Then she laughs, a fake high pitched sounding cackle.
"Seriously? You're being a douchebag. You're so full of yourself that you can't see why someone would ever want to date Miles over you?"
"No, that's not what I meant."
"Listen, you don't want to date me. Fuck, you don't even want to be friends with me! You just don't want me to be with anyone else."
"No," I say.
"Yes! I can see right through you, Seth! You're chasing after me because you can't have me. When you had me you didn't want me! Now that I'm a challenge again, you're interested all over again."
"What's going on?" Miles steps out onto the back porch, the sounds of the crowd inside fading as he pushes the door shut.
"I needed to talk to Peyton." Miles hands two drinks to Peyton and steps towards me.
"I don't think you need to talk to my girlfriend, man."
Then he gives me the look, the look that Miles gives when he's serious as shit.
I laugh, "You think you know everything."
"I know you tried to kiss her. Did you think she wouldn't tell me about that? What the fuck are you doing? This isn't like you. You're can do crazy shit, but you aren't a bad guy."
Then Logan comes out the back door. "Hey guys."
Then he looks between Miles and I. "Woah, what the hell? Seth, you're outta line."
"Come on, let's go inside. You're not thinking clearly. You guys can talk it out in the morning," Logan says.
I hesitate for a minute. Then I look at Miles and decide that I have to drop it for now.
He's like my brother, my asshole brother. I'd never throw a punch at him.
"Okay, let's go inside."
"Come on," Logan says. I follow him through the house and back outside to his truck. "Let's go get shakes through a drive thru."
"Alright." We get in his car and turn on the music. I hadn't realized how late it had gotten.
He starts to drive towards Mcdonalds, "What were you thinking?"
"I wasn't thinking," I admit. "He's probably so pissed at me. Peyton's already pissed at me."
"Cute pity party, Sethykinz." He only calls me sethykinz when he thinks I'm acting like a dork.
I laugh a little, "I have no idea why I thought yelling at them would make it any better."
"You're an idiot sometimes."
"Thanks for the encouragement."
"Logan, I'm gonna tell you something the other guys don't know. You have to swear you won't tell them."
"You know I have your back, man."
"Peyton was my bestfriend."
"Like, when you were little?"
"Freshman year. We met in class, and we got really close. We would hang out everyday. Her family was practically my family, Kelly was like her little sister.
She was great, like no one I'd ever met before. She went out and bought four boxes of tampons for Kelly. She let me sleep at her house when my parents were around."
I laugh, "On Tuesdays, she made me watch Pretty Little Liars. Then she never complained when I made her play one on one basketball in the park, even though she was terrible.
For the whole year we were joined at the hip, constantly together. I even used to wait in the waiting room for her during her orthodontist appointments, then we'd go out for ice cream or shakes after."
I vaguely realize that we pull into a parking spot.
"She started dating a guy towards the end of the school year. His name was Kyle, and he was her first boyfriend. I remember it so vividly. She came to me right afterwards.
She said she had met a guy, that they'd went out on a date. She said he was cool and she couldn't wait for me to meet him. She was so happy about it, she didn't even realize I was sitting there not saying a word."
It's not exactly the end of the story, but I can't say the rest out loud. I can't tell him how she called me after every date that they went on.
How she told me what she wore, where they went, what they talked about. How one day she called me at 10 pm and I didn't answer, because I knew she would talk about her date with Kyle.
I listened to all the voicemails. I read all the texts. I ignored all of the knocks on the door, and I made Kelly lie about where I was. Until eventually she stopped calling.
I look over and see Logan looking at me, listening fully.
"You loved her," he says quietly.
"Fuck, I still do," I admit. After three years of never talking about her, it all came out. Every feeling I lied about and hid.
"You've got to tell her."
"No, I've been stupid lately. It's obviously too late. She's with Miles, and I'm with Liz. It's time we both move on."
