The Butterfly Effect

𝖝𝖎𝖛 | 𝔞𝔱𝔱𝔬 𝔡𝔲𝔢: 𝔰𝔠𝔢𝔫𝔞 𝔮𝔲𝔞𝔱𝔱𝔬𝔯𝔡𝔦𝔠𝔦

February 23rd, 2020 

8:34 A.M

Andrew's Jet 

Zaire exhaled deeply at the end of the story. Nathan made a point of being brief about Beth's situation with her father because he was hesitant to share her personal information. He promised himself that he would only refer to it as a "problem."

"You never told her how you felt?" Zaire asked. "You are the dumbest."

"I am not a dumb boy. I'm a smart boy." Nathan frowned.

"Why are you calling yourself a boy?" Zaire confusedly asked. "You had the perfect opportunity to air everything out. Why didn't you take it? More importantly, why didn't you tell me you had feelings for Beth?"

"Because I'm not entirely sure of how I feel. This could be my brain tricking me into thinking I have feelings simply because she expresses affection. I'd rather wait to tell her until I'm sure. We both just got out of long-term relationships."

"You worry too much."

"How do I know that I like her? How do I know it's not a deep attraction? I'd like to clear my confusion before I bring anything up."

"Do you love her?" Zaire asked with a smirk, purposefully making Nathan more confused.

"Dude stop. I'm not playing with you right now." Nathan groaned, fueling Zaire's laughter. "Do you think she feels the same?"

"How can she feel the same if you don't even know what feelings you're referring to?" Zaire questioned. "I think you need to worry about what you're feeling before you start worrying about what she thinks," Zaire said while standing up to go back to his seat. "Good luck buddy."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"You're so stupid." Layla smacked the back of Nathan's head. "Why the hell do you always do stupid things to stress yourself out?" She pinched the bridge of her nose.

"What should I have done?" Nathan asked.

"Explain what you just explained to me, at least. You could've told her that you were confused. She most likely would've understood. But you stayed quiet and let the situation drag on longer than it needed to. Forget why you didn't tell her. We should be focusing on figuring out your feelings for her."

"We can't call them feelings if I'm not entirely sure how I feel."

"I'm going to give you a hypothetical scenario, and you have to answer honestly," Layla said. "Say something goes bad at your record label, and you're given the ultimatum to choose between Beth or your music career. Which one would you choose?"

Nathan could only blink as he tried to decipher the perplexing question. Two things he adored and cherished. On one hand, his music career was something that he worked countless hours for, but he knew there was no one like Beth.

"I would choose Beth." He answered, causing Layla's eyebrow to shoot up. "Even though music is my passion, and I'd hate for this situation to come true, I have not met anyone who cares for me as much as she does."

Layla nodded slowly. "How long have you known this girl?"

"Nine months in the next ten days."

"Interesting," she hummed. "I think you just answered your question."

"What do you mean?"

"I know how your brain works. I'm positive that if I say what I think, you will automatically convince yourself that what I said was wrong. If I say you like her, you will make excuses for not believing that and vice versa. You have to make this decision without any external opinions."