Heart at War // JJ Maybank

18

"I... I don't know, okay? It happened after we had that fight when you started mackin' on Sarah. I slept at her house and then we ended up sleeping together... Then we just... Never stopped." JJ leans forward, resting his head in his hands. "I swear John B, I never wanted to hurt Lee."

"Well, it doesn't really matter if you wanted to or didn't want to because you did. And what about Kie? Why have you all of a sudden sparked an interest in her?" JJ looks up at me, hand covering his mouth as he sighs.

"I don't know, it's just... I don't know."

I couldn't help but feel frustrated with his answers. "Well, why don't you know! These are our best friends, JJ! Have you ever thought about how it would feel for either of them or did you only care about yourself?"

JJ stands up. "Of course I thought about it! I just... Didn't think about it too much." I groan, rubbing my forehead. "You give me a headache."

"Lena's not just the type to fuck around, and you knew that. How did you not know she had feelings for you?" JJ walks towards the kitchen, grabbing another beer making me frown. "What? It's the perfect hangover cure."

"JJ," I said sternly, glaring at him.

He sighs and leans against the counter, opening the can and taking a sip. "I know she's not... But I never really put it together, I guess."

"Does Lena mean anything to you?"

I watch as JJ's face drops, lowering his can from his mouth as he averts his eyes from me. "She's my best friend." I frown, noticing the shift in his tone as he licks his bottom lip.

"That's not what I meant and you know it." JJ's jaw clenches, and I take in the way that his grip tights around the can. Before he looks back at me, all emotion leaves his face as he raises his can back to his lips.

"No... No she doesn't mean anything to me in that way."

JJ has been my friend since the third grade, and I could call bullshit on JJ better than anybody else. And the words that just came out of his mouth, was the most amount of bullshit I have ever heard from him.

Lena Boggs

An Hour Before

Kiara and I stand on opposite ends of my kitchen, neither of us dared to speak.

"I just-"

"You know-"

We both spoke at the same time before chuckling softly at ourselves. "This is silly, why are we acting like we haven't been best friends forever?" Kiara rubs her eye, before sighing. I chew down on my bottom lip, shrugging.

"Why didn't you tell me?" She asks in a hushed tone, turning her gaze to the countertop not wanting to look at me. "I... We agreed not to tell any of you." I admit shamefully.

"But why didn't you tell me when he and I started..." She stopped herself before looking back up at me. "You can say it, you know," I reassured her, but to my surprise, she threw her hands up.

"No, I can't because I, myself don't even know what it was! We never discussed it, and I didn't even have time to let my brain catch up to what we were doing!" She shouts before running a hand through her hair and groaning. I flinch slightly at the volume of her voice before debating on what I wanted to say.

"I saw how happy you were with him, I saw how happy he looked with you... I didn't want to wreck that for you both." I confessed, lowering my eyes in shame. "So instead you let me silently hurt you?"