Unrequited love

Twenty five | Alex

Moving the chips that left a bit of space between me and Katie she sits down in the gap between us before putting the chips on her legs. Waiting for a response she doesn't get one besides nods so she tilts her head. 'Jesus. Did I interrupt a serious conversation? Do you want me to sit on the side instead? You're making me feel bad for sitting in the middle you guys.' She offers.

'Nah it's nothing...' I feel a wave of relief for her exceptional timing. I seriously need to keep my emotions in check. You can't get everything you want in life so why am I acting like I'm some exception, 'she's just talking about Noah and I was saying how he's not good for-,'

'Oh! Noah! How's he going?' She turns her head from me to Katie so I hit her on the shoulder. She's much more interested in the whole situation than I am. If anything they're equally as delusional but in her defense she's never see them interact. All she knows is verbal opinions on how he's like from Katie and I wouldn't say that a reliable source. I would just appreciate if Brylan wasn't so open about her opinions around me, given my not so great situation with how I feel about Katie.

'I'm going to call him tomorrow!' Katie lights up.

'Let me know how that goes. Call me right after,' Brylan goes to high five her but I grab her hand before Katie can hit it. Pulling Brylan into my chest playfully she gasps.

'Brylan. Don't support her. It's not a good thing they have going on.' I poke her in her side because I know damn well it'll hurt.

'Fucking hell! I'm so sore from training- I'm sorry, I'm sorry. You make it sound so bad, I've never even spoken to the guy. All I know is rumors and I know what it's like for rumors to be fake so ion know him! I'm sorry!' She apologizes but I doubt she knows what she's apologizing for.

'Jacob is having a party.' Katie stuffs a fry in her mouth. 'I would've had the whole home to myself. It's sad to know that I can't do anything about it except hangout with you guys. Don't get me wrong, you guys are my world but my brother would've hosted something and everyone would've showed up. No one wouldn't showed if I hosted. Unless I could garantee that my brother is going to be there but at that point am I even hosting it or is he? It's not that big of a deal anyways. I don't like big crowds but I've been thinking about it a lot. So that's why I like Noah, he doesn't make it about him. He just wants to talk about me. People use me for my brother but he already has my brother as a friend yet he still wants to get to know me. That's so fucking rare for me.'

Staring at her for a hot minute, I turn my head away. It's a good reason to attach yourself to someone but that's all it is at the end of the day. An attachment. She likes how he makes her feel, not him an a person. You know who she does like as a person? Me. Yet I'm not good enough for that obviously. We don't talk about her brother, I want to know things about her so why doesn't that count?

'If it makes you feel any better, I have a family dinner with your new best friend.' I force feed myself to drown out the sound of my own voice.

'Who? Lilah?' Katie says it as a joke but I just look at her. It's not a joke. I'm being dead serious.

'Wait? Are you deadass?' Brylan leans back.

'We used to be best friends,' I don't know what else to say so I wait for their shock to cue.

'That's a fucking joke.' Katie snorts. 'You and Lilah.'

'When was this?' Brylan creases her eyebrows as if she's trying to create a timeline. Trying to construct one myself, I barely remember the last time we even spoke to each other directly. It's been a while since me and Lilah communicated properly.