Charms or Banjos?

Chapter 4

For the next few days, Jessica thought of both Alex and Alejandro, how they were different and how they were similar. She hadn't told Paige about Alejandro, or how she kept comparing him to Alex, it was eating away at her, but Alex was like a brother to Paige and Jessica thought it was weird.

Almost a week after Jessica first bumped into Alejandro, she saw him alone during one of her free periods. Paige wasn't in college yet, so Jessica decided to go over to him. "Hey, Alejandro, right?" She said as she came to his table. "Ah, the girl who ran into me... wait let me think, Jessica?" He asked. Jessica nodded, slightly amused at his silliness. "Yeah, I'm sorry about that, how come you're sat on your own?" She questioned. "All of my friends ditched me to go to McDonalds, you?" He replied. "Best friend isn't here yet and everyone else is in lessons." Jessica told him. The two of them talked for a while, until Paige messaged Jessica saying that she had just gotten off the bus. "I have to go, my friend is on her way and we have a lesson." Jessica said. "Wait, let me get your snapchat at least." Alejandro replied. "Okay, here." Jessica said, showing him her username, before leaving him to find Paige.

Almost two weeks later, Jessica was messaging Alejandro almost as much as Alex, but she hadn't told Paige. And as Jessica made her way to wait for Paige outside of her lesson, so the two of them could go to English Literature together, Alejandro messaged her, asking her to be his girlfriend. In the heat of the moment, Jessica said yes, even though she still liked Alex. Giddy with excitement, Jessica messaged Alex. The way she saw it, nothing could realistically happen between the two of them, they were only ever going to be friends. Little did she know, Alex was seconds away from launching his phone across the room and killing every Alejandro known to man for taking his girl.

Alex sat in his lesson, fists clenched and heart heavy. He knew Jessica wasn't the type of girl to cheat or even just date for a short amount of time, relationships were long term for her, and after years of messing about with random girls, Alex had finally got to a place where he felt ready for that kind of commitment, with Jessica. But he was too late. And that killed him.

"Paige, I have something to tell you." Jessica exclaimed the second Paige stepped out of the classroom. "Okay, in a sec though, I really need to pee." Paige replied and the two of them went to the bathroom. "Alright, you're practically bursting with excitement, what's happened?" Paige asked as the two of them waited outside of their classroom. "I have a boyfriend! His name is Alejandro and he does some computer science course." Jessica answered. "Oh my goodness! Really, Jess, I'm so happy for you." Paige replied. The two hugged and Jessica continued to talk about Alejandro. Meanwhile, her phone buzzed in her pocket, forgotten, as Alex typed and deleted and typed and deleted countless messages trying to find the words to respond to her text without exposing himself. Eventually, he landed on sending a thumbs up emoji, his heart shattering as he tried to be happy for her. All he wanted was for Jessica to be happy with her. But he couldn't tell Paige, he and her were like siblings and Jessica was her best friend, Alex thought it was weird.