Light of my Life

Mario Kart

"Hey, Lauren!" Jordan waved to get my attention as I marched out of my class in a crowd of college students. I instantly beamed upon seeing him, and we walked out of the traffic, standing in an unoccupied corner.

"How have you been? It's good to see you!" I brushed my hair out of my face and adjusted my backpack on my shoulders. He stuck his hands into his pockets and shrugged a bit.

"Pretty good. I would ask you the same question, but you kind of had a dramatic weekend," he chuckled. "So I think we all know the answer. I came by yesterday to check up on you, but you weren't in class!" I tilted my head, still smiling.

"How'd you get my schedule?"

"Oh, I probably look kind of creepy," his face flushed and he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "I asked the main office. Did Alex talk to you after Friday night? Are you doing alright?"

I smiled sheepishly at how thoughtful he was being and nodded my head, skipping awkwardly over his first question. "Yeah I'm good. Thanks for checking up on me. And thanks for listening me blab on about Alex on Friday. You've been a really good friend."

"Do you kiss all of your friends?" he raised his eyebrow teasingly. I bit my lip.

"No, could we just forget about that detail? It's not one of my proudest moments."

Jordan's face scrunched in confusion. "What's that supposed to mean?" My eyes widened in realization of what I had jut said.

"No! No, I mean I used you as a rebound, and it was inconsiderate of me."

"Oh." Jordan replied, looking down at the floor. "Well, I thought maybe it was a bit more than that."

I titled my head to the side, "I told you it wasn't going to lead anywhere."

"Yeah, you did. I guess I don't really have anyone to blame but myself then. I'm sorry."

"No, I'm sorry," I sighed and leaned my back against the wall. "You know what, maybe you were a bit more than a rebound. I don't know. You're a really cool guy Jordan, and you really know how to make a girl feel special. I just kissed you in the moment, and I was in pain. I'll make it up to you."

"How about you make it up to me, by letting me take you to dinner?"

My brain froze. "Dinner?" I inhaled sharply. He looked at me nervously, like a middle school boy asking a girl to dance. I looked around for a second and then met his gaze. When I spoke, my voice registered higher. "Listen, Jordan-"

He sighed and waved my rejection away. "I get it. Take your time healing from his rejection. I'll be here if you need my empathy, or someone to vent to. Just know that I think you deserve someone that doesn't treat you like he did. I'll text you later." He smiled warmly and patted me on the shoulder, before turning and quickly walking away. I exhaled, releasing the breath I had been holding.

Jordan just asked me out.

My face flushed again, thinking about how gentlemanly he had been, how politely he had took me turning him down. How well he understood, yet everything he understood was a lie.

How could someone so good at seeing through people, be so bad at filtering out the truth? I felt guilt settle into my heart, but reminded myself that he had to believe I was single. For the sake of my relationship with Alex, no one I wasn't close with could know we were still seeing each other, except of course Alyssa. At this point, how could she not know. I fought to keep down the bulge that had formed in my throat. My phone buzzed and I pulled it out.

Alex: Two words, Mario Kart. Meet me down outside once your class is over. I'm going to demolish you in all of the arcade games. I hope you've had a good day :)