“What did he say?” Chauncey asked me at the end of the day. He found me at my locker.
“Um…come over late. We’ll talk then,” I said as Jerry joined us.
“Okay,” he said sighing. “I’ll be there around six”.
“Sounds good,” I said walking away with Jerry.
“You have to tell him at some point,” Jerry said as he opened the school door for me.
“I don’t want to,” I whined.
“Talk to her,” Jerry pointed to were Rose was. She was talking to Jake and it looked like a lot of flirting.
I walked over to them and smiled at Jake. “What’s up guys?” I asked.
“Um…hey Clarissa,” Rose said.
“Jake invited me to your study date”.
“Oh, no, it’s just studying. No fooling around,” Rose said.
“That’s what you said last time and we all know how that turned out,” Jake said laughing.
I gave Rose a look before she pulled me away from Jake.
“Listen, I know it maybe hard to believe but I’m falling Physics and Jake is doing really well. That’s all there is. I might have done something with him once but…I have needs and Chauncey won’t help me in that area. Get it?”
“Yeah, I get it. You can’t keep your legs closed. Cool!” I said before walking away.
“Clarissa!” Rose called as I walked over to Jerry’s car.
“Well?” he asked as I got in the car.
“She has needs,” I said simply.
“Do you have needs?” Jerry asked.
“Nothing I can’t fix,” I said.
Jerry rolled his eyes and backed out of the parking lot.
Once at my place Jerry found some food and joined me in my room.
We mostly talked and did homework.
Jerry left at five to meet his pothead friends and promised me that he would call to let me know he was alright.
I had an hour to myself before Chauncey came knocking on my door.
“Hey,” I said as he walked in. I closed the door behind him and sighed.
“So, what happened?”
“Are you hungry?” I asked hurrying to the kitchen.
“Clarissa…”
“Okay, okay. She’s failing Physics and Jake agreed to help her. They fooled around once or twice because she has needs and you won’t sleep with her. I’m sorry Chauncey, but you deserve someone better than her.”
He walked into the living room and sat down.
“I don’t want to sleep with her because I really like her, Clair. She’s amazing,” he said running his hand through his hair.
“She’s practically cheating on you!”
“I don’t…”
“Don’t what? Care?”
“Maybe, I don’t know,”
“Chauncey!”
“What, Clarissa!? I love her, maybe! I don’t know what I’m going to do.”
“You love her?” I stared at him wide eyed. I could feel my heart sinking and breaking at the same time.
“I might,” he said looking at me.
I swallowed my tears and nodded my head. “You deserve so much better than her”.
“Like who?”
“Me?”
Chauncey looked at me and I shrugged.
“I’m going to go for a drive. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Chauncey walked out the door and I stood there staring at the floor.
My phone rang and I answered. “Hello?”
“Hey babe, I’m alive and I have nothing better to do, so I’ll be over in an hour”.
“Great”.
“See you soon!” he sang before hanging up.
I quickly called Tiffany and told her everything that happened as I wiped my tears away.
“Okay, you have two choices,” she said after a while.
“What?” I muttered lying on my bed.
“Break up with Jerry and go after your man or forget about him”.
“That’s it?”
“Yup! I have to go The Voice is on. Are you going to be okay?”
“Yeah”.
“Okay, good. Bye,”
We hung up and waited for Jerry to come over.
