Late Nights & City Lights (Connor Franta / O2L)

Chapter 23

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Two weeks.  Two weeks went by without hearing a word from either Jc or Connor.  Or any of the other O2L boys for that matter.  Jc’s speech that guys always stick by their friends’ sides in times of hardship rang through my mind and I couldn’t help but wonder if this was one of those times.  I was the girl that—no matter how much Kian, Ricky, Sam, and Trevor liked me—they would never pick over Connor.

Most of my time had been spent with either Gina or Jesse, though the latter was usually more persistent and more likely to bitch if I declined.  Jesse was tolerable at times, usually talking about only himself when we were together.  His mood had definitely improved as the days went by, once I had stopped mentioning Connor or Jc around him.

Thankfully, Jenn had broken the monotony by inviting me to go to the beach the other day with her and Andrea.  The three of us went and had a pretty good time getting to know each other better.  Of course it helped that I had turned off my phone so I wouldn’t have to reply to Jesse constantly checking up on me to make sure I was only with girls.

“So we had less than  thirty seconds left on the clock and were forty-seven yards from the goal line,” Jesse said.  Of course he would know the exact amount of yards.  Anything to make his football career sound more impressive than it actually was.  “And I knew it all came down to this.  So the ball was snapped and I jumped back, looking for my receiver, ready to end the game…”

I tuned his voice out as we walked towards the coffee shop, a mild headache already forming.  I enjoyed football as much as the next guy, but Jesse had spent every second we were together reliving his games blow-by-blow and I found myself wanting to stick pencils in my ears so I no longer had to listen.

I casually checked my phone, disappointed with my lack of new messages.  Jc was supposed to have returned from Texas yesterday, but I had yet to hear from him.  I really wanted to see him again, but I guessed that wasn’t happening anytime soon.

As we walked down the street, girls eyed Jesse up and down, not caring that I was there.  I’ll admit he was nice to look at, but only with his mouth closed.  I doubted any of them would be able to sit through an entire meal with him.  I was struggling to maintain my sanity on the ten minute walk from my building to the closest cafe.

I supposed this was my sick and twisted form of punishment for what happened with Connor.  I couldn’t just take back agreeing to go out with Jesse, so I was forcing myself to stay in this relationship, no matter how badly I wanted out.  I had to last until the end of the summer and then I was home free—literally.  I knew it didn’t seem fair to Jesse, but he didn’t care.  All he wanted was someone to dangle on his arm like a piece of jewelry or a designer bag, and I fit the bill.  It wasn’t as though he treated me badly or anything: it was just the way we were.

“…and we won the game!”  Jesse finished with a big sweeping gesture.

“Fascinating,” I replied.  He had told me this exact story, word-for-word, yesterday, though I doubted he remembered.

“Allison?”

I looked up and saw another couple walking towards me and Jesse, who immediately snatched my hand up in his.

“Connor.”  I stared at the boy standing in front of me.  Jesse squeezed my hand, but I ignored him, only having eyes for the guy I hadn’t seen in what felt like months.  He was tanner than he had been at the party and the look suited him.

“Hi Jesse,” Paige said from Connor’s side, drawing my attention towards her.

“Hi Paige,” Jesse responded, a lot friendlier than he should have been.