A WATTPAD FEATURED STORY
❝Love pays no attention to color❞
Jasmine Karesh never thought she'd spend her senior year of high school struggling to accept her Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder diagnosis, a disease that forbids her from forgetting the scho...
The therapist sighed again. Jasmine wondered how many more times she would do that before her lungs collapsed altogether from the irregular breathing. "We both know that's an incorrect description."
Jasmine's eyes flicked to the clock above the shelf on her left, crammed with a series of encyclopedias. If she had seen the books at any other time, she would have cracked one open and lost herself in the intricacies of each medical term.
Saddened by her sudden lack of interest, her eyes moved back to her phone to distract herself. She ignored the multiple missed calls from her best friend flashing on the screen for she was more occupied with the fact that there was still another five minutes left in the session.
"I know our time isn't up yet, but I really don't think I can do this anymore," she muttered as she slung her bag over her shoulder. She pushed the clinic door open after looking over her shoulder to face the sympathetic woman. "I'm sorry."
And with that, Jasmine Karesh left the room with a wider tear in her heart, a tear she feared she'd never be able to mend.
⇣⇣⇣
"WHY'D YOU still call her? She has an alarm clock, you know." A seventeen-year-old boy with sun-streaked brown hair propped his head upon his palm, his elbow resting on a cushiony pink pillow.
"Because she asked me to last night. You forget that I'm always going to pick my best friend over you." The brunette flashed the boy beside her a smirk, turning on her side to face him. She pressed her lips to his and quirked an eyebrow, "Besides, don't you think I already spend so much one-on-one time with you?"
"Definitely not as much as I'd like, Sel." He grinned and peppered kisses all over her face, pulling the covers over them once again.
Selena Astor chuckled, "We have school. Get off of me before I sic the dog on you."
He feigned fright, aimed at the girl's dog and the thought of school starting back up again. His overdramatic expression transformed into something more somber within seconds, "Should we tell Jasmine about us?"
"What about us? This was a one-time thing, Evan." Selena shot him a look as if he was asking a question that was much too stupid, even for him. She swung her legs off the bed and made her way to her bedroom door, peeking her head into the hallway. When she only heard her aunt snoring, she ducked back inside with a swagger that could only come after a time like theirs.
Selena exuded confidence in its purest form, managing to look like a Victoria's Secret model even while she was comfortably walking about her room. Her eyes moved to the alarm clock on her bed stand and she groaned. It was too early to go to school, but much too late to wrap herself back into Evan's embrace.
The hopeful glint in Evan's eyes faded as she strolled around her room. She noticed him watching her every move, enjoying the attention he always showered her with. And even when she brushed their time together off like it was nothing, he would smile and nod like he understood her every word.
"Are you sure it's just one time? We both know that you're not the only girl who wants me. Playing hard to get will get you absolutely nowhere." A boyish grin crawled across his lips as he tried to embody that cocky jock stereotype that every girl fell for. Selena almost laughed at the sight of his face. Evan was willing to try anything to be with her, even if that meant becoming a stereotypically arrogant teenage boy.
"Pretty sure." She offered him a sad smile and tossed her messy hair behind her shoulder. She leaned over to him, kissing his cheek with the sincerest of intentions. "We're best friends, Evan, and I don't want to jeopardize that for even the smallest hope of a relationship. You're my rock. Not to mention that Jasmine would freak if the group dynamic suddenly changed on her."
"Who cares what Jasmine thinks? This is between you and me. If you like me, Selena, be with me. Simple as that."
Selena sighed, resorting to her last hope, which was a lethal combination of truthful words that she knew would hurt him, "I was stressed yesterday and I needed a distraction. You were there. The line between friends and lovers blurred. Now they're clear again and I know what I want," her fingers ran across the slight stubble on his chin before her hand fell back at her side. "It's not you."
Evan's eyebrows knitted together in confusion and when he looked back up, his face was expressionless.
"I should probably go."
"You probably should."
Selena watched Evan's hang his head when he was not asked to stay and he stalked out of the room after pulling on his clothes quicker than they had flown off the night before. A part of her wanted to throw all caution to the wind and fall in love with him, but she knew it would never work. She hoped that Evan would decide to be with her platonically, even if he couldn't love her the way he truly wanted to.
Selena couldn't bear to lose him for good.
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Hey, guys! This chapter really introduces some new and important characters. My hope is that you could relate with some of them already, but don't worry if you didn't because there are more chapters to come! Anyway, make sure to vote and comment!
This chapter is dedicated to Kaylina Calzado, my absolute best friend on Wattpad. She took a chance on this book and me over a year ago and she's only made my life better since then.
