Braces and Glasses (Book 2)

Chapter 17

Jacob and I have been dating for a month now. I haven't seen him in like a week because he's been busy performing around Cali.

Prodigy, Tyler, Bahja, and I went to the mall today, but now Prod and I are at his house. Ty and Bahja went home.

"You know that girl, uhh," Prod paused to think about the rest of his sentence as he plopped on the couch, next to me. "Ashley?" he finished his sentence.

"Uhm I think so. I remember hearing that name around school, but the face doesn't come to mind. Why?"

"I was talking to her and.." I zoned him out as he pulled his phone out of his pocket. I watched as he unlocked his phone and tapped the Instagram icon. I don't keep up with my Instagram or Facebook so I deleted the apps from my phone. He usually tells me what's going on in the world we live in.

As he scrolled I saw a pic of a Jacob and some girl. It was the same girl from the MTV interview. I wanted to get a closer look to make sure what I was seeing was not real. "What's that, Prod?"

"Huh?" he quickly pressed the home button and looked at me.

I stopped and looked at him. I'm not going to stress myself over this. It was probably someone else and I'm just overthinking things. "Never mind," I told him. I sat back and turned the tv on.

"What are you going to watch?" Prod asked.

"I don't know.. Bob's Burgers probably," I answered, laughing to myself. I began to flip through the channels. I was interrupted when my phone vibrated. I took my phone out of my jacket pocket and checked that it was a notification saying my energy was full on the Kardashian game. I swiped the notification and as the game loaded I heard a familiar female voice coming from the tv. It was the lady from that celebrity news show on the local channel. What made me look up is when Jacob's name popped up in her sentence.

"Change the channel, Tay," Prodigy semi yelled.

"I wanna hear what she has to say." I put the tv remote between my legs so he wouldn't grab it and change the channel.

"About a month ago we spotted teen pop sensation, Jacob Latimore hurrying out of Golden Skates in Los Angeles with some random girl who is NOT his girlfriend, Riley Peterson," the lady stated as a picture of Jacob and I walking out of Golden Skates popped up.

First off, "random girl" has a name. Second, who took this picture?

"Sources tell us that Jacob was dating that girl in the picture, but does that mean he broke up with Riley?" The same picture I had just seen on Prodigy's phone had appeared on the screen. "Obviously not. Jacob posted this pic of him and Riley with the caption "my everything" and a heart face. He then deleted it about fifteen minutes later. Is he cheating on Riley with some unknown girl or what?" I grabbed the remote and continued flipping through channels.

Wow.

"I told you to change the channel."

"You knew," I began. "You knew he was cheating on me. That's why you wouldn't let me see the picture."

He sighed before replying. "I didn't want tell you because I didn't want to hurt you."

😑

"What? You didn't want to hurt me, but you felt like not telling me that my boyfriend is cheating on me would make me feel better? You're not making any sense."

"No, you just look so happy with him and I didn't want to be the bearer of bad news. I didn't want to spoil anything. I didn't even know if that picture was just now uploaded or if it was even him who uploaded it. I wasn't looking at the caption or the username of who uploaded it."

I sighed as I continued flipping through the channels.

"I'm sorry, Tay."

I kept my eyes on the tv as I shook my head and shrugged my shoulders. "I kind of figured it was too good to be true." I pressed 276 as Brain Games appeared on the tv screen.

"What do you mean?" Prod asked, taking the remote from me. I forgot he hates this show.

"I don't know. I mean.." I sighed. "He's famous and I'm still a nobody. Of course he wouldn't want truly want me. These glasses make me look like an old lady." I began to fiddle with my fingers as he pressed guide.

"Tay, stop it." His voice became deeper. That meant he was becoming frustrated. "Don't say stuff like that. I told you, you're perfect."

"I don't feel like it. The way, Jacob treats me makes me feel like I'm no one special."

"You're special to me," Prodigy said as he looked right at me. My head was still down from when I was playing with my fingers. I could see him in my peripheral vision. "Taylor."

I looked up as he called my name. I could see how much he cares for me, in his eyes. I couldn't help but to smile. It was like he just knew the right words to say to make me smile. "Well what am I supposed to do?"

"Talk to him I guess. I don't know." He finally decided on a show to watch. The theme song of Everybody Hates Chris began to play in the background.

__________________________

Jacob's POV

"You should break up with her," Riley said as she fixed her hair in the mirror. "You know you want to." She laughed.

I sat on the bed, thinking to myself.

What did I get myself into? I don't even know how this happened.

"I'll see you later, babe," Riley said. She grabbed her purse and keys before heading out the hotel door.

I looked at me phone and saw three missed calls from Taylor. I cleared the notifications and put the phone on the charger. I got up and took a shower.

Taylor doesn't deserve this. AT ALL. She deserves someone better than me. Keeping these secrets from her and not being faithful isn't what she needs in her life. She's been through hell and would be crushed if she found out about all of this.

I got Nique pregnant again, and I'm still with Riley. Issa doesn't even want to be on the Cali tour with me anymore because he finds me as a bad person to be around. I'm just so messed up and Taylor doesn't need anymore messes to come up in her life.