Reputation: Book One

Tripp

Stone Cold- Demi Lovato

Break Up In A Small Town- Sam Hunt

Close To Me- Ellie Ghoulding

I'd say the 'date' with Qrow went amazing... until Jerzei called. And that's all it took for him to completely lose his shit. I remember him pulling away, looking over his shoulder to investigate the soft buzzing from my center console. His face draining of colour as his eyes read the name over and over again.

"You told me you were over her, you liar!" He hissed, shoving my chest back against the seat.

I couldn't wash that out of my head. Every other minute I keep hearing him screaming those simple words at me, over and over until I was fed up with the voice. I couldn't last any longer. I ripped off my clothes and hopped into the shower to try and calm myself, which worked only in the slightest bit, maybe not at all.

I had just gotten out of when I notice that Autumn had called me three times. When I saw her name I grimaced; Qrow probably told her about what happened. I stared at my screen hesitantly as I wrapped my towel around my waist tightly. I really didn't really want to talk to her, but I had to find out why Qrow had gotten so worked up about Jerzei, 'cause it's not like we still get together and hang out...

My phone jumped to life, blurting out my Wake Me Up ringtone as it vibrated in a half circle on my dresser. I flinch but my face hardens as Autumn's name flashes across my screen. With a burst of courage, I swiped up and her face dissolved to a screen with six different options in the center. I pushed the speaker button and raised it in front of my face.

"Hello?" I ask, trying to mask the emotion in my voice.

"Hey, uh, can we talk?" She asks quietly. I was relieved she wasn't screaming at me yet.

"Yeah sure." I shrug, pulling my towel off my hips and ruffling my hair with the cloth to dry it.

"So, what happened with Qrow? He came back all worked up and pissed off and he started crying when I asked him about it," She tells me. My eyes widen. Qrow was crying? I didn't mean for anything like that to happen. I inhaled deeply, pinching the bridge of my nose.

"Well, we went out to the private lake off the highway and it started raining, so then we had a little sess in my car and he seemed like he was enjoying it until Jerzei called me," I recite, stating exactly what happened. She made a 'hmph' noise and went quiet.

"Well, whatever you did really hurt him, Tripp." She finally whispered into her phone. I bit my bottom lip. "But I didn't do anything, that's the problem!" I exclaim. "I mean I honestly have no idea why he got so enraged."

I hear Autumn sigh in defeat. It was so bad to not talk to him about this, but he would probably rip my throat out

"He thinks you're using him as a go-to," She tells me. "The thing he kept talking about was how bad he felt because you're still interested in Jerzei and not so much into him."I set my phone down on my dresser to pull on a pair of boxers. What is Qrow's problem? Was it really just because I was still talking to Jerzei? I remember Jerz telling me to call her after she got off work to talk about our relationship, but I totally spaced. But with her eagerness to talk, she was the one to call me. And she definitely called me at the wrong time.I furrow my eyebrows.

"Me? Using him? Why would I do that if I care about him so much?" I ask, hoping she was alone on the other line.

"I mean, I've wanted to be able to kiss Qrow like that for like the past three years," I admit sheepishly. "But Jerzei? I'm not so sure about what's going on with us. I wanna leave her, but I'm scared of what she'll do if she gets mad or jealous," I tell her, flicking the inside ball of my lip piercing with my tongue. It pulls back and quietly clinks against my front bottom teeth.

"So you haven't broken up with Jerzei yet?" Autumn asks, her voice thin.

Shit.

"Not exactly..." I whisper. "Jerzei is a Myonaridan. She has potential none of us have considered, and because we know so little about her, it's deadly. I don't want her to possibly want to finish us off 'cause she's mad at me. I'm worried about our safety," I admit.

I can almost see Autumn's emotionless, stone-still face as I hear her nod. "You're right, but that shouldn't be your barrier that keeps you from choosing the person that you want to love. I can see the way you beam when you're around him, and the both of you talk about each other so much," Her voice is strained as she reaches the end of her sentence.

"When Qrow comes home from being with you, he's always so happy and just goes on and on about how much he cares and how much he misses you. Every single day, Tripp!"I bit the inside of my cheek as my vision blurred, tears of frustration stinging my eyes. My stomach tied itself into thousands of guilt-filled knots. I felt sick with the regret that weighted my body down, making me feel like I'd swallowed a bunch of lead bullets.

"I just feel lost, Autumn. I'm stuck," I cry. "I feel helpless. I don't know what to do."I had to rapidly blink and bite on my lower lip to hold back the tears, but they kept threatening to come back with every mere thought of Qrow.

"You need to make up your mind. I never thought I would have to see it come down to this, but you have to pick: It's either Qrow or Jerzei," She says sternly. I press my lips against my teeth and pull the phone away from my face, jabbing the END CALL button with my index finger. I toss my phone to the bed and fall face-first into my sheets, groaning loudly. I hear my phone fall to the floor with a quiet thump. I grabbed my feather-stuffed pillow and cussed into it. I had always thought to scream into a pillow was not a very sane thing to do, but right now it felt pretty reasonable.

I quickly sat up again, searching my floor for my phone. I needed to settle things with the both of them, and now that I had put my head back on straight, I knew who I wanted to choose, and this fight, if that was even to call it, wasn't gonna be very pleasant for any of us.