Sounds Fake, but Okay | ✓

t w e n t y - t w o

   Why was she such an ass?

   She sunk into the bed sheets once more and covered her face with a pillow. Why couldn't she just sink into the earth and disappear forever?

———•———

   "Jae! We're losing! Why are you just running around in circles?!" Andrea leaned to one side as she continued punching buttons on the controller. "Shoot, Jae, shoot!" She went back to biting her lip, staring at the television screen intensely. "I need back-up! I'm about to die!"

   "Sorry!" Jae finally snapped out of his trance and began pressing random buttons, hoping to get the right one.

   "What are you doing?" Andrea faked a sob. "That's our ship! You're blowing up our—"

   The screen lit up red and yellow and the dreaded words faded in.

   DEFEAT

   "Jae!" Andrea whined. "Why did you—ugh..." she slumped forward and dropped the controller onto the sofa cushion. "We were so close! What happened? You were doing great and then you suddenly stopped. Like we just had to blow up their ship!"

   Jae ruffled his hair, closing his eyes for mere seconds before he gave a sigh. "Sorry, I was just got distracted."

   "Distracted? In the middle of a galactic battle?" Andrea narrowed her eyes. "What the hell, man?"

   He gave an insincere laugh. "Sorry, I'll try harder next time."

   Andrea leaned slightly towards him and took the controller from his hand, setting it aside. "Is this about Cat?" Her brows knitted in concern and she straightened her back. "Do you wanna talk about it?"

   Jae rolled his eyes. "We're not talking about that, okay?"

   Andrea frowned and crossed her arms over her chest. "You haven't said anything about the subject since that time in the caf, like I get it, you wanna get over her and the simple answer is to block her out, right?"

   He nodded. Andrea had caught on that he liked Catalina and she wasn't as annoyed as she'd first let on. In fact, she'd outright asked him while they were heading to class one time. Her nonchalant attitude nearly made him drop his coffee.

   "But is it working? Are you actually getting over her?"

   He nibbled his lower lip. "Well I did just blow up our ship, so what do you think?" He gestured at the television, a little agitation surfacing as he bounced his knee.

   Andrea sighed. "I think you need to talk about it. It'd do you good. Now." Her hand landed on his, inciting him to talk. "Tell me what's wrong."

   Jae had never really seen this side of Andrea. She was always either joking with him or easily angered, he'd never seen her acting compassionate and patient. Her friends didn't just call her 'mom' just because she nagged; she listened, just like any mother would.

   He fell back on the couch with a loud sigh. Immediately he soured up at the thought of Philip's arm around Catalina's shoulder. Every time he'd think of her, Philip would pop in too. Jae hated feeling jealous, it didn't feel good at all. It made him impulsive, angry and agitated.

   "I don't get it. Like, we were never actually together, so why the hell am I so hell-bent on this? I should be happy that she's happy, right? But I just--is he seriously better than me? Like goddamn, he probably is but..."

   Andrea landed a hand on Jae's shoulder. "Jae, trust me when I say he is definitely not better than you."

   "But that's what you think. It's because you hate Philip." Jae rubbed his face. "I don't know what to do, Drea, I just...I like her so damn much and it sucks. It fucking sucks."