The Middle - Volume Three ✔️

Chapter 53 (Noah)

Noah

“I felt so awful about it, Noah, I still do. Tell me you believe me?”

Since she got here, Jamie has had to stop herself from crying like five times. But now, she’s given up. And the tears are freely falling down her cheeks.

Of course I believe her. I can see the fucking pain this is causing her. And it’s annoying how much it’s bothering me. Yes, I wanna move past everything and be her friend, but that doesn’t mean that hearing about her and Patrick is easy for me. I already knew I lost her, but hearing the details of exactly how I lost her does suck.

“Of course I believe you.” I tell her, handing her a box of tissues from the coffee table. “Don't feel bad about this on my account, please. I’m fine. Well, I’m gonna be fine. Do not worry about me.”

I'm far from fine about this, but I don’t wanna cause her any more agony than she’s already going through. So, I’ll put on a brave face for now and try out this whole “friends” thing.

“It just happened, like I said, I didn’t plan for any of this.” Her voice is shaky as she tries to get her tears under control. “But I can’t help it. He’s... He’s...”

I nod and look down at my feet. “He’s Patrick.”

As shocked as I am that Jamie has fallen in love with one of her best friends, I can see it. I know he has that unknown quality that girls like in a guy, same as me, so I can see what’s attracted her to him. And she knows him, better than most people do. So I can see why she’s fallen in love with him. It sucks for me, but it’s happened. And I really do wanna get to a place where Jamie and I can be friends. And I really do hate seeing her cry like this. So, I’ll comfort her and start being her friend right now.

“Listen, if you wanna talk about it more...we can.” Not at the top of the list of things I wanna do right now, but I’ll do it for her.

“Are you sure?” Her eyes are glistening, and she looks concerned, but I know she wants to talk about it.

“I’m sure. Hang on, I could use a beer.” I get up from the couch and walk over to the fridge. “You want one?”

“Got any Jack?” she asks, and I laugh.

“Yeah.”

I forfeit the beer and pour myself a Jack and Coke too. When I walk back over to the couch, she’s managed to compose herself.

“Here.” I hand her her drink. “So you went home with him after the New Year's Eve party and you guys kissed. That’s what started this whole thing. You just kissed that night?”

“Not exactly.” She looks down sheepishly. “He spent the night with me, but we only made out. But...when you called me on the First, he was still in my room with me.”

Ouch. That does sting a little, even though I was no angel in New York over the holidays... I shake it off.

“Okay...”

“We don’t need to talk about this if it’s too weird!” She holds her hands out in front of her.

“It's fine. Tell me.” I take a sip of my drink.

“Okay, so, we said a lot of stuff to each other that day, and that’s when we ended up...you know.” She looks down and tucks a strand of hair behind her ear.

I do know. They fucked. Awesome, we can skip those details.

“Then in the days that followed everything was just weird. It was a total fucking emotional rollercoaster, because there was you, and I like you so much, you know I do, but then there was Patrick, and I had no idea how I was feeling about him anymore. He’d always been my friend, and everything just felt fucked up.” She sighs and pauses. “But Jay and Joel were both so busy with Erin and Sarah, and you were gone, so I found myself spending a lot of time with Patrick, just the two of us, and it was good. Better than good. And, well, I’ve realised I’m in fucking love with him.”
She sighs again and downs her drink, wincing afterwards. I did make them pretty stiff, but this is a tough conversation. I wanted a stiff drink.