Falling for You

May 8th

As I'm walking out of the cafeteria, I spot Jay sitting on the bench on his phone under the oak tree, our old, special spot.

I decide to walk by and sit down near him, putting my bag beside me,

"Hey," I say quietly as I flash him a kind smile,

He looks up and puts his phone in his back pocket,
"Oh hey. What's- what's up?" he matches my quietness and asks in a friendly and quiet tone.

I smile even bigger as I ask, "Could you use some company?"

"Uh sure,  how did you know?" he asks.

"Not sure, I've just been doing a lot of thinking trust me. Looked like you were too." I say.

I reach for his hand,

he moves away from me,

"Jay..." I say gently.

"Yeah..." he whispers back.

"So, what're you thinking about Brielle?" he asks a little coldly.

But I don't pick up on it at first.

"Well...I have to decide what I wanna do for this summer. I guess I just always thought I'd go home. I miss my family and my hometown. I don't exactly like being away so much." I admit.

"So, why can't you go? I mean why are you even questioning it?" he asks, being a little more emphatic in his response, this time.

I look away slightly, "Um, Logan wants me to stay and work at the restaurant."

"That sounds stressful, I'm sorry." he says.

"Don't be sorry. I got myself into this situation, so I'll have to get myself out of it too. I just wish it would be easier to figure out. Like I don't know what else I could do here and it's too late to stay on campus for summer. I would already have had to make arrangements for it. Sorry..." I suddenly realize how much I'm rambling and cover my mouth with my hand.

But his understanding expression and locked eyes on me never once falter.

"So, then go. Brielle, as much as I don't like Logan, he's reasonable. He's gotta be, considering you two are together." he laughs.

I smile, "Thank you, Jay."

He nods.

"Anything I can help you with? I offer kindly, trying to return the favor.

He shrugs, "No, probably not. I just feel stressed out and lonely."

"Jay, I'm so sorry. I didn't know." I say sincerely.

He shrugs again, "How were you supposed to? You've been avoiding me. And I bet you won't even tell Logan that you had this conversation today."

"That's not true...I definitely didn't mean to. I just didn't know. I-I'm sorry." I apologize.

"That's understandable. I'm really sorry that wasn't fair of me to say." he says.

"I'm just going through a lot and I'm upset that's all."

"We're still friends and you know that. You can always come to me for anything." I tell him.

"Yeah. We're... friends." he says.

I hear my phone receive a notification and quickly look at it.

"I- shoot, I can't stay. I have to get back to my dorm. Macy's got this thing tonight that she needs me for."