The Cell Phone Swap

Chapter 33 iMiss Those Days

"Then why didn't you tell me all this to begin with? Why did I have to found out about what he did to Claire through him?"

Sighing, he leaned back, put his hands behind his head and settled into the pillows. "Like I said before, I have a lot of regrets about how I dealt with Claire. The biggest one was what happened after he leaked those photos. Everyone kept taunting me about getting JT's seconds. I was angry and embarrassed and..."

"Your pride was hurt," she filled in.

"A little." He paused, and then admitted, "Okay, maybe a lot. I hadn't realized she took those photos and shared them with him. And I had a hard time dealing with the snide remarks and constant harassing I got in the locker room. So instead of supporting Claire and standing by her like I should have, I ignored her." He bit out a curse. "I sound like a complete dick, don't I?"

"The biggest," she said, not sugarcoating the answer. She climbed in bed and stretched out next to him. 

"I hate myself for how I reacted," Zach continued. "In the beginning, she called and texted wanting to talk to me, but she stopped when she realized I wasn't answering on purpose. That's when I started to comprehend how badly I messed up. I called her repeatedly to apologize, to tell her how much I cared, even went to her house to beg forgiveness, but she refused to see me. However, she did send me a text right before she moved. Told me she didn't know what hurt more—the knowledge that I used her to win a stupid football game, or the fact that I wasn't there for her when she needed me the most."

He broke off as he tilted his head further back and swallowed. It took him several moments to be able to speak again and when he did, his voice was rough and uneven. "Then she asked if I would do one thing for her. I instantly agreed. At that point, I would have down anything to prove how much I still cared. I thought she was going to ask me to beat up Harrington or have me admit in front of the whole school what I did. But she didn't want any of that. " A look of disbelief and admiration crossed his face. "The only she wanted was a single promise. So I did it. I promised I wouldn't tell anyone what happened. And up until today, I kept my word."

Keeley let his confession soak in. A part of her understood, even respected, his motivation to keep his promise, but the other side of her wished he'd been upfront to begin with. It would have saved her hours of worrying and contemplating. Not to mention, she could have avoided a whole pile of misunderstandings.

"I have a question," she said, rolling onto her stomach. She propped her right elbow on the pillow and rested her chin on her hand. "Talon told me she said he was too intense, that's why she started liking you. But if she felt that way, then why did she send those photos?"

The ends of his lips turned down into a slight grimace. "I think she was always insecure about her relationship with JT. There were a ton of girls chasing after him and she thought the only way to keep his attention was to do something provocative. She knew it was a mistake as soon as she sent them, but once they're sent..." he trailed off and shrugged.

"What I don't get is how she can go from liking him so much she sends him revealing photos, to thinking he's too intense and cheating."

"Don't quote me on this, but the feeling I got from talking to her, was that he wasn't always so intense. It wasn't until later on in their relationship that it became too much for her."

Keeley could see that. Talon hid his intense personality behind a façade of jokes and arrogance. It wasn't until he started to trust a person that he revealed his true nature.

"I always thought their relationship was unbalanced," Zach added. His voice turned low and thoughtful as he contemplated. "Claire's personality is very understated, while JT is this huge, unstoppable force. He couldn't help, but run her over. The two of them together just didn't mix."