Chasing Gold

17| this is me

My eyes begin to water up a little. It's extremely hard for me to trust people because I know what if feels like to be looked at in the eyes and be lied to. I didn't have friends in high school because I learned the hard way that not everyone who calls themselves your friend really is one.

When I was in my junior year I met Kingston, he was in my AP English Language and Composition Class. Mr. Bailey paired us up for an assignment that first semester, he was very nice and a great partner. We spent almost every afternoon together after we both got out of our respective practices (he was on the soccer team and I was on the swim team) working on the assignment. After that, we got really close and we were literally attached to the hip. He became my best friend. I got to know his friends and we would go out every other weekend to spend time at the lake.

After a few months, we both realized that we felt an undeniable attraction towards each other, so we decided to give us a try. Kingston was my first kiss and my first everything. My family and his got really close, I remember how we spent many weekends together at grandpa's ranch. I even spent Christmas with him and his family in Aspen.

When we were about to reach our first year and a half together things started to change, he became distant and we barely spent time together anymore. I would always push him for details because I knew something wasn't right, but he always assured me everything was okay between us. I should've listened to my gut, it never fails me (most times).

I clearly remember the day everything shattered for me, Kingston had been spending an awful lot of time with a girl named Josie. He promised me that besides her helping him out with his Biology class nothing else was going on between the two of them. He lied.

My birthday was coming up and we were all going to head down to grandpa's ranch to celebrate, I asked Kingston if he was going to ride with us that Friday evening and he said he had a family thing he had to go to, so he was going to join us on Saturday morning. Saturday came (the day of my birthday) and I remember it was around three. Kingston still hadn't shown up and he hadn't even texted me.

The day wasn't pretty that Saturday afternoon, the skies were grey and we had to bring the party inside because it started to pour. While I was with my family, I couldn't stop thinking about Kingston. My mind was thinking the worst, but I could have never guessed what was really going on. I remember receiving a text from an unknown number. You should see what really goes on behind closed doors. It read and attached to the message was an address.

Without thinking about it twice I ran out of the house with Aunt Claire's keys in hand and I drove to the location. My heart wasn't prepared to see what it saw. The address belonged to the diner where Kingston took me on our first date.

When I walked in, Kingston had his arms wrapped around Josie, the two of them were kissing. They weren't alone though, most of our friends were with him too. Everybody knew except me. All of my so-called friends knew that it had been going on for a while, but no one had the decency to tell me. Not even Kingston's sister, who at the time was my best friend.

When I confronted him in front of Josie and our friends, he told me to get a grip. Something inside me broke that day and I've been trying to put the pieces back together ever since.

Love, love isn't supposed to destroy people but it ended up destroying me that day.

A tear falls down my tinted pink cheek and I wiped it away with my index finger. "I haven't thought about Kingston in a long time."

"I know," Peyton half-smiles. "And I'm sorry for reminding you of him, I just wanted to remind you about how far you've come and how you deserve to give yourself a second chance because you were never the problem, to begin with. Everyone knows it and I bet he does now too."