James’ Point of View
“Well, I’d be upset if I were her to but she over-reacted.” She told me. “Um, yeah, sure.” I said. I couldn’t bring myself to tell her what else happened. If she knew what else I had said, she’d understand why Carly was upset. “So, are you guys like officially broken up?” she asked me. “I don’t know. Maybe.” I answer. “Are you sad?” she asks me. “Umm, not really. I never really wanted to date her. I just did because my ex-best friend said I should.” I tell her. “Then why were you with her so long?! That’s not fair to her.” She exclaimed. “No, it’s not like I never liked her. It’s just, at first, I didn’t know her but once I got to know her, she was a lot of fun. The first few months we were together, I really enjoyed the relationship. It’s just recently, since the beginning of the year, I began losing interest in her.” I say to her, wondering if she’ll hear my hint.
“Oh.” She said. We stood in silence for a few minutes before I spoke. “What going on between you and Luke?” I ask her. She just shrugs. “Are you guys together or something?” I ask, hoping to get a more definite answer. “I don’t know.” She answers me. “Well, do you like him?” I ask her. “Yes.” She answers. I turned and looked at her. She also turned and looked back at me. God, she’s so beautiful I think to myself. I wanted to tell her everything and hold her close to me but she just told me that she likes my best friend. Why does love have to be so complicated? I think to myself. “Do you like me?” I ask her. She looked away from me and shrugged. “Do you like me?” she asks me. I hesitated for a second and answered. “No. We’re just friends.”
She continued staring out into the backyard, letting my words sink in. “Yeah. Just friends.” she repeated. I could hear the sadness in her voice and I almost took back what I said, but I couldn’t. She deserved someone better than me. She deserved someone that would be drama free. She deserved someone with no excess baggage, especially not as big as mine. “Well, I’m going to go now.” she says, walking towards the door. She avoids looking at me directly. “Why? I thought you were sleeping here tonight?” I ask, reaching towards her. She pulled back from me and it took me every ounce in my body not to grab her and kiss her. “Um, I don’t think so. I told Luke I’d be staying with him tonight.” “Oh, okay. See you tomorrow, Friend.” I say, forcing out the ‘friend’ part. “Okay. Good night…..Friend.” She says turning away from me. I could tell she was upset but hey, it would make it easier for Luke to slide in and comfort her.
As soon as she left my room, I walked back inside my room. I stared at the door for several minutes fighting the urge to go after her. I took a seat on the edge of my bed and began arguing with myself. Why did you say that! You know you love her! Why would you just let her walk out of your room like that? A voice in my head said. Because I’m an idiot and she deserves better. Another voice answers. I spend an extra few minutes in the shower before I finally got out. I put on my sweatpants and got into bed. Ever since Elena and I made the bet, I’ve had so much fun hanging out with her. She is so nice and funny. She always puts a smile on my face. Ever since we started spending more time together, I began missing her whenever she wasn’t near. Especially these past few days. Having Carly here meant that she didn’t spend the night, here with me. She hasn’t slept in here since she heard that Carly was coming. She’s barely spoken to me. I wish things were a lot simpler. I thought to myself.
“I should tell her the truth.” I said out loud. I got up from the bed and walked to the door. I opened it slightly when I heard voices in the other part of the house. I turned off my bedroom lights and opened the door a little farther so I could hear the voices. I recognized Elena’s and Sierra’s voices and I began listening into their conversation.
“Well, good night.” Elena said. After a few seconds, I heard Sierra say, “Is everything alright? I might have been listening to ya’ll’s conversation.” Elena pauses for a second and said “Yeah. Everything is fine.” “You know you can tell me anything.” Sierra says. “Yeah, I know. I just don’t have anything to say. He said he doesn’t like me and that’s it.” I hear Elena say. If only you knew I thought to myself. “You know he’s lying.” Sierra says. “I don’t care.” “Yes you do.” Sierra interrupts Elena.“Well, even if I do, it doesn’t matter anymore. I’ve liked James since freshman year and neither of us has made a move. Luke on the other hand, he’s sitting there saying that he likes me but if I prefer James, he’ll still be happy.” Elena says, sounding exasperated.
“I think you should do what you feel is right.” Sierra says after a moment. “I know. I know what I should do.” Elena sighs. “Good. Now go to sleep, there is no reason you should be crying.” Sierra says to Elena. I wanted to continue listening but I heard footsteps coming down the hall. I quickly and quietly closed my door. I heard Luke’s door open and close. I opened my door again and walked out into the hall. I didn’t hear another set of footsteps so I walked to the living room and saw Sierra sitting on the couch, watching TV.
“Hey.” I say to her. She looked at me and just nodded her head. “Mind if I join you? I couldn’t sleep.” I tell her, taking a seat on the couch, opposite of her. “Don’t you have a TV in your room?” she asks me. I nod. “Then why don’t you watch TV in your room?” she asks me. “Umm, because, I don’t know. I just didn’t want to. I usually watch TV whenever Elena is sleeping with me.” I answer truthfully. “Really?” she asks me, clearly not believing me. “Yeah. Whenever Elena is sleeping with me, we sit and watch a movie or two. Normally, I’d just turn on ESPN and just sit there reading a book.” I tell her. “Oh, is that why you couldn’t stay in your room?” she asks. “What? The fact that Elena is not sleeping with me?” I ask, knowing that that’s what she’s referring too.
“Duh.” She says, rolling her eyes a bit. Might as well tell her the truth I think to myself. “Sierra, if I tell you something, can you keep it a secret?” I ask her, sitting up and leaning on my knees. “It depends. If it’s something that Elena needs to know then probably not.” She tells me. “It’s about Elena but I’m going to tell her when I’m ready.” I tell her. “Ummm, you know it’ll be hard keeping a secret from one of my best friend’s right?” she says, internally debating with herself. “I know, but I’ll promise you that it’ll be best if I tell her this and not you.” I say to her. Sierra contemplated her decision for several seconds. “Umm, spill it pretty boy.” She says, with a look of determination.
“Okay, so, earlier, I told Elena a little bit of what happened at dinner today but I didn’t tell her what exactly pissed off Carly.” I explain, giving her some background. She nods. “Well, when Carly and I were in the car, she asked me if I love her and I said no. When I said no, she began asking me questions about Elena. So I told her everything.” I said. “Everything?” she asks me. “Yes.” “Everything, as in the bet too?” she asks me, raising her eyebrows. I nodded. “Wow. No wonder why she was pissed.” Sierra said, shaking her head a little bit. “That’s not all of it.” I said. Her eyes got big and I continued telling her what happened. “So, she began asking me questions and I told her about the bet and the terms of the bet. Then she asked me who I think won the bet. So naturally, I answered the Elena won the bet. Then she asked me why I thought that Elena won the bet and I told her that I might be falling in love with her.” I confess to Sierra. Sierra was surprised at my confession. She began to aww but I stopped her. “Shhh! Someone might hear you.” I said.
“Awww, you’re falling in love with Elena!” she said much quieter this time. I smiled and nervously started running my hands through my hair. “Oh, wait,” Sierra says, her face suddenly falling. “What?” I ask her. “You, on the balcony, you told her that ya’ll we’re just friends. We were in the kitchen and she said that Luke said that he likes her.” Sierra says to me. The smile immediately disappeared from my face. I completely forgot about our conversation on the balcony. I wish I could take back everything I said to her. “She said she likes him.” Sierra adds.
“I know. She told me too.” I say, running my hands through my hair. “Well, when are you planning on telling her? Tomorrow is our last day here and then we’ll be back in school. I think Luke might also make his move tomorrow.” She says to me. “You think so?” I ask her. “I think so. I mean, we’re supposed to go out as a group for dinner tomorrow night but anything could happen.” She says. “Well then.” I say exasperated.
We sat in silence for a few minutes, both of us thinking of a plan. “Sierra, do you think I’m good enough for Elena?” I ask her. She takes her time responding. “You’re a great guy James. She’s liked you for a while now and I can see why. You’re nice and funny and polite. Elena being my best friend, I would say that no guy is good enough for her but you, you’re pretty close.” She says to me. I smile a little bit. “What about Luke?” I ask her. She paused before answering. “If you would have asked me before you told me that you were in love with Elena, I would say he’s the better candidate but now, I don’t know. It’s Elena’s decision. I know she likes you and Luke. Luke’s also a great guy. The difference between you and him is that he has less drama in his life.” She says.
I frown at her words. “Don’t worry James. You still have a chance to get Elena.” She says. “I hope.” I answer. We sit in silence for a few minutes before Sierra spoke. “Well, I’m going to go to bed. See you tomorrow.” She says, getting up. “Night.” I say. She handed me the remote control and walked down the hall to her room.
When I heard the door close, I waited a few minutes and got up from my couch. I moved onto the recliner and turned the channel to ESPN. I had the TV on but all I could think about was Elena and how I had to get her back. I needed to come up with plan to get her back to me. After a few minutes, I dozed off.
“Yo, James. Go to your room man.” I heard someone nudging me. I opened my eyes reluctantly and saw Luke. “What time is it?” I asked him. “It’s 6 am.” He said to me. “Why are you up so early?” I asked him, slowly getting up from the couch. “I’m going out for a jog.” He tells me. “Oh, well, have fun.” I say walking towards my room. I would normally go with him but I wasn’t in the mood this morning. I had to think of a plan.