“I’m not sure what she decided. She was with Wyatt until early this morning. He left at some ungodly hour to go back to school—said he wanted to get some sleep before the game tonight.” She glances at the time on her cell phone. “The game starts in ten minutes.”
“Sorry you’re missing it.”
“What? Are you serious right now? I’m pretty excited to go to my first dance with a date if you haven’t noticed.”
“Another first.”
She smiles shyly, her cheeks turning the slightest bit of pink, as we walk hand in hand through the gym doors. Heads turn toward us, and Kinsley grips my hand a little tighter. She hates when people stare at her, but looking like she does tonight, there’s no way they can’t. She’s the prettiest girl in the entire room.
“Dance with me?” I ask her even though she has no choice. I’ve been waiting for this all day.
“Sure.”
We find a spot on the floor, and I pull her close. One Direction’s, “Eighteen,” plays in the background. People continue to stare, as I kiss her lips while slowly swaying our bodies from side to side, but I couldn’t care less. All I see is my Sunny.
Just as the song ends, we almost bump right into Becca and Jake. “Come on, Kinsley.” I have nothing to say to Jake. Not yet anyway.
But she tugs on my arm, pulling me back to where we were standing a moment ago. “Rhett, please. Talk to Jake.” Her eyes are pained and I can tell it’s eating her up inside to have come between the two of us. She doesn’t get it though. I’d put her first no matter who touched her.
“Rhett, come on man. This is stupid.”
And once again, I’m in his face. “Stupid? You think showing up at my girlfriend’s apartment completely wasted and picking fights is stupid?”
“No, I think you being this pissed about it is stupid. I didn’t try to hit her. I’d never lay a hand on a girl and you know that.”
“He’s right, Rhett. He’s not a bad person just because he made one mistake.”
I whip my head toward the girl I love more than anything. Even she’s on Jake’s side. “That one mistake could have knocked you out, Kinsley. He shouldn’t have even been there!”
“But he was. It’s in the past.”
“Pfft, maybe for you.”
Kinsley pulls me aside, and grabs my face between her hands. “Listen to me. He’s been your best friend for years. Don’t throw away a friendship because of me. He needs his best friend right now.”
I glance at Jake and for the first time I notice he looks pretty miserable. Part of me wants to stay mad, but when I see how much it means to Kinsley to talk to him, I know I have to. There’s no way I’ll ever forgive him for hurting her, but I can at least try to have a conversation. “I can’t pretend I’m not pissed, but I’ll try.”
“Thank you. I’ll take Becca. Find out what’s going on.”
Once the girls are gone, I have no choice but to work things out with Jake. “Lets go sit down.”
“Dude, this is probably the shittiest homecoming ever.”
“Why?”
“Because I fucked up. I can’t lose my best friend and my girlfriend in the same weekend. That’s serious loser status.”
I follow Kinsley with my eyes until I see where they’re going. They stop on the other side of the room near the bleachers. Becca’s talking a mile a minute like she normally does, and Kinsley’s listening to her every word. “I’m still your friend, Jake. But I swear to god if you ever touch her again I will kick your ass—accident or no accident. And lay off the alcohol.”
“Done. I don’t care if I ever touch it again. Not after last night.” Everything happens for a reason and maybe Kinsley getting hurt is enough for Jake to realize there’s more to life than getting drunk every free chance he has. He’s getting to the point that if he doesn’t slow down now, he’ll surely kill himself by the time he goes to college.
“Are you and Becca still together?”
“Hell if I know. She’s barely talking to me and when she does, it’s not like it used to be. Whatever Wyatt put into her head last night worked. I feel like she’s already with him and we’re not even officially broken up.”
“Have some confidence, then. Maybe she doesn’t want to break up. You’re all uptight about losing her, but you still have her. Make her want to stay.” Jake’s finally looking a little more optimistic, but now Kinsley has the same look he had a couple minutes ago.
“What’s wrong, Sunny?”
“Do you mind if we go back to my apartment?”
“Are you sure? We haven’t even been here for an hour.”
“I know, but I think Becca needs us right now.”
Jake overhears her, and raises an eyebrow. “What’s wrong with her?”
Kinsley chews on her fingernail, her eyes looking toward mine for help. I can’t help her though—I have no idea what’s going on. Regardless, I trust her judgement. If she thinks we need to leave, then we probably do. “We can leave.”
Jake’s on our heels, not giving up on getting information out of Kinsley. “Will someone tell me what’s going on?”
Becca’s standing next to my truck once we get to the parking lot. Tears are streaming down her cheeks, and there’s a trail of black shit all over her face. This can’t be good.
Jake takes one look at her and a bunch of unspoken words are tossed back and forth before he shakes his head and kicks my tire. “I fucking knew it. I knew you were lying.”
His reaction only makes Becca cry harder. “D-don’t Jake,” she pleads. “I’m s-sorry.”
“So am I. I’m sorry I ever thought you gave a shit about me. I would never have cheated on you, Becca. Never.”
He turns to walk away and Becca runs after him, grabbing his arm. She holds onto him as she cries into his suit jacket. “Jake, please. I’m so sorry. This wasn’t supposed to h-happen.”
“It is what it is,” he says before peeling her hands off his arm and walking away. Becca falls to the ground, her sobs coming out in short bursts in between her silent tears.
Kinsley and I help her off the ground before I pick her up and sit her inside my truck. Kinsley climbs in next to her and shuts the door.
Becca raises her head from her hands, “I’m sorry I ruined your night.”
“You didn’t ruin anything,” I tell her. I don’t even need to know the rest of the story to understand that she hooked up with Wyatt last night. Now she’s trying to survive the guilt. It’s the worst kind of karma.
Becca’s not the kind of girl to randomly hook up with guys which makes what she did sting that much more. Jake knows she would only give herself to someone she needed in her life. And she needs Wyatt—not Jake.
WE ALL SURVIVED homecoming week despite all the drama—though some better than others. Oddly enough, after all the fighting and serious talks were over, it all brought us closer together. Now, a week later, it’s finally time to have a little fun at Fall Fest.
Rhett and I wanted as much time together as possible, so as soon as the football game ended, we hopped in his truck and drove the almost two hours to the camp ground. My cheeks are wind burned from sitting at the football game, my feet hurt, and I could sleep for an entire day, but I couldn’t be more excited for this weekend away.
Rhett has everything we need for the next two days scattered around us on the ground. He’s putting the finishing touches on our bright red tent while I finish pumping some air into the air mattress.
“What do you think? Not bad for putting it together in the dark, right?”
I walk toward the tent, leaning down to peek inside. “It’s bigger than I thought It would be.” Not that we need a lot of room. I plan on staying as close to Rhett as I can, all night long.