late to class.
“What’s wrong, Kit Kat?”
“Nothing’s wrong.”
“We used to talk, but now we don’t.”
“We’re not in the same class anymore.”
“That can’t be the real reason. Are you mad at me?”
“No.”
“Why are you avoiding me then?”
“I’m not.”
“Did I do something?”
“No. We’re going to be late for class.”
His face was inches from mine, and people were scurrying past us to class. I couldn’t look him in the eye. I desperately wanted to talk to him, to ask why we hadn’t gone out, but I didn’t want to embarrass myself. Even more, I didn’t want to ask him about the girl wearing his jersey because I didn’t want to hear him admit to having a girlfriend that wasn’t me. That would have hurt more than seeing them dancing or her wearing his shirt.
Despite all of it, I wanted to forget the bullshit and kiss him hard, claiming him as mine, but I couldn’t. He was off limits. We were only friends, if we were even that anymore.
He had stepped back and let me escape, but another incident was soon to follow.
I began walking around the halls at lunch with my friends, one of which was a boy. Jared had a different lunch hour, so I was surprised when I saw him in the hall during my lunch. We didn’t say anything to each other, but the irritated look on his face said plenty. Later that afternoon, between classes, he grabbed my arm, dragging me to the side.
“Is that guy your boyfriend?”
“What guy?”
“The one you were walking around with earlier?”
“No. Why?”
He relaxed. “I just wanted to know.”
Jared said nothing more. He walked away and I was left gawking after him, utterly confounded.
After that encounter, I saw him talking to his new girlfriend. It was a shot in my gut each time I saw them together, or her wearing his 55.
The school year was long and tedious, filled with teasing and frustration. He didn’t ask me to dance at any of the monthly school dances, let alone ask me to go to Homecoming or Prom, so I wasn’t inclined to ask him to the Sadie Hawkins’ Dance, either. By January, I had stopped going to the dances altogether. It was too hard for me. Of course, Jared questioned me why I wasn’t there. I had only told him that they were boring, which, really, was the absolute truth. I just left out that it was torture watching him watching me from afar.
A week before his graduation, Jared cornered me one last time.
“Are you going to miss me, Kit Kat?”
“Yes.”
“Will you think about me?”
I couldn’t lie. “Every day.”
He grinned. “I promise I’ll call you in a few days.”
My own smile was unanticipated. “Ok.”
Jared graduated and moved away to college, never calling me, leaving me to wonder what happened or why he seemed to care a little, yet took off without another glance. He couldn’t even spare a true, second glance when he showed up at my mom’s house for the rebuild.
I knew Jared wanted to go to college at Johns Hopkins and I didn’t expect him to live in Annapolis after graduation. I slowly tried to move on. He had moved on with someone, so I had to, also. There was no other way around it. I had started dating a guy my last year of high school, just because he was there, really. I wasn’t into him, but he seemed to want to be with me, and that was what I was missing from Jared. However, nobody made my stomach do somersaults like Jared did. We hadn’t even kissed, but that’s the power he had over me.
I had fallen in love with Jared, but he left. I had meant nothing to him.
I went on to college and became a teacher. I also had a second nose job done, hating that because of my accident, I was unconscious and had the surgery before I could tell them how I wanted it to look. A year later, one of my coworkers set me up on a blind date with a lawyer. Jed and I dated for eight months when one day he brought up marriage, and we just decided to do it at the courthouse. I wanted to finally erase Jared
“What’s wrong, Kit Kat?”
“Nothing’s wrong.”
“We used to talk, but now we don’t.”
“We’re not in the same class anymore.”
“That can’t be the real reason. Are you mad at me?”
“No.”
“Why are you avoiding me then?”
“I’m not.”
“Did I do something?”
“No. We’re going to be late for class.”
His face was inches from mine, and people were scurrying past us to class. I couldn’t look him in the eye. I desperately wanted to talk to him, to ask why we hadn’t gone out, but I didn’t want to embarrass myself. Even more, I didn’t want to ask him about the girl wearing his jersey because I didn’t want to hear him admit to having a girlfriend that wasn’t me. That would have hurt more than seeing them dancing or her wearing his shirt.
Despite all of it, I wanted to forget the bullshit and kiss him hard, claiming him as mine, but I couldn’t. He was off limits. We were only friends, if we were even that anymore.
He had stepped back and let me escape, but another incident was soon to follow.
I began walking around the halls at lunch with my friends, one of which was a boy. Jared had a different lunch hour, so I was surprised when I saw him in the hall during my lunch. We didn’t say anything to each other, but the irritated look on his face said plenty. Later that afternoon, between classes, he grabbed my arm, dragging me to the side.
“Is that guy your boyfriend?”
“What guy?”
“The one you were walking around with earlier?”
“No. Why?”
He relaxed. “I just wanted to know.”
Jared said nothing more. He walked away and I was left gawking after him, utterly confounded.
After that encounter, I saw him talking to his new girlfriend. It was a shot in my gut each time I saw them together, or her wearing his 55.
The school year was long and tedious, filled with teasing and frustration. He didn’t ask me to dance at any of the monthly school dances, let alone ask me to go to Homecoming or Prom, so I wasn’t inclined to ask him to the Sadie Hawkins’ Dance, either. By January, I had stopped going to the dances altogether. It was too hard for me. Of course, Jared questioned me why I wasn’t there. I had only told him that they were boring, which, really, was the absolute truth. I just left out that it was torture watching him watching me from afar.
A week before his graduation, Jared cornered me one last time.
“Are you going to miss me, Kit Kat?”
“Yes.”
“Will you think about me?”
I couldn’t lie. “Every day.”
He grinned. “I promise I’ll call you in a few days.”
My own smile was unanticipated. “Ok.”
Jared graduated and moved away to college, never calling me, leaving me to wonder what happened or why he seemed to care a little, yet took off without another glance. He couldn’t even spare a true, second glance when he showed up at my mom’s house for the rebuild.
I knew Jared wanted to go to college at Johns Hopkins and I didn’t expect him to live in Annapolis after graduation. I slowly tried to move on. He had moved on with someone, so I had to, also. There was no other way around it. I had started dating a guy my last year of high school, just because he was there, really. I wasn’t into him, but he seemed to want to be with me, and that was what I was missing from Jared. However, nobody made my stomach do somersaults like Jared did. We hadn’t even kissed, but that’s the power he had over me.
I had fallen in love with Jared, but he left. I had meant nothing to him.
I went on to college and became a teacher. I also had a second nose job done, hating that because of my accident, I was unconscious and had the surgery before I could tell them how I wanted it to look. A year later, one of my coworkers set me up on a blind date with a lawyer. Jed and I dated for eight months when one day he brought up marriage, and we just decided to do it at the courthouse. I wanted to finally erase Jared
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