Something Complicated

Chapter Fourteen: Video Scandal...Or Not?

When you barely make it home in time for curfew, all you have to do is beg your friend to sleep over.

That explains why Cacay's here in my bedroom, going through my clothes and commenting on how plain I looked earlier.

"You should have worn these," She says, holding out a denim skirt and green and white tee.

"Skirt at a track meet? Are you serious?" I take the skirt from her and run my fingers along the seam. Shaking my head, I say, "It's too short!"

"Yeah, well, there was a party right after and we were not prepared," She takes a dress from my closet. A smile spreads across her face. "Hey, can I borrow this?"

It is a plain red dress with bell sleeves—the one I wore two Christmases ago. I only wore it once because red is not really my color. I just thought it was, but no. Cacay is waiting for my response so I nod. "You can have it."

"Thank you," She hugs me and whispers. "Though you owe me big time, so..."

"Yeah I know," I sigh. "Sorry that you had to sleep here because I almost missed my curfew."

"No biggie. I actually missed your bedroom and your books," She lies down face first in my bed. "But really Jen, you're eighteen and you still have curfew?"

"1:00 a.m. curfew, FYI," I lie down beside her and stare at the ceiling. "That's actually a good time. Who wants to be somewhere else aside from her bed at two in the morning?"

"I don't know...maybe if you have a boyfriend. Maybe you want to be in his bed rather than your bed."

"Do you want to sleep with Randy?" I ask, quite shocked that she has mentioned "sleeping with someone." We actually never talk about sex. Kissing or making out, yes. But sex? Never.

"Maybe," She smiles at me. "But he's not yet my boyfriend, so I should be the one to ask you. Do you want to sleep with Stefan?"

To be honest, I have thought about having sex since I had my first boyfriend. He is a former friend who had a crush on me since grade school. In our third month, we actually tried to do it. We failed because I found out I was not yet ready. Months after that, we broke up.

"No," I say, flushed. Because actually, the moment Cacay has asked me about it, I think of how Stefan's lips would feel on my skin.

NO.

"Your face says otherwise," Cacay winks. Her wink makes me blush even more. She goes on "But you have to be ready. You don't have to do it if you're not ready."

"I know," I whisper.

"So nothing happened yet?"

"What?"

"Nothing happened yet, between you two..."

"What?! No," I shake my head. Cacay laughs at how I have turned tomato red. That's how she describes the color of my face. I frown and say, "Don't you think I will tell you if something really happened?"

"Well, yeah. Anyway, you don't have to pressure yourself, Jen. There's right time for sex..."

"Okay, we're not talking about sex anymore," I lazily reach over to my bedside table is grab my phone. The first thing I notice is Facebook. There are too many notifications and friend requests. Weird.

I browse my newsfeed and see a video. A video of me with Stefan uploaded on the school's confession page. A video that was taken earlier at the party. A video of him hugging and kissing me on stage.

"What's that?" Cacay takes the phone from me and sees the video. After watching it, she smiled. "It's cute, Jen."

"What cute?! It's embarrassing!" I close my eyes and took a deep breath.

"It's cute. He was just confessing his love for you, so it's not a big deal," She shrugs. Well, yeah. It is not really a big deal since it's not a sex scandal or something. But...

"People are now going to notice me," I check my friend requests and am surprised at how that single video has changed my social status. Well, online status...

"Let's read the comments," Cacay suggests. I am scared to know what people are saying, but curiosity gets the best of me.

"She's not even pretty. What did Stefan Manzano see in her?" I read the comment with no likes. I roll my eyes. "Whatever."

"Seriously, guys?! The video is not really clear. How can you possibly say she's not pretty?" Cacay grins and says, "That sounds like me...like if I were going to post a comment, that's exactly what I would say. Okay, your turn."

"They are sickeningly cute. It's killing me."

"Can Stefan Manzano notice me instead? Hello, I exist! I am human. I breathe." The way Cacay reads it, with facial expression and all, makes me crack up.

"Stefan should be in love with me and not with her."

"Stefan was so sweet. Lucky girl!"

"I thought he was dating Aubrey Faulkner. What happened? They were my campus OTP," My eyes narrow into a glare. "What the hell is OTP?"

"One True Pairing," Cacay answers. "It's internet slang. It means the best couple or something."

"Whatever," I lock my phone and put it under my pillow. "Let's go get some sleep."

"Oh. Looks like someone's jealous..."

"I am not jealous," I roll my eyes and whisper, because it's two a.m. and we are being loud. "I am just bothered by the attention I'm getting because of this video. Students will now look at me every time I pass by. And that's a little embarrassing."

"Just talk to Stefan about it. He will know what to do."

"Yeah," I sighed. "You're right."