The Act

t h i r t y t h r e e

"Jay" I whispered confused

He didn't respond and just looked away with pain in his eyes

"What's wrong?" I reached out my hand to put on his arm but he shrugged it away I flinched from the indifferent act.

What's wrong with him

30 min ago

Jay pov

I wonder what Yera wants to tell me

We reached a small cliff after a little while. It was beautiful, you could see the city from there.

"This place is amazing, how'd you find it?" I asked in awe

"U-um I just stumbled upon it" she stammered

I looked towards her, concerned "What's up?" 

"I uh wanted to tell y-you something" she continued while fidgeting with her hands and moving from foot to foot

"Hey, calm down what's wrong? Just tell me, no need to be nervous" I put my hands over hers to stop her fidgeting 

She relaxed under my touch and finally spoke

"Jay, do you remember middle school?"

"Uh, yeah vaguely"

"Do you remember me? From middle school?"

"Of course" 

"Ok, ahem" she started getting nervous again

"I remember the first day of middle school, I was a nervous wreck since I was the only new student in our grade, I had no friends, I knew no one and I was sitting alone at a lunch table and this guy just comes and sits at my table and starts chatting with me and I think he's crazy, but this guy doesn't let up and keeps chatting with me throughout the day, ignoring his friends and I eventually got annoyed, but when I got home, I found myself thinking about this guy the whole day and I eventually caught myself developing feelings for him. We eventually became friends and he developed feelings for me too but we didn't get together so my feelings eventually died down, until we met again."

She's not talking about-

"and that guy was you" 

"I like you. Jay" she finished 

How am I supposed to respond?

Ah, use an excuse

"Yera, I have a girlfriend"

Fake

"I-i know I just needed to tell you"

"I really am hoping that you weren't expecting anything"

"No, of course not" she looked down and I saw her shoulders shake softly

"Yera, I'm sorry, I know how much courage it must have taken you to come to tell me this but I really do like Ara and yes I did like you back then but I also liked Ara and my feelings for her eventually overtook my feelings for you. I know what I just said may hurt you but I'm saying it because I don't want you to keep liking me and keep being let down. "

"No, it's fine, I understand thank you"

I brought her into my arms and as we stood there I thought

Yera was brave enough to confess to you

Don't be a coward, tell Ara

"Are you ok now?" I asked

"Yeah" she sniffled pulling away