I was made for loving you - Rodrick Heffley

Chapter 8

Joaquin hit the brakes immediately. Luckily the road was empty so he didn't hit anything. And since everyone was wearing their seatbelts no one got hurt.

So without much trouble, Joaquin turned around to look at him. "You're in love with who?"

He shrugged a little uncomfortable with the attention. "Kim. I think I'm in love with Kim."

Sam, who was already looking at Rodrick, had her mouth open. "Kim? You mean Kimberly Delgado?"

"Do we know any other Kim?" Rodrick asked.

Sam looked as though her brain was short-circuiting. Meanwhile, Joaquin was a little confused.

"But I thought you didn't see her in that way? She thought you didn't see her that way. Back in middle school, you said that you saw her as a friend."

"I only said that to get my friends off my back. They were asking if Kim and I were ever going to start dating." Rodrick explained. "And I would have said anything for them to stop talking about it."

"Wait, is that why Kim stopped talking to you?" Sam asked once she had finished processing what Rodrick confessed. "Kim was going to tell you that she liked you and she overheard you saying that you two were just friends?"

"Yeah."

"Are you kidding me?" Sam yelled. "I have spent so much of my time trying to figure out why you stopped talking and it was all because you said you two were just friends?! I thought you said something more offensive than that!"

"To be fair that wouldn't be something a girl would want to hear if she was going to tell her crush something." Joaquin pointed out.

"Still, Kim and Rodrick would have stayed friends. Why didn't they?" Sam asked.

"Kim found it too painful to be friends with him after that," Joaquin explained. "She didn't think that she'd be able to be around him with what she was feeling and still be friends."

"How do you know this?" Rodrick asked.

"She told me," Joaquin said simply.

Sam looked hurt. "Why didn't she tell me?"

"I think it was mainly because I was the closest friend in the vicinity. That and she was a little afraid of what you'd do to Rodrick if you found out." Joaquin added.

"What are you trying to say?" Sam asked.

"I'm saying that you threatened Rodrick when you found out he was trying to ruin Kim's date. Which now that we know you're in love with her, makes a whole lot of sense."

"Speaking of which, did you think that ruining her first date was the best way to go?" Sam said. "I mean, no one I know would think that's romantic in the slightest."

"Hey, I'm a jealous teenage boy who is probably in love with his best friend from childhood. What do you want from me?" Rodrick defended.

Joaquin sighed and turned to Sam. "You were right. Men are stupid."

"You just now realized that?" She said in disbelief.

"No, I always knew. I just forgot and this has reminded me." Joaquin said.

Rodrick rolled his eyes. "As nice as this conversation is, can we change the subject?"

"Right." She looked at Rodrick expectantly. "So what are you going to do?"

"What do you mean what am I going to do?"

"I mean are you going to tell Kim how you feel?" She clarified.