The Boy Next Door.

28. Boiling Over

Jared:

It takes everything in me not to get up and face plant what's his name on his desktop. Listening to Cassy flirt with him, makes my blood boil. When the bell rings, I can't get away from them fast enough. I need to calm the fuck down before she gets to the car. I need to try and talk to her again and I can't do that if I want to strangle her. As if the universe hasn't punished me enough today, it puts the cherry on the cake when I see her drive past five minutes later with what's his face behind the wheel.

Neil gives me one look and says, "No fucking way are you going out like that. I have a better idea. Follow me home."

Not even at her worse did Melissa get me so riled up. I don't know why I'm in such a rage. Taking a deep breath, I get on my bike and follow Neil home.

Once he's fed me he says, "Follow me."

When I realize we're going to their gym, I know his idea was better than me going out on the bike. The way I feel now, I probably would have ended up killing myself. Or worse, someone else.

Once inside the gym he gives me the boxing gloves and says, "When you're done, we'll talk." and with that he puts his earphones on and makes himself comfortable on one of the benches, waiting for me to punch Cassy out of my system. This is why he's my best friend.

For the next hour I beat the shit out of the boxing bag.

When my arms and legs are so tired that I can't lift them anymore, Neil stops me.

"Come, that's enough," he says, "Let's go cool off in the pool."

I'm at Neil's house so often that I have a stash of clothes in his cupboard. Putting a short on, I go downstairs where he's already in the pool.

The water is cold, but it feels great on my tired muscles.

"So what got you so worked up?" he asks once I'm comfortable, a Black Label in my hand.

Neil's dad keeps a few cases of beer in the garage because he often entertain clients at their house. He doesn't mind us drinking of it as long as we don't go over board and we replace them again.

"It's just been a crap day!" I start, ready to get this shit off my chest. "And then in English, Cassy comes in with this new guy, Mike I think his name is and gets all flirty with him. Then when I saw her drove off with him, it was just the last straw. I just lost it."

When Neil starts to laugh I warn him, "You've been busting my balls the whole day. I still have enough in me to give you a beating."

"You're jealous, buddy," he says, smiling at me.

I almost feel relieved when he puts a name to my emotions. I haven't felt like this in forever so it's no wonder I didn't put two and two together.

"No wonder I wanted to face plant that mother fucker," I say and for the first time today, I can smile at myself.

Having dropped the bomb, Neil leaves it to me to figure it out from there. By the time we're done swimming, we're both hungry and since his mum is still at work we order hamburgers and chips from Steers and settle in to watch a movie.

By 19h00 I can feel the emotional roller-coaster of the day starting to take it's toll and decide to go home.
When I hear Cassy talking to her mum in their backyard, the last bit of stress leaves my body. For the first time today I am completely calm. It such an anti climax that it drains the last bit of energy out of me and before I know it I'm fast asleep.

For the rest of the week I try my best to get close to Cassy, but she's glued to what's his faces' side. Unfortunately he's in every class with us, so I can't even corner her there. That leaves me with the breaks, but then she brings him to our table and introduces him to everyone and to my utter horror they all love him.

They're all a bunch of fucking traitors.