Strings Attached • JIARA•

29

JJ's POV:

Kie surprised me at my work party. It had been a month or so since I've seen her. It's been so hard not having her here. I missed her all the time.

I made the decision to drive down to Florida and see her. I know she had a stressful week of finals. It was a really long drive and I got to her college house at around two in the morning. One of her roommates let me inside and she told me which room was hers.

The door was closed and I heard her laugh as I opened the door. I couldn't stop smiling as I was so excited to see my girlfriend. I opened the door and there as saw Kie with Dylan, her ex-boyfriend.

There was a laptop open on the bed and Dylan was laying on his side looking at Kie with his hand supporting his head. Kie was laying on her back laughing. She saw me and her face went blank.

I was so fucking confused and pissed off. Why was she with Dylan? In her bed. At 2 am.

"J" She said quickly sitting up and fixing her crop top

I wanted to walk over there and punch Dylan over and over again, but I held back. I didn't even want to know what was going on. I felt like I could puke right now my emotions were all over the place.

I turned and walked away from her bedroom and she followed me to the living room.

"It's not what it looks like... I wish I could explain things right now but we have a huge assignment that's due in like two hours and we have to finish it" She said turning and going back into her room

She left the door open and I heard her tell Dylan, "It's fine... We have to finish this"

They were quiet and I got in my car and drove away from the house. I broke down with angry tears. Kie texted me.

Kie: I'm sorry... Please come back so we can talk about this

I didn't respond. I sat in my car parked outside a random house. I didn't want to see Dylan with my girlfriend. I don't even want to think about what they could've done without me knowing.

Is this why she wanted to go to school early? Did she want to get away from me and go back to him? I sat in my car overthinking and then I drove back to Kie's house.

I walked right inside the house and to her bedroom where the two of them were still working on the project. I didn't care. I mean, of course, I did care and wanted Kie to do good and succeed in school but at this moment I didn't give a shit.

Kie's eyes were on me the second I walked into the room. I looked at Dylan and said, "Get the fuck out"

He didn't move and my anger got the best of me. I lightly punched him in the face. Not really that light but not as hard as I'd hit my dad.

"What the hell" Dylan said pissed

"You heard me, get the fuck out" I said to him and he started to move and I kissed Kie

It wasn't just a quick kiss, it was a long kiss. Something I had been so desperate for the whole drive here. She kissed me back and I forgot all about Dyan. All I cared about at this moment was Kie.

She broke the kiss and said, "I'm sorry, give me a few minutes to turn this project in"

She grabbed her laptop and made a few finishing touches to the project and turned it in. She looked at me and it was like she knew.

"I wanted to tell you that we had classes together and that we were randomly assigned to be partners for this project"

"Then why didn't you?" I challenged her

"Because when I facetimed you to tell you, you were super stressed and I didn't want to make it worse for you"

"Oh, so you just thought keeping it a secret was a better idea?"

We argued about it for a few minutes before I got pissed and asked, "If I would not have showed up here tonight and saw you together, would you have ever told me?"

She was quiet for a second before she said, "There wouldn't have been anything to tell you because it didn't matter"

I couldn't believe this. I did trust her not to cheat but I didn't trust him. She was pissed at me and I was pissed at her over something so stupid.

"Well maybe this is a sign that we shouldn't be together," Kie said

"Maybe it is... Maybe this was never meant to work in the first place" I agreed with her and I didn't want to agree with her but it was true

We both just looked at each other knowing we just broke each other's hearts. I would have left but I had a really long drive home and it was the middle of the night. I had nowhere to go but my car to sleep. I turned to walk out the door but Kie grabbed my hand. She didn't say anything, she just softly kissed me.

I kissed her back as I pulled her closer to me. This kiss was different than our kisses before. She lifted my shirt off of me and I guess we were still going to have sex. I went with it and it was good, it was different than before. It was like we were together but felt so far apart.

She crawled into my arms after I held her tight. She said, "I'm sorry... I swear nothing happened and nothing ever will happen. I was so happy to see you when you opened the door. You have no idea how much I missed you"

"I just hated seeing him with his hand on you and him in your bed"

"I never wanted to make you jealous or upset. I love you" She said holding me tighter

"I love you" I whispered as she fell asleep in my arms and I laid there sleepless

I couldn't stop thinking about Dylan and Kie. I eventually passed out and I got up pretty early and Kie was still asleep. I got dressed and grabbed my bag. I walked over to Kie and leaned down and I kissed her head, "I'm sorry, I'll always love you"

I quietly left her room and walked out to my car. I was leaving Kie's house. I couldn't believe what happened. I wanted to cry but my body wouldn't let me. I have a long drive back home to the Outer Banks.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out the ring. The whole reason I came here. The reason I so was so stressed the past few months—the reason I picked up a second job. Just to afford this stupid ring that Kie would never wear. This weekend was fucking ruined.

I texted Andrew (the hot air balloon guy) and said: Sorry for the late notice but the proposal isn't going to happen today

I threw my phone on the passenger seat and started driving back home to the Outer Banks. I had been on the road for around three hours before my phone was blowing up. I'm sure it was Kie but I didn't want to talk to her right now. All I wanted to do was drive away from my problems and try to pretend like they didn't exist.