Best Part || Jamie Flatters

06

Valeria Castro

I feel my phone vibrate in my hand, and I check it. It's a text from my mom, a picture.

I open it and see a picture of her and her soon-to-be husband, Daniel. They're in New York, at the Statue of Liberty. Of course they are. I laugh at the picture and feel Jamie looking over my shoulder. I look up at him, and since our faces are inches apart, I back my face up. He keeps looking at the picture, confused.

"Who's that?" He asks. "Mom's fiancé, Daniel."

"She's getting married?" His face contorts into an emotion I can't read. I nod and scroll up in our messages to find another picture of him. I finally find one and show it to him. I lean against the elevator wall so he's not breathing on my neck from behind me. He stares at the picture for a couple seconds before the elevator doors open.

I walk out and wait for Jamie to lead the way to his room. He's silent as I walk next to him, very suddenly. We get to his room, he takes out his wallet to get his key card. He opens the door and holds it open for me to go in.

He sighs and lays on his bed with his feet dangling off the edge. He pats the empty spot next to him, so I walk over and lay down next to him.

"What'd you want to talk about, Valeria?" He turns his head to look at me so I turn my head to look at him too. While I think of how to say what I want to say, his eyes wander around my face. "Why have you been so distant, Jamie?"

I try hard to read his face as he thinks of what to say. "I'm not being distant." I hold back a groan.

"Yes, you are." I argue and turn my head to look at the ceiling. I hear him sigh, irritated already. "I don't know what you want me to say." He says quietly.

"I don't know, an actual answer would be nice." I sit up, and I feel Jamie sit up too. His shoulder brushes mine, and I get chills. I squeeze my eyes shut, trying to get rid of that thing I just felt in my lower stomach.

I feel Jamie staring at the side of my face. I open my eyes and turn to look at him. He looks away and down to the ground.

I stare at his side profile, waiting for an answer. He bites his lower lip before opening his mouth to speak, but he's interrupted by the sudden ringing and text notification sounds from my phone.

God, not right now. I swear, we have the worst luck. I try to ignore it, but I keep feeling it vibrate in my back pocket.

I groan, annoyed, and pull it out. I first see a text from Bailey and an attachment with '?!???!?" I furrow my eyebrows and open her messages. I look up at Jamie, who leans over to look at my phone. I finally look back down and see a picture of Heath and my older sister kissing in an Instagram photo. I feel my mouth open in shock. Jamie snatches the phone from my hands, and I put my hand up to my mouth, still in shock.

I knew Isa was a horrible person and sister, but I never thought she'd go this low. He looks up at me for a second before he winces and looks back down at my phone, typing something to someone. He then grabs my hand and pulls me out of his room with him.

I come face-to-face with Bailey, who has anger written all over her face, a couple minutes later. "I'm sorry, Val. I probably shouldn't have sent you the photo." I shake my head. "No, Bai, it's okay. I would've found out eventually. I follow my own sister on Instagram." I give her a genuine smile and make eye contact with Jack, who also looks really mad.

He then glances down, and I realize I'm still holding hands with Jamie. I gently let go of his hand, he doesn't even turn to look at me because he's now on his phone doing whatever. I stand on my tippy toes to see what he's doing, and he's writing up a text to Sofia, who's spammed him a million times.

"I need a drink." I say this as I sit down on the edge of Bailey's bed next to Jack and rub my temples. "Half of us can't even get into a bar here, Valeria." I nod. "Yes, I am aware, Jack, I meant for me to just do or consume something to make me forget this." I hear Jack mumble under his breath, and I look at him with a glare. "Repeat that, Jack?"

He opens his mouth, glancing behind me, and says, "I said maybe Jamie can distract you." And he says it loud enough for Jamie to hum, confused. He looks back down at his phone and sits next to me on the bed. Bailey throws herself on the bed behind us.

"I'm trying to convince Sof not to commit arson right now." Jamie explains why he was on his phone and looks at me. "You okay?" He asks quietly. I nod. "I don't care that Heath moved on, I'm glad he did, it just stings that it was with my sister." He puts his hand on my forearm as a comforting gesture and doesn't break eye contact as he listens. Personally, though, I had to look at his nose and eye brows.

I clear my throat. "I wasn't joking I need a drink." I say and hear Bailey giggle behind us. Jamie gets a text, and he turns it over to see, me thinking it's Sof I look too, but it's from an attachment from an unknown or deleted number. I look at him, and he looks just as confused as I am. He opens it, and I see a different, more heated picture of Heath and Isa. Jamie immediately goes and blocks the number.

His hand goes back to my forearm to comfort me. I stare off into space for a couple of seconds or minutes. I only snap out of it when I feel Jamie's hand leave my arm. He stands up and sits on the chair at a desk Bailey has in her room. I hear another phone get a text notification, and Jamie pulls out his before he realizes he still has mine. He pulls my phone out and hands it to me.

I grab my phone and see that I got a text from my mom.

"I'm so sorry, Angel, I had no idea." I feel my whole face soften. I text her back immediately, "It's not your fault, mama, it's okay."

I put my phone face down on my lap and rub my temples again.

All I wanted was for Jamie to finally talk to me. How does Heath still manage to ruin my life even when he's not in it.

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a/n: school is kicking my ass right now so i'm sorry updates are going to be slow for a little while !

next chapter is going to be up right after this and it's a flashback !

thank you for reading <3