<<brOKen>> a.i.

Chapter 21.

"Fuck." I curse under my breath. I don't want Jamie to know about that text, but before I can put my phone away, he's already read the message on my display.

"Uhm... Fuck." He says. It's more like a question than a statement.

That's already the second time that I kissed another guy while being with Brandon. "Kind of..."

"I'm sorry. It's all my fault," Jamie starts but I cut him off.

"No. I was the one who kissed you. It's my fault anyways, I could've pushed you away." 

I still don't know how to feel about  this situation. I don't feel like I've fucked up with Brandon. I know I did but I'm not worried about it. It's not important to me what's going to happen now. 

"Can we go home now? I'm really tired." That's not true, but I'd like to go through that scary neighborhood before midnight.

"Okay, let's go." Jamie says and lays his arm around my shoulder, guiding me out of the arena.

The walk back home seems much longer than it did before the game.

There are a lot of... people walking around which scares me a little. I know that if anyone wanted to hurt me, Jamie would protect me anyways but what if something happens to him, sending him into an unconscious state and leaving me alone with the drunks and drug addicts here?

We get back to the scary neighborhood slower than I hoped we would, but it's probably an advantage for us that there's so many people, homeless people to be exact, on the street; There's also a lot of police cars driving around which offers me some sort of a safe feeling. When we pass a bunch of teenagers standing around a fire, Jamie finally lays his arm around my shoulder and pulls me in. I've been waiting for this since we've departed from the stadium.

I startle when Jamie says: "Let's take this way." He's pointing to a dark alley on our right. No Jamie. I don't wanna go that way. It scares the shit out of me, don't you see.

"It's much shorter and there's no people."

I nod. "Sure."

So we walk the way that I'm sure will lead us to hell. Jamie to heaven maybe but I'm kinda sure about myself.

"Is it safe here?" I ask, not having intended to, but my subconscious probably did that for me.

"It's safer than the rest of the street somehow. I don't know why but there's a lot of fights on the main road."

"Why couldn't we just have taken the bus?" I groan and hug myself lightly, because I'm cold and because I'm scared.

"I'm sorry," Jamie says, his voice annoyed and... upset? 

I look to my right, finding Jamie staring at the ground. "Wait... That's not actually bothering you, is it?"

"It is," he says and takes a deep breath. "Imagine if I had a girlfriend. I'd never be able to like... take her to a big city where you can only take public transport."

"That's not that bad. You could just take her to like Hawaii or something, where there's only a beach and a street." I smile up at him, not receiving a look back, just a sigh.

"I couldn't even get there. Planes suck."

I shrug. "I don't mind them."

"But I do, okay?" He's loud and I know that he's getting frustrated now. He takes the pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and lightens one.

I take a deep breath that was originally meant for giving him a speech, but instead I just enjoy the scent of his fucking fruity cigarette.

"Okay first of all," I say, snatching the cigarette out of his hand and taking a swig. "Yelling at me doesn't help. And second." I take another swig. "Who cares if you can't take public transport? You're a nice guy."