The Light to My Darkness

13 | Moved On Real Quick

"I thought you should know that Nadia and I are dating now," Jameson told me in class that Monday.

I shouldn't have been surprised. After what Nadia witnessed between Jameson and I at the party, she would be dumb not to make it official with him. After all, now she had the security of an actual relationship and not just a "complicated" situationship.

I would never go after a guy in an actual relationship. I wouldn't want to hurt someone the way I've been hurt in the past.

I just nodded my head at his statement, not knowing how I should respond. I was hurt but I was expecting this to happen. I didn't want him to see that though. I wanted him to think that I didn't actually care.

I mean he didn't owe me anything. It's not like we were dating or have ever dated or anything. I guess it was really time to actually move on.

After Jameson realized that I wasn't actually going to respond with anything other than a nod, he just sighed and took his seat next to mine. It wasn't like I wanted to purposely ignore him. I just knew that if I wanted to actually move on, I would need to give myself some space from him for awhile.

I knew that was impossible with our project though. I would just try to ignore him as much as possible outside of us working on the project.

When I got home from school that day, my dad had informed me that he wanted me to head over to the restaurant in our hotel to meet everyone and test out how the service and food was. He wanted a report on what things needed to be changed and what things could be improved on.

I agreed to it because he said he would pay me for it and I wanted some extra money for retail therapy. I also didn't forget that a certain someone worked there.

Shit, I shouldn't be thinking of him like that.

I was also excited to see Marcel, the manager of the restaurant and my dad's best friend. He basically helped raise me and was always around to help out. I remembered playing with his son as a kid, Ace. I hadn't seen him since we were small children but I remembered Dad saying that he also worked there now that he was back in town.

He was the same age as me but has been attending a different school than me since middle school so we lost touch for a bit. I was excited to see him again because I knew there would be some nostalgia. Plus, I had a mini crush on him when I was a kid but I knew I didn't actually like him. I just thought he was cute. I was only 10 after all.

"You remember Ace right?" Dad asked, giving me a wink. "I recall you having a massive crush on him when you were 10. Well, he works there so maybe you guys can rekindle something."

Ever since my parents found out that Hayes and I broke up, they won't stop teasing me about other guys. Probably to lighten the mood because they think I'm depressed over Hayes which I am definitely not.

I was completely over him.

I rolled my eyes at Dad's comment about Ace. "I'm sure we will not be rekindling anything," I assured him. "I'm done with boys for awhile."

"So you're into girls now?" Dad asked.

I sighed. "No, Dad, I'm going to focus on myself."

"Okay, you go girl!" Dad cheered. "Women empowerment."

I rolled my eyes at my Dad's attempt in cheering me on. It was just embarrassing at this point and I really wanted him to stop. "Alright, Dad. I'm going up to my room now."

"Was it something I said?"

***

I was laying in bed watching tv when I heard my phone "ding." I grabbed my phone from my bedside table and noticed that Stacey had sent a picture and text into our new group chat.

The group chat consisted of Stacey, Andrea, Abby, and me. I had informed the girls that I apologized to Abby and we've all been besties ever since. I had confessed to Abby the real reason why Stacey and I had bullied Abby to not tryout for cheer.

Stacey and I had went to the first day of tryouts. Abby hadn't joined our school yet at that point because she transferred here a week late. After a whole week of trying out, Stacey and I were mentally drained. Throughout the whole week, we were berated and every little imperfection was pointed out about us by the girls on the team and the cheer coach. Both of us developed mild eating disorders because of it. We were always told we weren't good enough and that we should be on a diet so we could be skinnier.

Abby showed up to tryouts a week later. She had this innocent persona about her and Stacey and I took it upon ourselves to make sure she wasn't ruined like we were. We bullied the hell out of her so that she wouldn't step foot into cheerleading tryouts. It worked at a price. She hated us and was scared of us. She was the only person we had "bullied" ever and I felt like a terrible person after.

I just had to constantly tell myself that it was for the best and we saved her from what we had to go through. I knew it wasn't our place to do anything and we could've made things worse for her but we didn't think it through fully at the time.

Plus, now that I was captain, I was really trying to change things around.

I opened our group chat and my eyes widened at the picture on my screen. It was Hayes and Jade on a date at some restaurant and they were holding hands over the table.

Stacey: Guess he moved on real quick.

I quickly typed out a response.

Me: And he was begging for me back just last night.

Andrea: What a fucking douche.

Abby: They deserve each other. You dodged a bullet.

I smiled at my friends' supportive words. I was so happy to have real genuine friends. Those are hard to find nowadays.

Stacey: So Drake invited us over to their apartment to hang out. You guys down?

Andrea: I have a date with Jonah. Maybe next time.

Abby: Jameson told me about it earlier. Him and Nadia will be there just fyi.

Me: Yeah, I think I'll pass this time. Thanks for inviting me though!

I sighed at the thought of Jameson and Nadia together. I knew they were going to end up together but I couldn't help but feel kind of sad.

Stacey: Okay, I'll update you guys if anything happens ;)

I think Stacey has developed actual feelings for Drake because she's been talking about him more recently. I was happy for her but I wasn't exactly sure about Drake's intentions with her. I hope he wouldn't end up hurting her.

I didn't exactly know how friends with benefits situations worked. I had never actually been in one before so I was confused about the logistics.

I debated texting Jameson about working on our project but decided against it because he was probably with Nadia right now and I didn't want to start any drama between them.

I guess it'll just be a solo night with me and my tv.

To be honest, those were my favorite kind of nights.