Clay had been at peace. Or at least content with how his life had been going lately.
His grades were at their best, his mom was trying not to hover in his life too much, he had gotten a job so that meant extra cash and not to mention, he was spending more time with Ariel.
It was great.
He was happy and stress free.
Well, that was until Jeff approached him when he had just parked his bicycle in school that day, the older boy slammed his hands on Clay's handlebars, startling Clay.
"Dude, I'm going f*cking insane."
Clay would have been okay if Jeff had told him that he was worried about a test. Or even if he had told him that he had gotten back together with Angie. But no, Jeff just had to say;
"I think I'm in love with Ariel, man."
Later that day, Clay had met with Jeff at Monet's. He wasn't used to having anyone approach him to talk about their love lives. Hell, it had actually never happened.
So to say the least, he was shocked by how much Jeff poured out to him over their hot beverages that afternoon.
Jeff spoke of Ariel in a way that made Clay believe he hadn't been present the times they had all hang out together.
He spoke of her eyes, her laugh, her hair... in a way that convinced Clay he didn't really see the same Ariel that Jeff did.
He spoke about her little habits; some of which Clay had taken years to notice. Some of which Clay hadn't even known about.
"Are you - are you stalking her?" Clay asked, suddenly concerned for his friend.
Jeff gave him a blank stare. "No man. I just pay attention."
"When did you - I mean when did you even realise you were 'in love' with Ariel?" Clay wasn't about to pretend that he hadn't noticed Jeff staring at Ariel a number of times.
In fact, he had once caught him just looking at her with a goofy smile on his face as she was explaining something to him one day at lunch. At the time all he could think about was if that's how you looked when you were falling for someone. Hopeless.
"I - I don't know." Jeff said.
But he did know. He had noticed Ariel from the get go. Sure he had thought she was pretty but he was with Angie at the time so it hadn't mattered.
It was okay to think of other girls as pretty. It didn't mean you were cheating or planning on cheating.
That's what it had been for sometime, just Jeff thinking she was pretty. It didn't mean anything. Everyone talked about how hot the twins were all the time.
It. Didn't. Mean. Anything.
But then there was that time he saw her at Bryce's party talking to Foley and well, he didn't understand it but he minded. For some reason, he cared.
That's the main reason he had gone up to talk to them.
He had immediately felt guilty after that and he tried to push those thoughts away. He was still very much obsessed and in love with Angie at the time as well so he had been confused by why he found himself looking in interest when he saw Ariel and Justin get close.
He wondered why he found himself, on multiple occasions, asking Justin's friends if they were dating. It shouldn't have mattered to him but it did.
