A Different Kind of Education

Chapter Nineteen : Skeleton in the Closet

Honestly, I hadn't expected Jay to be so - calm? - about seeing me at Kent's in the morning, though  I could tell he was furious at first (not that I blamed him. It looked bad). Relief had flooded my system when he was polite. I knew the only reason he wasn't blowing up was because he was in the same situation he thought I was in and if there was one thing I knew he never wanted to be was hypocritical. I definitely hadn't seen his sex comment coming or the fact that he made a joke about it. Not thinking about my actions, I had let out a whole hearted bellowing laugh, which made Jay smile softly. It was comforting to know I wasn't the only one who missed our interactions. He had been my best friend before anything else and I missed that.

"So how'd you end up having to sneak out of Kent's house?" Jay asks, snapping me out of my reverie. We were on the way to my house.

"You really wanna know?" I question, kind of shocked.

"I think it'd be reassuring to know the truth when Kent brags in class." He states.

"Oh." I glance at my shoes, not sure how to react.

"Plus we were friends before all of this." He murmurs this, making me smile widely.

"Well, he was incredibly hammered and cornered me when I was looking from my brother at some point. i told him to fuck off, to which he made some smartass crude comment. Just as I was about ready to punch him in the face and leave, he blurted out that he didn't delete the video."

Jay sucks in a sharp breath.

"He also told me he showed it to you." I say, watching his hands clench the steering wheel. That and his complete silence tells me it's true.

I close my eyes briefly, only imagining how he must have looked and felt at that moment. God. Fucking Kent.

"That's when I lost it. All my emotions from this past two weeks of everything happening just came rushing to the surface. I must have really freaked him out because he quickly took me up to his room. He started sputtering apologizes but he couldn't calm me down. At some point he left, saying something about finding my brother, but instead he came back with Drew in tow."

"Drew? As in the short jock kid friend of yours?"

"Yeah."

He nodes as though absorbing the information.

"Anyways, Drew managed to calm me down enough after making Kent fuck off. That was funny to see. So I sat there and talked to him about everything but why I was actually upset and he let me, just listening. We talked for a while and I finally started feeling guilty about ruining his party time. When I told him so he grabbed my hands and said he'd ditch a party any day to be there for me."

I want to stop when I notice Jay's jaw clench as he parked in my driveway, but I knew wherever his mind was going was worse than what actually happened. The reality was actually so amusing I want to laugh.

"I saw it coming but I let him go to kiss me anyways. I think I might have bruised his ego a bit though because the moment his lips tried to move against mine I immediately moved away. He looked so rejected at first when I told him we would never happen, but then he just nodded and agreed. Then he just suggested we talk, since I obviously needed it, so we did. We laid there and talked for so long that eventually we both fell asleep. Next thing I know Kent is waking me up, saying I should probably get my ass home."

This time I couldn't help but laugh at the utter confusion that settled on his face. The boy started stuttering words.

"But- wha - you were - the hair- your clothes - no shoe - I - I - what?"