Confessions

Chapter Forteen

     Yes Joseph always had a thing for me. Yes I ignored it. Why? Because I was in a relationship with his brother. Now, two years later, I get suckered into a blind date with him. Do I want to have a relationship with him? No. Yes. Maybe. Yes, I like not only my ex-boyfriend's, but also my best friend's boyfriend's brother. Confusing, right?
     It was the Sunday after my date. I was sitting cross-legged on my unmade bed staring at the white daffodil, and twirling a slip of paper in my hand. Should I call Joseph? Yes. No. Yes. No. I was arguing the case back and forth in my mind. Rather than deciding, I reasoned that even if I did want to call him, the date had only been last night and I would seem desperate. Did I care? Yes, I did. Setting the paper down on my nightstand, I jogged downstairs to find
the landline ringing. (Why we have a landline, I don't know).
     "Hello" I answered
     "Hey kiwi!" the voice replied.
     "Jason!" I shouted with joy.
     "Yep, is mom there?" my big brother replied. Jason was 22 and attending college in California.
     "Just a sec..." I set the phone down and wondered to my moms room. On the door a note was taped:
Had to work. I know
it's Sunday, but there was
an emergency. I'll be home
at 7. Love you! -Mom
     I returned to the living room and picked up the phone.
     "Hey. Moms not here, work emergency or something."
     "Oh, that's okay. It's just that I have a surprise..."
     "What?" I questioned.
     "I'm in town!" Jason replied.
     "That's great! How long?"
     "About a week." I hadn't seen my brother in so long. "How about I drop my crap off at the house and then we can go grab lunch?"
     "Sounds good.'
     "Okay, bye kiwi!"
     "Bye" The call ended with a beep. Realizing I was still in my pajamas, I hurried upstairs to change.
     Throwing on a tee and jeans, I returned downstairs to find Jason walking through the door. I wasn't much of the hugging type, but my brother was. So I was pulled into a tight embrace.
     "Let me put this stuff away." Jason said, motioning to the bags he had put down to hug me.
     "Just up the stairs, third door on the left." I joked, of course he knew where his old room was.
     After Jason was situated in his room, we hopped in his car and drove away.
     "So... Where do you wanna go?" Jason asked casually. I didn't have to think twice, back before Jason moved away, we had lunch together at the same place every other Saturday.
     "Freddy's... I mean, where else...?" I spoke with a tone that clearly stated 'duh'. We both laughed, I was completely forgetting about every problem that was currently swimming throughout my world. I hadn't really realized how much I had missed my big brother. We arrived at Freddy's and ordered our food. Minutes later, we were sitting in our booth each eating one of Freddy's famous steak burger.
     "So, whats wrong?" Jason asked me. He waited patiently for my answer, which is easy to do when you have a burger keeping you busy.
     "Nothing," this was partially true, I guess. I hadn't really thought of everything that was 'wrong'. "What do you mean?"
     "I mean, you've been acting weird, somethings wrong." Sometimes I hated how well Jason knew me. "Come on, you can tell me..."
     "Okay..." I was hesitant, but that didn't prevent me from telling him, "Remember Henry...?" Jason nodded, I saw his muscles tighten at the sound of his name, he was probably remembering the incident. Jason had always been very protective. "Well..." I proceeded to tell him everything. Cayla liking him, he and her both asking my permission to date, the date, and Joseph.  "-and I don't know if I should call or not, I just..." I left the last sentence of my explanation unfinished.
     "You've got major girl problems kiwi."
     "That's why I'm telling you, big sis." The tension eased as we laughed.
     "Do you like him?" Jason pressed on.
     "I don't know... maybe, yeah I guess..."
     "Well that sucks..."
     "Why?"
     "Why does it suck that you like your best friends boyfriend?" This time his was the tone that implied 'duh'. Oh!
     "No! No, I thought you meant Joseph... Yes I like Joseph. Not Henry." I blurted before the misunderstanding could be taken any further. All Jason did was smile.
     "Then call him." Those were the last three words he said before standing up to dump his trash. Even as we got our frozen custard and drove home joking, laughing, and eating the treat, theses three words stuck with me, lingering in the back of my mind.

...Then Call Him...