The Cheating Game

Ch. Eighteen

The swing set gently creaked as I began to rock back and forth on the seat. I had been here for almost three hours now. Dawn had just broken and I think everyone was just beginning to wake up. I don't know why I was here. I think I just needed some air and I kind of just ended up here. But I wasn't too upset by that. It was quiet and was a nice place to think. And I really needed to think.

Last night, Grayson finally admitted to me that after graduation, he would be joining the army. He fell back asleep and I had no idea of to what to do. I didn't feel like waking him up to ask questions, so I decided to just lay beside him. I didn't fall asleep, I just laid there. Tears pricked my eyes and I could feel my chest tighten as I began to cry. I tried to sleep it off, but every time I closed my eyes to fall asleep I was attacked by those dreadful words. They were all I could hear. By the time I decided to go outside the party downstairs had already died. I walked through a pile of sleeping, drunk bodies on the floor before finally getting outside.

It was still dark, so I sat on my porch, but that wasn't helping anything. So I decided to start walking. About fifteen minutes later I found myself at this park.

During my thinking time, for most of it at least, I was angry. I don't know why, but I was angry. Maybe it was the fact that he was trying to go into an extremely dangerous job that made me angry. Maybe it was because he thought it was a good idea to just not tell me that made me angry. Maybe it was the fact that the only way he decided to tell me about this was when he was drunk. I think it just felt like the reaction I was supposed to have. But then, after a couple hours of feeling confusedly angry, realization kind of settled in.

Joining the army meant that he wouldn't be with me forever. Joining the army meant that I wouldn't be able to see him whenever I wanted. Joining the army meant that one day, I may never be able to see him again.

I think that's when I kinda just sat there. Not really thinking, but just being there.

Not too long after, I heard a distant yell for what sounded like my name. I looked up and found Jacob running down the street. He spotted me and hurriedly walked over to my swing.

"Katy, what the hell are you doing here?"  I shrugged and looked away from him. He sat beside me and rocked with me.

"What happened?" For whatever reason, as soon as he asked, I just broke down in tears. I cried and told him everything that was on my mind. He held me in his arms and soothed me.

*&*

Jacob had persuaded me into going back home and talking to Grayson myself. As soon as he saw me he ran over and wrapped me in a hug. I just melted into his embrace. I would've cried but I let out all my tears already. Grayson was a different story however. I felt his tears slide down his face onto the top of my head. I felt his chest heave up and down unevenly as he tried to stop his crying.

"I was so worried! Are you okay?" He stepped back to inspect me for any physical harm. I shook my head. My heart was the only thing that hurt.

"Why didn't you tell me earlier?" A look of nervousness washed over his face. His hands loosened their grip around me. I could see he was trying to get out of the conversation.

"Why don't we talk about it over breakfast, my treat! You haven-"

"Stop trying to change the subject Grayson! I'm your girlfriend for God sake I deserve to know these things! I deserve to know what plans my boyfriend has for the future. I deserve to know if there's a chance I won't see him ever again." My voice cracked and my eyes misted. I could feel the tears brimming in my eyes and my body trembling. I didn't want to cry, I was tired of that. I didn't even want to fight with him. I just wanted answers, truthful answers.

He sighed, seeming to understand why I was upset. He lead me to the couch and pulled me close.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner. I shouldn't have kept it in for so long but I was scared of what you would say, how you'd react."

"How did you think I would react?"

"I don't know. Angry? Sad? Maybe even break up with me?" Tears pricked in my eyes.

"I would never," I assured him gently. He offered a sad smile and continued.

"My dad has been talking about me joining the army for a while now. I wasn't too fond of the idea at first but after talking to a couple of his friends that served a couple peace keeping missions, I realized how good we had it here and how others don't have it nearly as good. I want to help those other people."

My heart panged when I realized how selfish I was being about this whole situation. I was so focused on how him joining the army might affect me I didn't even think about how it would affect those people in need.

He continued to tell me all about what he would be doing, and I began to feel better about him going. It would be for a good cause after all. And he spoke about it with such excitement and passion there was no way I'd feel good about holding him back. I had finally warmed to the idea.

"Just promise me one thing," I asked. He grabbed my hand and intertwined our fingers.

"Anything," he said sincerely. He stared into my eyes and I could feel my soul warm up.

"Promise me you'll actually come back to me?"

He smiled and kissed the top of my head, pulling me close.

"I promise."

*&*

So yea sorry I havent updated in another year. I promise this will be my last year long hiatus. The book should be finished within the next two weeks I believe, depending how much time I have from my summatives and studying for exams and keeping up with my YouTube and my personal life too. May's gonna be busy but I promise I will finish this book!

Recently I've noticed more people have been adding this book to their reading lists and reading and it makes me so happy that even after years of not updating and how cringy this book starts people are still interested in reading and still find it worth a vote or two.

Thank you to all that have started reading this book both now and from the beginning. It means a lot to me and I'm so thankful.

Also for the future I plan on rewriting the beginning to make more sense and going through and fixing grammar mistakes and such so look out for that.
Aaaaand that's all for now.

If you care about me as a person all my social media is @jaimemnl and if you care about this book don't forget to leave a VOTE, COMMENT and maybe follow me for more updates.

-Jai