Prove It

Chapter 8

Tristan never brought the subject up with Jessica again. And she seemed happy to keep things the way they were. Maybe he was, too. The idea of Sierra scared the shit out of him. She made him think and feel things he never thought he would. He was never the type of guy who would cheat on his girlfriend. He would never lie to her. But whenever he was with Sierra, he forgot that he was with someone. And what that meant worried him. What did that say about the kind of person he was? He’d seen Sierra a few more times, but he never spoke to her again, although the compulsion was there. He wanted to talk to her so bad sometimes, he couldn’t stand it. It became easier to just avoid her. He tried to tell himself it was better for both of them this way. He told this to himself so many times, he almost believed it. Almost.

He was walking with Jessica to the cafeteria for lunch when she kissed him on the cheek and asked him to wait while she went to the bathroom. He was holding Jessica’s bag when he heard her phone signal that she got a text message. The phone vibrated and fell to the floor with a loud smack. Tristan bent to pick it up, hoping it didn’t break. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that the phone was intact. He looked it one last time to make sure he didn’t miss any cracks or scratches. That’s when he saw the message.

hurry up baby. i saved u a seat at our table

Tristan had to pause and take a moment. He must have read the message wrong. He reread it thinking it would make more sense the second time around. It didn’t.

He shook his head. Jessica wouldn’t. Would she? He looked at the door to the girl’s bathroom willing Jessica to come out. He needed her to tell him this message was from one of her friends. Or a stupid joke. He needed an explanation right now or he was going to flip.

He checked to see who sent the message. Romeo. Who the fuck was that? Some kind of nickname so he wouldn’t find out? He checked her phone and looked at the previous messages. Maybe he was taking this out of context. There weren’t any other messages. She deleted them. Why would she delete them if she had nothing to hide? In that moment he knew. He knew that Jessica had been lying to him. He knew that she was seeing someone else. And he knew that he was being played.

 Tristan’s world began to move in slow motion, he barely registered replying to the message.

What r u wearing?

The phone blasted instantly in response. Tristan read the message.

The white shirt with the button missing from where u ripped it off, lol

Now Tristan knew he didn’t take shit out of context. Jessica was cheating on him. And he was going to find out who. He dropped Jessica’s bag, ignoring the sound of her belongings falling out and scattering all over the ground and he stalked to the cafeteria. He held the phone in a tight grip as he entered the lunch room and began to scan the room for white shirts. Tristan was instantly irritated when he realized that there were a lot of guys wearing white today. He decided to try another tactic. He dialed “Romeo” and waited to see who answered their phone. He walked past a few suspects, but ruled them out quickly when he heard these words.

“Chris, turn your fucking ringer off. That shit is so annoying. Who are you texting anyway?”

No. He didn’t want to believe it. Tristan saw a haze grow over his vision and white noise pounded in his head. He walked to the table he shared with Chris and Jason. He watched Chris answer his phone and then heard his voice through the receiver of his girlfriend’s phone. He watched Chris adjust his shirt with the top button missing.

“Hey baby.” When he got no answer, he continued. “Babe, you there?”

Tristan removed the phone from his ear and wished he could crush it with his hand. He didn’t realize he had reached the table until he was standing in front of his former friend who looked up at him like everything was normal. Tristan held up Jessica’s phone and watched shock spread over Chris’ face.