Girlfriend's Best Friend

Chapter 31

              I wiped a few tears before I stood up and said, “I have to go, guys. I’ll call you or something.” My leaving was chorused by a round of:  ‘yeah, of course,’ ‘do what you have to do,’ and ‘good luck.’

            I ran up the stairs as fast as I could when I heard Kelli yell at Brooke, “I’m fucking done with you!” I ran even faster to go after her. I opened the door to see Brooke sitting there, crying to herself. I didn’t say anything to her, just ran straight to my car to go after the girl I should have committed to all along.

            I saw my friends come out of the house and sit down next to Brooke to try to console her. Would that boost her ego that five guys were helping her and only one was helping Kelli? Probably. But I don’t think she’d even notice, now that I’d completely broken her heart.

            A million memories of Kelli ran through my mind. Not just our first kiss, our first hook up, our first time having sex. I mean when I first noticed her sitting there, feeling ignored like how I felt, when I saw how happy she got when talking about the things she was passionate about and when we opened up and told each other our entire life stories. I never told her about Jade and Lacey. I mentioned the fact that I have a reputation for being a player, but she convinced me not to treat love like a game anymore. That was before Brooke though.

            I couldn’t tell Kelli about Jade and Lacey. Not because I thought she’d judge me, because I knew she wouldn’t. But because I couldn’t handle even thinking about them. The story was too complicated and only my closest friends knew. It’s not something I liked talking about, even though it’s a year later. That’s why I got so mad at Carter for even bringing them up, after I tried so hard to forget. Carter knew I always tried to forget about it by pretending everything with them never even happened at all.

            That’s what I’d have to do with Brooke—pretend it never happened at all.

            I saw Kelli walking not too far down the block and I stopped the car and told her to get in.

            “No, I fucking hate you!” she yelled at me, tears covering her face.

            “Kelli, please! I need to apologize!”

            “I don’t want to hear it! How could you do that to me, Cody?” she cried.

            “It was a mistake!”

            “After you convinced me that you really loved me and that Brooke meant nothing to you! You lied to me, even though you knew how much I needed you and how much I loved you! Why would you do that Cody? If I wasn’t good enough for you and you wanted to cheat on me, why did you have to do it with Brooke? The girl who you knew was my best friend that I was jealous and insecure around, that I spent years wishing I could be? Why her, Cody?” she stood, crying. She wasn’t walking anymore, but she wasn’t getting in the car.

            “Kelli, you don’t understand,” I cocked my head back, trying to think of something to say.

            “No, I don’t. That’s why I need an explanation.”