Summer Letters

Chapter 10

Jensen and Lena's history presentation marked the end of their project together. Lena would not admit it, but she felt sad that the project was over. Working on the project was the only way they could be seen alone together without anyone suspecting anything. Lena knew she would feel more alone than ever, especially now that her and Marlene were not talking. Marlene still looked between Lena and Jensen whenever they were all the same room, but she would not say a word to Lena and Lena would not say anything either. One night during dinner when Lena excused herself from the table to go to her room Marlene finally decided to say something, but she did so through Jensen. A few minutes after Lena left Jensen said he needed to do homework and excused himself too. Marlene knew it had nothing to do with homework. The two of them had planned it so they could hang out. Marlene said she had to go to the bathroom and followed Jensen.

"Jensen!" she called him. She got his attention as they left the building and got to the quad.

"What's up Marlene?" Jensen asked.

She replied, "I need to talk to you about Lena."

Jensen sighed, "I don't want to be part of your fight. Whatever it is, you should talk to Lena."

"We all know how much you like Lena, Jensen, but can you see what she's doing right now? Cutting her friends out of her life won't solve her problems. Even Luna's noticing that something's wrong. She says Lena will barely talk to her."

"What does this have to do with me?" he asked, getting slightly annoyed. Marlene was making him late. Lena would for sure not be happy with him considering he was supposed to bring her favorite candy.

"Are you stupid?" Marlene asked, "This has to do with you because you are the only one she's talking to right now. The rest of our friends think she's icing us all out, but I know better. I know something else is going on in her head that she doesn't want to talk about so she's keeping us out of it instead. She's ignoring the real problem. Whatever she's thinking I need to know so I can help her."

Jensen shook his head, "I won't tell you what Lena and I talk about. Lena's okay. The problem is not as bad as you think it is."

"You're just saying that because now she's finally giving you the time of day," Marlene scoffed at him.

"If it makes her happy, I would not care if Lena spent the rest of her life telling me no. All I know is that right now we're friends. I need to talk to her and she needs to talk to me. When we hang out we talk, we laugh, we read, we finish homework, and we joke around with each other. Maybe the only problem is the fact that she doesn't feel comfortable being herself around her other friends."

Marlene couldn't say anything else and it wasn't because Jensen had walked away. She also couldn't say anything else because she knew Jensen was right. Pushing Lena to talk about something she wasn't ready to talk about must have pushed Lena over the edge and made her realize she couldn't be herself. Whatever Lena and Jensen went through over the summer, somehow, he made her trust him. He got her to open up in a way Marlene and their other friends hadn't yet.

Jensen met in Lena's room with her twizzlers in his hand. He passed her a package before going to her fridge and getting a water. She turned on her TV and he sat next to her on the bed. "So," Jensen said, "I just lost it a little on Marlene."

"What?" Lena looked over at him. "When did this happen?"

"Now," he answered, "That's why I was late."

She turned so she was facing him and he copied. "You officially have my attention," she said, "Spill."

He smiled, "Fine, but only if you buy me lunch tomorrow."