Damn The Day I Met You

Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

There was a knock on my door, pulling me away from my homework. “come in,” I call out, being too lazy to get out of bed and open the door. My grandmother would scold me for days if she knew I did this. I finish the page I was on and close the book before turning around to my visitor. Part of me was expecting Zach to be standing there ready to apologize, but I knew that was unlikely. It’d been two days since we last fought and the thought of him stopping by at this point was just plain crazy.

The person at the door was someone I expected even less than Zach. Ana stood there smiling and gave a small wave. “Hey, is this a bad time? I can come back later…”

“No, no, it’s fine. I need a study break anyways. What’s up?”

She takes a seat, closing the door behind her, “I need to apologize about something. Actually, a lot of things.”

“Ana, whatever it is, just forget about it. It’s not that big of a deal.”

“No, please, just-I need to get this out.” I shrug, motioning for her to continue, “I-well-uh-Zach cheated on you?” she stares at me like she expects me to say something. Was she telling me this or asking?

“with you?”

“uh, yeah. But it didn’t mean anything, I swear! He was at the bar last night and was already drunk when I showed up. He seemed pretty upset about something and we were just talking…and yeah. We just fooled around, nothing more.”

I stare at a black mark on my wall, “nothing more.” I repeat in a whisper.

“please don’t hate me, Katie. I even talked to him this morning and he said he had to think things over. I don’t know, but you should talk to him. Though he seemed kind of mad still, did you guys fight or something?”

“yeah, over you,” I answer, laughing dryly.

“Katie, please don’t feel jealous about me or anything. I really don’t want to come between you two. It’s so obvious that he loves you, I couldn’t break that apart.”

Another dry laugh escapes my lips, “it’s obvious that he loves you, Ana, and I know you know it. Don’t pretend like you don’t notice. I’m just going to break things off with him, make it easier for all of us.”

“no, Katie, please don’t. I’m just his best friend, nothing more. I beg you, don’t break up with him, don’t break his heart.”

“Ana, I’m glad you care, I really am. But it’s hurting me even more to still be with him. Do you even know why we’re not talking? Did he tell you?”

She took a seat on the bed across from me, shrugging, “something about you running off with Tristan after throwing his phone into the fountain.”

I sigh, trying to decide whether that’s how he actually saw it, or that’s just him wanting someone to feel bad. Either way I was going to tell Ana the truth. “We were at the park, just walking around, talking. It was the first time we’d been alone for a very, very long time and I wanted to make the best of it. Back home he loved these kind of activities. We’d take walks around campus all the time and he always enjoyed it. But this time, he didn’t. And when I asked what was wrong, he just said nothing. He wasn’t talking to me at all and even had the guts to say ‘we’re walking around a park, Katie, what’s exactly fun about it?’ In all honesty this probably wasn’t that big of a deal but it’s the first memory I have of being with both my parents, so that park means a lot to me. Anyways I just kind of mumbled that it was a stupid idea and tried not to cry. When I turned around he was texting you.” Ana looked shocked, as if she too were mad at him. “I took the phone and tossed it into the fountain. I was just fed up because this was supposed to be our time and instead he wanted to hang out with you. And that’s nothing against you Ana, you’re a great person. I just wanted some alone time with my boyfriend. Anyways, Tristan and his little sister came up to say hi and Lucy, his sister, wanted Zach and I to go get ice cream with them and well, Zach didn’t want to go. So he left and I guess this was when I ran off with Tristan.”