Just A Story

Chapter 9: Regret In The Form of a Friend

Jean threw her phone onto the lounge chair that sat across the living room. After she had hung up from an extremely happy Abbie, she had accidently clicked Josh's unread messages.

Getting up, she walked over to the phone, but quickly turned around and ran into the kitchen out of sheer frustration. She opened a cabinet and grabbed down a glass, slamming it onto the counter top angrily. Pouring orange juice into she bit her lip, spacing out a little, until the orange jouce began to overflow.

"Shit!" She quickly cleaned up the mess, sighing at the stickiness.

Leaning against the counter, she took a drink of it, and sighed loudly. Turning on her heel, she stomped back into the living room, picked up her phone, and read the dreaded messages from him.

Josh: I had no idea that Brayden was going to do that! You have to believe me! I wasn't in on the bet! He said that just to turn you against me. Sure I knew about it, but still! I've been trying to protect you, Jean.

Josh: You have to believe me!):

Josh: I'm sorry I wasn't there to protect you! I warned about the party, but I showed up too late.

Josh: I really need to talk to you.):

Josh: I think I might like you./:

The phone that she was holding dropped out of her hands once she read the last message. It hit the floor, but thankfully didn't break. She pulled on her hair and sat down on the sofa, resting her chin on her hands.

She picked up the phone and read through the messages two more times. Her throat tightened up as she reread them. Hearing Maggie's footsteps come up behind her, she looked up at her with blurry eyes. Maggie began to open her mouth, but Jean stopped her and just tossed her the phone.

Her expression went from anger to annoyed to confused. "He said that he wasn't in on the bet." Jean nodded.

"Yeah."

"Do you believe him?" Maggie sat down next to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders, pulling Jean in so that she could rest her head on her shoulder.

Jean sighed, clasping and unclasping her hands, "I don't know. A part of me really wants to, but his timing last night was too perfect. Maybe he was hoping to get laid also." She stared out the window, feeling the tears roll down her cheek.

Looking at Maggie, she began her rant.

"I really want to believe him. Josh was nothing but nice to me and then I blew up at him for no reason that day at lunch. Afted that we kind of ignored each other, until I woke up in his truck and he warned me not to go to the party. I mean, who has an argument with someone and then tries to get them to stay away from something that they've never expierenced? I sure as hell haven't. But anyways, he told me he liked me. I'm guessing that it was on a whim because he never showed real affection to me. Plus he's hot and well... I'm not exactly hot shit. I'm more like the piece of gum that gets stuck on people's shoes and they get pissed because they just got gum on their brand new Nike's." She sat up, but slumped forward on the couch, putting her head between her knees.

"I think you should give him a chance." Maggie's sudden intervene, caused Jean to look up sharply.

"Do you really?" Maggie nodded at her question.

"Yes. Look at Shaw and I. We used to beat the crap out of eachother Freshman year and then we realized how much we liked eachother. Polar opposites attract, you know?" She smiled at Jean softly. "I don't think you should forget about what happened. That's something that is always going to be in your mind, no matter how hard you try to get rid of it."