Fletcher Pierce

Chapter Twelve- Crushed

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Jade:

I don't get crushes. I'm not a stupid little girl, and I'm a mature, independent woman. When Fletcher and I talked, I never skipped a beat on the hard-to-get. I hadn't had a crush for years. Boys came to me if they wanted me, which wasn't often. But I didn't get crushes. Those were for silly, immature little girls.

That being said, I will admit with 100% certainty I was crushing on Chase Peters. From the way he laughed, to the way he fixed his hair and the way he shook his leg with nervous energy. It was bad. I had reaalll bad. And Aria knew it, too. I denied it, of course, but she was smart, and she shipped it hardcore. Surprisingly, she was actually pretty cool with it.I guess she was used to her friends falling for her charming, hot older brothers. Not that Chase really looked any older than us.

"Jade? Jade? Jade?" Rosalie laughed, snapping her finger in front of my zoned out face.

I blinked at looked over at her. "Sorry." I laughed softly. I had zoned out because Aria, Rosalie, and I were sitting on the couch and Chase, sweaty, sport playing had walked past us. I was so pathetic. He smelled like a sewer, but even then, he was hotter than hell.

"You need to ask him out." She commented.

"Aria would probably freak out." I used that as an excuse.

She didn't respond for a moment, and ran her tongue over her teeth slowly, taking a sip of her iced tea. "I don't think that its a very good idea."

"Why?" I asked in surprise.

Aria stood up and shrugged. "I just... I don't... Its kind of hard to explain."

I was confused, but decided to just ignore it. "Whatever. Anyways guys, let's get out of here and go to the park. Its the first nice day of this year." It was mid-march, and hadn't had weather like this for 3 months. Sunny, 60 degrees, and dry.

"So you can stare at other sweaty guys besides Chase." Aria laughed.

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I finally got my answer on what Aria had been talking about. I was staying the night at Aria's about a week later. We were eating dinner with her whole family, which was a loud affair. Chase was in a corner, talking to someone. I noticed, but didn't comment, and casually ate my penne.

About 20 minutes into dinner, the doorbell rang crisply.

Chase stood and bolted towards the door.

"Oh, that'd be her." Mr. Peters said with a grin.

Aria nodded with a fake smile.

"Who is it?" I asked, then I heard a loud scream at the door.

Jack stood, and was about to go investigate, but Mr. Peters stopped him. "Jack, stop. Sydney has been in Afghanistan for almost a year. Let them have a moment."

We heard shuffling, and I bravely asked; "Who's Sydney."

"She's.. Well... She's.." Aria began.

Tom interrupted. "She's Chase's girlfriend. She in the marines, and she's been gone for over 11 months."

I felt like someone had blown me up like a balloon until I was about to burst, then quickly let all the air out. Why did I feel so let down? It wasn't like we ever had anything. We had just been friends. It  was disappointing, though. That somehow, I'd convinced myself that something could possibly happen. It was the dance on Valentine's day. I thought something could happen of that. We had gone as friends, and completely fine. "Wow. That's a long time. How long were they.. Dating?"

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I hadn't gotten my answer, since Chase had brought Sydney in with him. She was beautiful, 5ft 6, very light blonde hair, almost white, that was short and she wore spikey. She had pale skin, light eyes, and a large, bright smile. She was actually dressed in her uniform, but I could tell she was an hourglass figure. She actually seemed very nice, and was smiling the entire time. She was crying through her smiles, and seemed like she couldn't be happier to be around them. I wasn't sure why she wasn't with her parents or family though. She was being swamped with questions and she answered them all with a laugh and smile. She didn't seem all interested in eating, just in being held by Chase, who seemed to feel the same way. The rest of the meal progressed, and now, Aria and I were sitting on her bed, and she was doing my nails carefully.

"About a year. She's actually a year older than him. They stared dating when she was a senior, and he was a junior. He asked her out  to the junior prom and she felt so bad for that he'd never been to a dance before, she went with him, and then I guess she just fell for him. So they started dating, it got pretty damn serious. She graduated and was going to community college while he was a senior. But about 2, 3 months before he graduated, she told him that she was enlisting in the army and going to fight for the same cause that killed both her parents when she was 14. She was crying her eyes out as she walked away from us into security.  Chase was too. I've never seen a boy over 4 cry so hard. It was just me, dad, Chase, her older sister Randi, and Tom who dropped her off. It was pretty bad. Chase was depressed for several months. When Fletcher and I fell apart, Chase and I literally shared chocolate bars and kleenx boxes. You've never seen a house so filled with wales and copies of the Notebook. "

I was listening to her talk as she carefully painted on tiny little stripes. "Wow. That's quite a story."

"Yeah, its pretty unrealistic and sappy."

"That it is." Chase's voice sounded from the doorway. He and Sydney were leaning on the door frame and listening to us talk.

"You two love-birds finished making out?" Aria said with a roll of her dark eyes.

"Of course, we've got 11 months to make up for." Chase said with a grin, hands on her hips, he kissed her, which was kind of awkward to watch.

"Sydney? How the hell did you end up with someone as stupid as him?" Aria's voice was disgusted. I managed to laugh.

Sydney pulled away from Chase and ran her tongue over her teeth. "Fate likes to screw me over."

Chase scoffed and swung his arm around her shoulder, laughing.

Aria rolled her eyes. "It's nice to see you again, Sydney. But seeing you two and your romance is giving me a cavity."

"You and Fletcher are more mushy than us." Sydney laughed.

No one laughed. I winced. Chase sighed. Aria's face was awkward. "We broke up almost 9 months ago."

"Oh, I'm so sorry, what happened?"

"He was a two-timer."

"Oh, what did you do to the chick who he cheated on you with?"

"I made her my best friend. It's an awkward story." Aria laughed.

Sydney looked confused, and Aria fell on her back as she laughed, then sat up. "I'll tell you later."

"I thought you said Jade was your best friend."

"Exactly."

Sydney looked awkwardly at me, then cleared her throat. "Hey Chase, let's go to the movies."

"Let's do it." He smiled. They turned and walked down the stairs, and a few minutes later, we heard the door close.

"So what do you think of her?" Aria asked, putting a clear coat of nail polish over all my nails.

"She's really nice. If anyone deserves him, she does." I said with a small sigh.

"You okay, Jade?"

"Of course. I'm not 14. Its not like he was ever mine anyway." I shrugged it off. But that's why it hurts so bad....