Love Is a Losing Game // Joel Pimentel

28 | Listen

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Joel's POV

"Hey, just wanted to thank you for lending me your phone last night. My boyfriend sends his thanks too," the girl I interacted with last night smiles. I nod  and respond with an, "Of course. Anytime."

She waves goodbye just as the bell rings and I grab my backpack up from the floor before closing the door to my locker, glancing at where Blu had just stood seconds before.

I feel my heart throb for the umpteenth time as I think of her, and all that could've been. I long for everything she is and stands for, her eyes, her smile, and everything in between.

I take a deep breath and turn around just to see Yoandri walking through the door with a grimace on his face; He glares at me as we both recall the events from last night.

He had called me a bitch for stealing the one person he truly liked and we had gone at it for hours on end, nothing physical however.

Eventually, I let it spill from my thoughts that she had chosen him anyways and he had stopped fighting. Instead he rubbed it in my face, provoking me to the point where smacked him against a wall and threatened that if he ever hurt her, I'd become his worst nightmare.

I slide past him in the hallway as I finish reminiscing about the previous night and walk into my first period class, dreading english because then I'd have to sit next to the one person I knew didn't want me, despite me wanting them tenfold.

***

"Last week for projects!" The teacher yells before leaving us to our own devices.

Blu sits next to me, drawing into her journal with such vigor that I was concerned for her wrist. I turn my focus back to the laptop on my desk and resume editing the final paper for our project.

It's silent between the two of us but this time it isn't the usual comfortable type. Instead it's full of tension and I can tell it's something she's not used to because she leans away from me and refuses to take up space.

I swallow in order to ask the question on my tongue but my mouth insists on remaining dry. "Hey, so when are we meeting to practice for the presentation?"

Blu looks at me for the first time since this morning and I see the hesitation in her eyes to answer my question. "Whenever you're free is fine," she says in a low tone.

My heart breaks as I see all the words that her eyes held, all the untold secrets that she had yet to spill. I don't realize we are staring at each other until Yoandri comes up next to her and clears his throat.

I release a breath I didn't realize I was holding and we both turn to back to where our attention was needed.

***

"What's up with you?" somebody asks. I shrug and look over to the jock who had asked the idiotic question. "I wouldn't know, maybe you just keep sucking me too hard," I reply with no hint of emotion.

People around the lunch table 'Oh' at my diss but I just shake my head and finish my water before leaving the stuffy cafeteria. My feet lead my across the campus, my eyes wandering across the walls, my emotions questioning why I wasn't fighting for what I wanted with all my being. 

I don't realize my thoughts are taking over until I register someone beckoning me, "Hey, you're Joel right?" some guy with a Spanish accent shouts across the hallway. He jogs to meet me and I slow my pace down. "Yeah, why, who's asking?"

Something about him seemed oddly familiar but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. "My name is Joaquín. Nice to formally meet you," he introduces.

I nod in acknowledgment and he continues speaking, "So you know yesterday in the library when you and Blu had that—"

"Shut up," I immediately shut him down.

He stops walking before commenting with a small, "I'm sorry, come again?"

"Why are you even talking about it?" I say harshly, finally recognizing him as Blu's best friend. He begins to walk again and speeds to my side to respond, "Because it was just a small misunderstanding."

I scoff and walk faster, "She made it clear who she chose."

"Are you seriously this stupid?" he questions out loud.

I turn on my heel making him smack into my body, only to stumble backwards. "Are you stupid for badgering me about someone who clearly doesn't want to be with me?"

He rolls his eyes, "I'll take that as a yes. Whatever man. Just know that if she needs to talk to you, give her the space to because the truth still needs to me told. Since you don't wanna hear it from me."

"What're you even talking about?"

He shrugs, "You didn't want to listen, figure it out."

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a/n

ap exams? i don't know her...