jace

October: First Date Betrayal

monday
Jacob and Garrett came over to play a new game Eli had gotten me. I really didn't see the fascination, it was a regular trigger shooting game. I liked my Rubik's cube better.

"Where'd you get that damned thing?" Jacob asked, his fingers were moving at lightning speed.

I smiled, "Elizabeth gave it to me."

And then the game paused and Jacob was looking at me and Garrett was looking at Jacob. "I think you like Elizabeth," Jacob said.

"I think I like Elizabeth too."

"As in...a crush, jace."

"I know."

Jacob wrinkled his nose, "But she's fucking weird."

I thought about that for a moment, weirdness suggested something unnatural, something different. Something like an extremely religious teenager that cursed like he'd been housed on a sailboat. Or a teen with schizophrenia that immediately assesses the names of others or a biracial boy that acted as the conscience of the three. Weirdness is all relative.

"...So am I...so are you guys."

Jacob frowned, "Am not."

"He's just being a jerk jace, she's fine."

"No she's not, who the hell is that happy all of the time?"

"Being weird is one thing to nag about...but you're mad that she's happy? Do you realize how ridiculous you sound?"

And they kept arguing and I began to see them as two different sides of myself. Jacob was the irrational, impulsive side. The side that only came about during episodes and over-thinking. Garrett was the rational, stoic side that consumed me ninety five percent of the time.

"There's this girl in my art class that thinks you're cute."

"Do you remember what happened the last time Jacob said this about a girl?" Garrett was pointing his controller at me with raised eyebrows. "You broke your nose."

"This time I'm telling the truth. She gave me her number and I think you should go for it."

"Go for what?"

Jacob rolled his eyes, "You're so fucking dense."

"I'm just objective."

"I don't think you should do it jace," Garrett said. "If you like Elizabeth then you should see where that goes."

"But what if she doesn't like me?"

"That doesn't mean that she'll stop being your friend."

And usually Garrett gave great advice, but he was wrong that time because I'd seen Courtney cut off several guys because she didn't reciprocate romantic feelings. I just didn't want that to turn into Elizabeth and I.

Jacob explained that the girl's name was Alana ad that she was "cute as shit." Garrett told me that I "shouldn't pursue her without honest intentions," he was beginning to sound a lot like Eli. I planned on telling her that I was interested in someone else, but I ended up agreeing to a date with her that Saturday. And to this day, I still don't know how it happened.

saturday
"What happened to Elizabeth?"

"What do you mean?"

"I thought you liked her."

"...I do."

"...Oh."

Courtney was driving me to Allan Michael's, the restaurant Alana and I had agreed upon. I wanted Eli to drive me--he didn't ask as many questions--but he had practice.