Perspective

21- Jealous

"Jess, is there something you'd like to tell us about Carter?" I ask my best friend.

"Yeah, Jess. Is there?" Aspen questions.

"Uh, well, um...he's cute," Jess stammers.

"We all have eyes, J. We can all see that," I point out. "Tell is something more, y'know, deep."

"His favorite color is red. He has a golden retriever named Goldilocks. And that's really about it so far," Jess says.

"Who texted first?" I ask.

"I posted that picture on Friday night. Then, he DMed me and we started talking a bit."

"Speaking of that picture, you looked so cute in that dress and then your dog made everything so much cuter," I tell her.

"Aw, thanks, C," Jess says.

"I'm so ready for this week to be over," Asher announces, plopping down beside me and dropping his head on the table.

"Did y'all get the food?" Aspen asks.

"Dylan and Carter are coming," Asher replies, keeping his head down.

"How bad was your day?" I ask him.

He lifts his head and looks at me. "They didn't have any of the really good salsa for the tacos."

Aspen and I gasp. "No!"

"It fucking sucks," Asher moans. "We got the medium one but it's not the same as the hot one."

Dylan and Carter place two bags and 2 trays of drinks down in the center of the table.

"Chicken for Asher and Chase," Dylan says, passing me two packs of foil for Asher and I. "Beef for the rest of us."

He hands out our drinks and we all eat quickly.

I finish my two tacos within a few minutes and drink my soda while I wait for them to finish.

We're all done except for Jess and Carter who have slowed down their eating pace.

"Hey, Chase," Asher says, loudly. "Don't we have to do that thing for Mr. Crawford?"

I give him a confused expression. "Wha—OH! Yeah, we should go."

I stand up, crumbling my foil that held my two tacos.

Aspen and Dylan stand up, too. They make an excuse about getting a make out session before the bell rings.

The four of us throw our trash away and grab our bags.

I wave to Jess who playfully glares at me.

Dylan and Aspen split off once we get inside the school.

"Can I tell you something?" Asher asks as we go upstairs.

"Yeah."

"You have to swear that you won't tell Jess."

"I swear."

"Carter really likes her and he's gonna ask her out but he wants us to help. Also, he's nervous because he doesn't know if she likes him or is just being nice."

"Ah gotcha. I think she likes him. She gets so flustered whenever he comes up and that's new. Jess never gets nervous around guys, so this is pretty big. Don't tell Carter about her feelings."

"I won't. Don't tell Jess about Carter's feelings, either."

"I won't."

"Asher!" A girl calls.

"Hi, Hailey!" Asher greets her as she walks up to us. "What's up?"

"Do you want to come over on Saturday night? My parents are going out and I'm going to be home alone," She says.

Asher glances at me.

"You can go, we can reschedule our hangout," I say, pretending like this doesn't affect me in any way.

"Sorry, Hailey. I'm busy this weekend," Asher apologizes.

"Oh...maybe some other time?" Hailey asks.

"Maybe," Asher says.

"Alright, bye," She waves and leaves.

"Speaking of Saturday night, what restaurant should we go to?" Asher asks.

"Why'd you decline the offer?" I ask.

"Huh?"

"Why did you say no to Hailey?"

"Because I made plans with you."

"If we didn't, would you have gone?"

"Not really, no. Hold up, Chase are you jealous?"

"Me? Jealous? Of course, not. I'm just curious. She's so pretty, has an amazing body, and she's sweet. How could you turn her down?"

"I just can, Chase. I'm not interested in this whole hooking up thing anymore. It's just not my thing."

I furrow my eyebrows. "Are you saying that you're not going to be a player anymore?"

"Something like that," Asher chuckles. "I realized how stupid it was back in February and I haven't hooked up with anyone since then."

"Wow, how come I never noticed that you stopped?"

Asher shrugs. "A lot of people didn't realize. Hailey for example, she didn't know that I stopped."

"I didn't even realize," I admit.

"Exactly."

"I see your point."

"I'm glad. So anyway, Carter really likes Jess so this means a lot to him."

I smile. My best friends are going to get amazing boyfriends and they're going to be treated right.

The bell rings and Asher and I head to Mr.Crawford's room.

"Welcome back, guys!" Mr.Crawford says as we enter. "New seats up on the board."

I scan for my name and see that I'm in the back of the room.

Bingo.

I look to find Asher's name near my seat. I frown when I realize that he's diagonal from me on the other side of the room instead of beside me.

"Oh well," Asher says. "I guess I'm leaving you, Chase."

I force out a chuckle to hide my disappointment. "Yeah, I guess so."

I go to my seat and get comfortable. At least no one sits beside me, but someone does sit beside Asher. A girl. A girl who isn't me.

I find myself watching as a gorgeous white girl with straight glossy brown hair sits beside him.

"Hi, I'm Brooke," She greets Asher.

He flashes her a smile. "Asher."

Brooke looks so gorgeous. She has perfect hair, skin, outfit. I look like trash with my messy wavy/curly hair, dull skin, and casual jeans and a t-shirt.

Asher looks back at me and mouths "You okay?"

I nod with a halfhearted smile just as the bell rings.

Mr.Crawford starts class and all I can think about is how Asher and Brooke are probably joking around just like we used to do. He's probably telling her pickup lines instead of listening to our teacher.

Chase, what the actual hell? He doesn't even date, so what's going to happen if he talks to another girl? You can't be a selfish bitch like that.

Okay, conscious, shut the fuck up.

•••
Don't y'all just love when you've got 9 days off from school but you haven't done any of your homework and everything's due in two days, but you have a party to go to, so now there's only one day to finish everything?

Thanks for reading :)

~M