For Forever

15. The Answer

"WHAT DO I DO?!" was the first thing that could be heard when Jess started a video-chat on her laptop. She and her girl friends were discussing the events of yesterday in the chat, but Jess couldn't handle the stress anymore and decided to call.

"Jess! Calm down! You're not dying or anything." Petra said relaxed.

"Except I am! How can you be so chill about this?" Jess panicked.

"I agree with Petra, you need to calm down." Cassie said. She can be such a mom friend sometimes.

Jess took a few deep breaths. "Guys, I don't know what to do." she repeated herself, much calmer this time.

"First things first, do you like him?" Olivia asked curiously.

Jess sighed. "I'm not sure. I like him a lot as a friend, but I don't want to risk ruining our friendship."

"Think straight for a minute, okay? Lukas confessed to you because he likes you. A lot. If I were you, I'd accept his confession and see where it takes you. That's what I did with Axel, anyway." Olivia suggested. After they talked about it in the cafeteria, Olivia decided to just give it a shot and confess to Axel. And he accepted. The girls were happy for her, of course, but every time Axel was near them, Petra would give off this "You hurt her, I hurt you" vibe.

"I guess I just like the idea of being loved." Jess concluded.

"Look, Jess, I'm not good with all this lovey-dovey stuff." Petra began. "But I think you should just go with what Olivia said and accept his confession. Besides, if you end up not liking him you can always dump him."

"But I don't want to dump him!" Jess exclaimed. "I.. I don't want that for him.."

"Jess..", Cassie said softly. "..Do you like him?"

The question repeated itself in Jess' head. She had to admit, she felt different around Lukas for a while. She sometimes got this.. fluttery feeling in her chest when she was around him. And she had started to notice things.. like how he looked when he ran a hand through his hair, or how cute it was when he smiled. Not that often, but it happened.

"Yes." was her final answer.

"Awww." the girls said in unison.

Meanwhile at Lukas' house, Aiden was having a blast. "I can't believe you tried to kiss your best friend's sister! While he wasn't home!"

"I panicked okay?!" Lukas practically yelled at his phone. He wished he could just call Jesse instead, but Lukas was afraid of his reaction. Of all the people he could fall in love with, why did it have to be his best friend's sister?

"Just tell me what to do!"

"Okay okay!" Aiden said playfully. Clearly, he wasn't taking this seriously. But seeing that he was Lukas' only option, he didn't have much of a choice.

"You asked her to be your girlfriend. That's good!" Aiden began. Lukas couldn't remember the last time Aiden complimented him, or said something nice to him at all. "Now you just have to wait for her response. She's a girl, so I'm assuming she's going to text you sooner or later."

Lukas sighed. While Jess made his life better, she also had to make some things complicated. Lukas couldn't help but wonder if he was going to lose his best friend because of this. His worst fear was that Jesse was going to make him choose between him or Jess. But he wouldn't do that, would he?

"You can't expect her to text me just because she's a girl. That's discrimination." Lukas said.

"It's not discrimination when it's the truth." Aiden argued.

Lukas rolled his eyes. "That's a terrible argument, Aiden."

"Whatever."

Lukas was going to say something, but was cut off by his mother calling him down for dinner. He quickly let Aiden know that he had to go and hung up. Lukas decided that he should get his mind off of the recent events, and went downstairs, leaving his phone in his room.

Little did he know that when he went downstairs, his phone rang. A message popped up on the top of his screen. It said:

"Yes."