The Second Male Lead

2

CHAPTER 2

I woke up from my dream and chuckled at the nostalgic memory that it brought me, I recalled everything that happened from that day,

"Hey, I think I should tell you something," Jean raised her head up from my shoulder to tell me something, I grinned at her as she looked at me as if she was going to do something really bad, I already knew what was going to happen, it was very obvious.

We had been going out for walks ever since the day I awkwardly asked her if she wanted to be friends, most of the time we went out when it was night time and just sat in one of the benches in the park and talked about the problems we had, we got closer and so did she and Louis. I found out a lot about Louis and his secret crush before he even thought of telling me, so I tried my best to convey my feelings to Jean before he could.

Sadly, it didn't work, I could already see it in her eyes, I braced myself and broke the silence between us, "If it's really important then don't be scared, just tell me." I smiled brightly just so I could hide the pain in my eyes from her.

"I like Louis, and I know you like me," the look on her face hurt me even more, because she knew that I liked her first, I tried first and that I should've been given at least a chance. "I really want to like you the way you like me but I can't."

Her voice broke and she hugged me, it was like my world fell apart, I really like her and I would do anything for her to be with me, but Louis was my best friend and the only thing I could do was silently, painfully accept to myself that I lost.

"Hey why are you crying?" I raised her head up and wiped her tears, "You already like me the way I like you-, I took her hand and held it as gently as I can and stopped my tears from flowing," -we're friends, the best kind right? I think your fame is getting to your head," I said as I chuckled, I thanked my voice for not breaking in a moment like this. "If you wanted I could even help you tell him how you feel."

I walked her home, said my goodbyes and smiled as she entered her house. I walked back to my house and silently cried, I hated this, I should've said something to Louis because we understood each other and he would've backed off. But the way he talked about her made me feel sorry for him and I couldn't just make our friendship get in the way of his feelings.

I wiped my tears and silently ate dinner, not even bothered by the noise my sister made next to my room, I curled up into a ball under my blankets and cried myself to sleep, I hoped that I didn't have to go to school the next day and see her, with him and his obliviousness to everything else because he would be happy just being with her.

I shook my head and smiled, I was so dumb as a teenager, maybe even dumber now. It was all in the past now. Louis and I are still best friends, and we're still good friends with Jean even if they broke up two years ago. It took a while but, I accepted that Jean and I weren't meant to be and moved on.

Since then I've been focusing on studying and got good grades to make my parents proud. I even started working for my uncle who is producer, I helped with his schedule and bought him coffee and he taught me how to produce videos and gave me minimum wage in exchange.

Louis went on and fixed cars as a part-time job, we hang out a lot recently since summer's about to end and we're both going to different cities for college. Jean, her dad got a job in Europe so she moved there and we haven't seen each other in a while.

"Man, I can't believe we're going to be moving away soon, and that we're both going to be 18," Louis said eating ice cream next to me in the back of the studio as we watched my uncle produce a short movie for the film festival he's going to enter.

"Well, you should, because it's real and we might not see each other often for four years." I say to him and we both stood up to throw away our cups after we finished our ice cream.

"Oh, remember Jean? She's visiting from Europe today to see us I think." Louis says to me as he heads to the bathroom to wash his hands. "Man I wonder what happened to her after a year and a half of being around so many French people."

I felt my heart skip a beat and my palms sweat, she's here? I've been locked in this studio for so long with my uncle that I don't even know what's happening to the outside world. I slapped myself and went to Louis as he exited the bathroom.

"Can you tell me where Jean is right now?" I ask politely.