Romance Novel

Chapter Four

The person I ran into says, "Hey, are you okay?" I can feel tears springing to my eyes, hoping that it's all a dream. But he's definitely real. Too real. I can still remember him from when I was in seventh grade. He was in eighth at the time. He looks almost exactly the same. He's still wearing the same black jacket. He's still wearing the same gray basketball shorts. He still has the same dark brown hair with the same haircut as Austin. His dark brown eyes are looking at me with worry.
      Obviously, Taylor doesn't remember him, because she says, "Athena, do you know him?"
      I can hear Austin say behind me, "Athena, are you okay?"
      My eyes well up with tears, and I run off.
      Behind me, I hear Taylor calling my name, telling me to wait. But I don't. I run directly into the nearest hallway and look around desperately for somewhere to hide. I see the janitor's closet and run inside.
     I close the door behind me and curl up into a ball and start crying. I hear a knock on the door and Taylor's voice. "Athena? Are you all right?"
     I hear Austin's voice: "Athena what happened? What's wrong?"
     Taylor's voice reasons with Austin and she comes inside and closes the door. She crouches down so she is eye level with me. "What's wrong?" she says softly. "Who was that?"
     I whimper and wipe my nose before speaking. "That was Jaxson."
     Taylor's eyes get wide. "Jaxson Smith? The guy you've liked since seventh grade? That Jaxson?"
     I nod.
     Taylor whistled. "Man, what's going to happen now that you're dating Austin?"
     I shook my head. "I don't know. But I have to choose one or the other. I just don't know which one yet. Austin is my boyfriend, but I've been heavily crushing on Jaxson since seventh. What do I do?"
     Taylor was silent for a little while. Then she said, "I'll tell you what I would do. You don't have to take my advice, but in my opinion, I think it'll help you out."
     In nodded.
     "Follow your heart," she said. "It's doesn't matter what's right or what's wrong. If you truly think you like Jaxson more, then break up with Austin. Even though Austin will feel pretty bad for while, if you decide you like Jaxson more, it won't be real if you decide to keep dating Austin. But, if you choose to keep dating Austin, you've got to let Jaxson go. It's not fair to Austin if every time you walk past Jaxson you stare longingly at him. So just choose one.
     But," she said. "If you decide to break up with Austin, you have to do something with it. You can't just go back to how in was in the seventh grade where you would just stare at Jaxson from across the room. You have to do something with it. Ask him out, tell him you like him, it doesn't matter. Just do something." Taylor got up and walked out of the janitor's closet.
     I sat there for a few more minutes, contemplating my decision before walking out and joining my friends again.