Roomies ✔

31 - Man of Secrets

Jamie looked back and forth between the two guys. She didn't understand what happened. Juice had talked to her for a while, until he mentioned he felt warm. She'd followed him to the balcony — and there she had been a witness of how her boyfriend was strangling Daphne! And now... now he claimed that Juice had wanted Esai to cheat on her right before her eyes. 

"Is that true?" she asked Juice eventually. She'd wanted to sound shrill, but it was a broken whisper which left her lips. "Did you ask Daphne to do this?"

"Of course not," Juice answered. He avoided her glance. 

Daphne rolled her eyes. "You suck at lying, Juice. You told me to wear this dress and to seduce your rival. It was my duty, as an old lady, you told me."

She turned her face back to Juice. He bent his head and stared at the floor, ashamed. "I'm sorry Jamie," he muttered. 

Jamie felt the tears sting in her eyes. Immediately she was no longer in the mood to party, and she turned around and rushed to her bedroom. Sitting down on the bed, she wrapped a blanket around herself. Right through the walls she could hear Juice and Esai scream at each other. She wrapped her hands in front of her face. How could Juice do something so mean? Why couldn't he accept Esai as her boyfriend? 

She flinched when someone knocked at the door. She didn't respond. Juice was the last person on earth she wanted to see right now and Esai... Esai was probably very pissed. 

It however was a soft, female voice calling her name. Shanty. 

"Jamie? Can I come in?"

She sniffled quietly. Whether the confirmation really passed her lips, was hard to tell. Nevertheless, the door opened. The moment Shanty saw her, she slipped into the room, closed the door and wrapped her arms around her friend. 

"What's going on?"

Jamie wiped her eyes, telling her softly what had happened. "And I — I just don't understand why Juice would do such a thing," she ended her story, sobbing. "I thought we were friends. Why can't he be happy for me? Esai never did anything wrong, it's all because of their stupid clubs."

Shanty took her hand and waited until Jamie had blinked away enough tears to look her in the eye. "Juice is love with you, Jamie," she said quietly. "I heard them scream. He's jealous. And people do stupid things when they're jealous."

Jamie wrapped her arms tighter around her knees. A while back she might have laughed about the suggestion, but now Juice had kissed her a couple hours ago, she wondered if it could be really true. 

"I don't know what to do," she muttered. 

"I'm afraid there isn't much you can do. Juice will have to accept that you can't return his feelings and that Esai can make you happy. At first, I also had my doubts about Esai, but I've seen how he looks at you. Like you're the most beautiful being on earth."

Jamie blushed. Then, she got up. "I need to talk to Juice. Before they bash each other's head open."

As Jamie returned to the living room, Esai was behind the sink, washing the blood off his face. Juice was nowhere to be seen. The other guests looked a bit awkwardly at her. Jamie wrapped her arms around herself. She had expected her birthday to be so different. Walking over to Esai, she laid a hand on his shoulder. "You okay?"

As he turned his face aside, she saw that his lip was split. His eye was swollen too. "I will be," he muttered. "But I think I can better go home. You should talk to Juice and explain to him that you don't feel the same way about him as he feels about you." He hesitated. "Or maybe you do — then I wish you'd just tell me."