HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN?
By Sarah Wartman
PART ELEVEN
As I watched Joey's face move closer and closer to mine, I paniced. For some odd reason, I didn't want to stop him, and that scared me. Just inches from my face, I pushed him away.
"What are you doing?" I asked him.
"Well, I was going to kiss you," he whispered.
"Why?"
He smiled. "Well, because I like you. Why else does someone kiss someone else?"
I stood up and looked at him. "Joey, you know I'm with Jared."
He chuckled and looked away.
"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked him.
He stood up and got right in my face. "I don't like that guy. Never have. He treats you like shit and I hate that! If you were with me, I'd treat you like a princess. I've liked you for three years Sarah! Three years!" he told me, almost yelling.
"Then why didn't you do this three years ago when I was single?" I yelled back.
I got him there. He was speechless. I looked away to see Justin and Pam sneak a quick kiss and it surprised me. I made myself a mental note to talk to her later. I looked back at Joey.
"You know what Joey? You think you know everything about my relationship with Jared, but you don't! You don't know anything. For your information, we spent all day together yesterday and it was wonderful. We didn't fight and I had the time of my life. So you see, he doesn't treat me so badly. He promised to stop being so jealous of my friendship with JC and you guys, and I'm so glad he has! I couldn't be happier! So, next time, before you start throwing your opinions everywhere, maybe you need to get your facts straight!"
He looked as if I had slapped him right across the face. I had surprised him and it left him speechless for quite a while. "Tell you what," he said, after a long, silent pause between us. "You look me in the eyes and tell me you don't have even an ounce of feelings for me and I'll leave you alone. We'll go back to being good friends and nothing like this will ever happen again. Just say it."
I looked back over at Justin and Pam, talking intently, not noticing what was going on around them and tears started swelling in my eyes. I wasn't sure if I didn't want something like this to ever happen again. I wanted so badly to tell him I didn't have any feelings for him.
I looked back at him to see a hurt expression in his eyes. I opened my mouth to say the words, 'No, I don't have any feelings for you what-so-ever.' But nothing came out, I couldn't say it. Tears filled my eyes. I just looked at him and walked away....
PART TWELVE
I did a lot of thinking that day. JC could tell something was bothering me and asked me about it.
"SJ, come here for a second," he said as I was packing up my car. I closed the door and walked over to him.
"Yeah?" I asked him.
"What's up with you?"
I looked over at the ocean. "Nothing," I told him.
"Don't lie to me," he said. I looked over at him with a blank expression on my face. "Ever since Joey threw you in the water today, you've been acting different and I want to know what's going on inside that head of yours," he said, tapping on the top of my head.
I sighed. "I'll talk to you about it later, okay? I need to figure a few things out first," I told him and turned towards my car.
~*~*~*~
Days passed without speaking to anyone, not even Pam. My phone rang, of course, all the time, but I let the answering machine get it. I wasn't in the mood to fight with Jared or to explain things to JC. Not yet.
About a week later, I decided to call Jared. I'm sure he was getting worried about me.
"Hey Jared," I said after he answered the phone.
"Where have you been?" he yelled. "I've been trying to get a hold of you ALL week!"
"I'm sorry, I haven't felt good," I lied.
"Well, now that you're feeling better, I have a question for you."
"Shoot."
"What were you doing kissing Joey at the beach last Sunday?" he fired.
I froze. I couldn't even breathe. "What are you talking about?" I whispered.
"Well, a friend told me that you and Joey were sharing a quick kiss at the beach and I wanted to know what was going on. Remember when I said you had given me no reason to distrust you?" he said.
"So, you've been sending little spies after me?" I yelled.
"Well, obviously I needed to."
"Obviously, if you're going to send someone to spy on me, you need to get a more reliable person with better eye sight. Joey and I didn't kiss, okay?"
"How do I know that? How can I trust you?" he asked.
Those words burned in my brain. I didn't know what to say. I didn't cheat on him! I've never cheated on anyone in my life! I've been cheated on and knew how it felt. The tears were swelling in my eyes. I quickly slammed the phone down.
I layed down on my bed and buried my head in my pillow. 'How could this happen?' I asked myself, starting to cry. It felt as if my life was slowly falling apart....
PART THIRTEEN
I sat up and dried my tears. I didn't know how long I had been crying, but I knew I had to get out of here. I grabbed my car keys and left.
I was driving down the road and pulled out my cell phone.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Pam, what are you doing?" I asked her, trying to hide the fact that I was crying.
"Just watching a movie with Justin," she told me. "What's wrong? You sound like you're crying."
"Nothing," I told her.
"I don't believe you. Did you get in a fight with Jared again?"
"Yeah, but it's more than that. I long story," I told her. Suddenly Justin was on the phone.
"SJ, what is it?" he asked me.
"Justin, it's a long story," I said, crying.
"I got all night."
"Well, I don't, put Pam back on please? I'll fill you in later, I'm just not in the mood to talk about it right now."
"Okay, but you know if you need someone to talk to, I'm here," he said before handing the phone to Pam.
"What's up with you two anyways?" I asked her.
"We're just watching a movie," she told me.
"Is that ALL you're doing?"
She laughed. "Oh, Sarah, get real."
"But seriously Pam, when did all this start going on? I didn't even know you liked him like that!" I told her.
"I'll tell you about it later, okay? You going to be okay?" she asked me.
"Yeah, I'll call to you later," I told her and we hung up. 'Can't go there,' I told myself so I decided to go to JC's. 'Invisible Man' by 98 degrees starting playing on the radio and I sped up.
I pulled up into JC's driveway and ran to the door. I usually just walk in, but the door was locked. I knocked and rang the doorbell, over and over. He wasn't there, which made me cry even more. I really needed to talk to him, to anyone at this point.
I sighed and went to my car and just sat in there for a long time, thinking of where to go. I started my car and drove over to Joey's, since his house was just down the street.
I pulled up along side of Joey's house and got out and just stood beside my car, trying to decided if I really wanted to do this. 'I hope I won't regret this,' I told myself as I slowly walked up to his door. I rang the doorbell and looked around.
"Sarah!" Joey said, after opening the door. "What's wrong?" he asked me.
I pushed right past him and into his living room. "It was just awful Joey," I told him. Suddenly, I stopped dead in my tracks. There was a beautiful blonde sitting on his sofa.
PART FOURTEEN
"Oh my God," I whispered and turned towards the door and looked at Joey.
"I'm sorry to bother you. I hope I didn't interrupt anything," I told him, running towards the door.
"Sarah!" he called, but I was already out the door, racing towards my car. I jumped in and raced off. I couldn't stop the tears that were falling fast down my face. 'Why should that bother me?' I asked myself. 'We're not together, he can see anyone he wants. This shouldn't bother me.' I kept telling myself over and over again.
My cell phone rang and I jumped. "Hello?" I asked, not even trying to hide the fact I was balling like a baby.
"Sarah, what's wrong? Justin called me and told me to check on you."
"Oh, JC," I said. "It was awful! This whole freaking day! I feel as if my life is falling apart! How could I let this happen?"
"What are you talking about? Get over here, okay?" he told me.
I sniffed and tried to control my crying. "Okay...."
~*~*~*~
I pulled into JC's driveway and turned off my car. He was sitting on his front porch and ran over to me when he saw me getting out. I ran into his arms. Neither of us said anything, he just held me.
We sat down on his front porch. He didn't say anything, just waited for me to start speaking.
"Joey tried to kiss me Sunday," I finally said.
"You're kidding. Is that why you were acting so weird?"
"Yeah, because I almost didn't stop him. I didn't want to, but I did, of course. I know how much it hurt when I was cheated on and I didn't want to do that to Jared."
"That still doesn't explain why you're crying now," he told me.
"Jared had someone follow me to the beach Sunday and he saw Joey try to kiss me. Only he thought it happened, or at least that's what he told Jared. And as you can imagine, Jared's not too happy right now. I needed someone to talk to and called Pam on my way to your house a little bit earlier. Justin was there, that's where he talked to me. I came here and you weren't here and I didn't know where to go, so I went to Joey's only to find him with a girl. And for some reason that really upset me."
"Why is that?"
I sighed. "I don't know JC. Geez, I don't understand this."
"Maybe you just don't want to admit that you feel the same way towards Joey as he feels towards you."
Shocked, I just looked up at him and realized he hit the nail right on the head.
PART FIFTEEN
JC saw my shocked impression and smiled. "Was I right?"
The tears just kept flowing down and I nodded. JC held me and played with my hair. "Do you enjoy torturing yourself like this?" JC whispered into my ear.
I choked out a weak laugh between my sobs. "Of course not. But what am I supposed to do?"
"Break up with Jared and be with Joey. That wasn't too hard to figure out."
I turned around to face him. "Couple problems with that one, Josh. First of all, I care for Jared. And secondly, Joey is with a girl as we speak. Those two facts kind of get in the way, don'tcha think?"
JC pulled me back into his arms. "Well, maybe that girl is just a friend or something? Just cause she's a female doesn't mean Joey's "with" her. Besides, Joey loves you. Always has and he would treat you so well, you know that."
I just sighed and let my tears fall. My mind was whirling. "JC, you mind if I stay here tonight? I'm so tired from all this crying and I don't feel like driving."
"You know that guestroom is practically your room anyway, but don't you have classes tomorrow?"
I turned to look at him. "I only have one class on Friday's. I'm not too worried about it, I'm just so tired. You sure you don't mind?"
JC smiled at me and kissed my forehead. "Of course not."
~*~*~*~
I layed in bed, but couldn't sleep. I had way too many things on my mind. I looked over at the nightstand to see the walkie-talkie still there from the weekend before and picked it up.
"JC? You asleep?"
"No, you okay?" JC asked.
"Yeah, just couldn't sleep. Do you really think that girl that was at Joey's was just a friend.?"
I noticed it took JC a while to answer my question. "Sarah, I don't know. All I know is how much he cares about you."
I sighed. "I know, but..."
"But what?" he asked me.
"What about Jared?"
"What about him SJ? He obviously isn't the one for you. So you had one great day last weekend, big deal. You've been together for over a year and he's sending friends to spy on you. Sarah, I hate to be the one to say it, but he doesn't love you."
Tears started flowing down my cheeks, his words stinging my heart. 'He really doesn't love me,' I told myself. "I know...." I finally whispered.
"Want me to come in there?"
"No, I'll be fine. Night JC. Thank you for being there for me."
"Anything for you, SJ. Night." JC said and sat his walkie-talkie down. He sighed and picked up his phone and dialed.
"Hello?"
"Joey, I need to talk to you...."
TO BE CONTINUED