I hadn’t seen Darren all day. I knew he was in school today. I wanted to tell him the truth as soon as possible. The guilt of still being his girlfriend but liking someone else was eating me alive. I just couldn’t live with the truth for one more day. No matter what, I had to tell him.
It would hurt him, it would hurt me too?. But we would get over it eventually because we were not meant to be together in the first place. I just wanted to win a stupid bet. And to win it, I became his girlfriend. And that was so,? so? wrong. That was not something I would do. I would never do such a thing to my friend. But now that I had, I would have to set it right before it was too late.
I saw him at lunch. I thought about telling him then and there but I didn’t want to create any more drama so I waited till lunch ended. Gemma and Brian were there too. Gemma had brought her girl gang with her to lunch today. She was telling them about her date with Brian and he looked quite bored.
After lunch ended, Darren quickly hurried to his next class which didn’t give me a chance to tell him. The whole day passed by like that. I wasn’t able to catch up with Darren.
Darren had football practise today so I decided to wait for him. Brian insisted on waiting with me but I dragged him towards his bike and he reluctantly, after I almost begged him, did he go home. I sat in my car, listening to songs, but my mind was somewhere else.
I was thinking about Darren. I had decided to tell him, but what if he gets angry at me? I hope he wouldn’t do something stupid and rash. I didn’t want him hurt. If he got hurt, I would have to forever live in guilt of being the one responsible.
He was a special friend to me. I loved my family and friends, and I couldn’t see them hurt. I was so angry at Jesse for hurting Claire. I could have prevented that if I would have punched him before it all started. I couldn’t bear to see anyone close to me, hurt.
But here, I was the one who was hurting my friend. I wished I could just reverse time to that day when I said yes to him. Did anybody know where a time machine is?
I sat there in my car for about an hour. God, do they practice for that long? I hated any kind of physical activity. I couldn’t even run for a minute without panting like I had ran at the Olympics in the end. I didn’t know how the athletes do it. Did they have superhuman abilities? Because I sure as hell needed that.
It was close to five in the evening now. I paused the music which was playing Cheap Thrills by Sia and took off my headphones. I stretched my arms before me, tired of sitting in the same position for about an hour. My butt felt like it was flattened because of sitting for so long without moving.
I looked around the parking lot. There were a few cars and bikes, mostly belonging to the footballers.
I heard a car start up, the deafening roar with which it started sounding quite familiar to my ears. I whipped my head to the right to see Darren in his car. He immediately took a sharp turn to the left and was soon speeding off towards his houde. I honked my? car, praying he would notice my presence but it was too late and he was already gone. Crap.
I sighed. If I followed him, I’d be able to catch up to him. And also I had promised myself that I would tell Darren the truth today, come what may. And no way in hell did I went back to my own words.
I started up my own car and sped after him. Often, I caught sight of his car but I wasn’t able to catch up to him. He drove quite fast. I never dared to cross a speed limit of 25 miles per hour. I liked to drive fast but it scares me shitless. I didn’t want to cause an accident, kill someone or hug a tree with my car.
Chasing Darren was hard. Damn, he
was fast. It made me feel like I was in a car race and he was winning.
In the end, I reached Darren’s house. I parked my car parallel to Darren’s and got out. I glanced at my watch. It was 5:38 in the evening. I slammed the door shut behind me and walked up the stairs to the door. I knocked on it. There were some soft sounds from inside before the door swung open to reveal Darren, still in the clothes he wore at school today.
He looked at me wide eyed.
“Brooke? What’re ? you doing here?”
I smiled at him. “H-hi, Darren,” I stuttered. Are there any guides on how to peacefully break up with your boyfriend?
“Um… hi?” He greeted back, but it sounded like a question, “Come in,” He said, stepping aside and opening the door wide enough for me. I stepped inside the house.
“Where are your mom and dad?” I asked.
“They’ve gone out for dinner.”
“And Maria?”
“She’s staying at my aunt’s place for a bit,” He said, rubbing the nape of his neck.
“Oh, so you’re alone?” I asked though it was obvious to me. Unfortunately for me, Darren took my questioning the wrong way.
“What dirty thoughts are you having, Parker?” Darren asked, smiling? mischievously at me. He then placed his hands on his chest, crossing them before shrieking in a girly tone. “Are you here to take advantage of me because I’m alone?”
“What? Shut up.”
“Then tell me what dirty intentions you have!”
“I said shut up,” I said, grabbing a cloth from the couch and flicking it at him. It turned out to be his boxers with strawberries prints. Ew.
“You pervert!” Darren squealed. “Are you here to steal my boxers?!” He said, hugging his boxers. “My favourite, strawberry boxers!” He wiped a fake tear from his eye. I just rolled my eyes at his antics. “You know it would be a great book. It could be titled? My Horny Girlfriend Stole My Boxers.” How can I tell him the truth when he was in such a good mood??
Get a grip, Brooke. It’s for the best.
“Darren, please ? be serious. We need to talk. Sit down.”
His eyes widened. “You know, when a girl says ‘we need to talk’ to her boyfriend, it scares the crap out of him.”
Oh jeez, I already gave it away.
“I know.”
He narrowed his eyes at me. “What do you want to talk about, Brooke?”
Oh gosh, how should I start?
Darren, I don’t love you. Let’s break up.
It sounded like I didn’t care about him.
Darren, I love you so much, but not in the way you wish. I’m sorry but I want to break up with you. Let’s just be friends.
Ugh! How should I start it.
“Darren, I have to tell you something. I’ll be completely honest with you. I…” I trailed off. I just wasn’t able to get the words out of mouth.
“What?”
“I want to b-break up w-with you,” I said in a small voice and I doubted if he even heard me.
I expected him to shout at me or to be angry at me, but he was silent.
I looked up at him in confusion. And then he did the unexpected. He burst out laughing, clutching his stomach as he laughed his ass off.
“I-I get it. You’re trying to make a fool out of m-me, right? It’s April 1, I know that you’re trying to fool me.”
I face palmed myself internally. What a? perfect? date to break up Darren.
“I’m not lying, Darren. I really want to break up with you. I’m sorry.”
He recovered from his laughing fit. “Okay, now you can stop your lame attempt to make me believe in your lie.”
“I’m not lying,” I said truthfully.
“Brooke, this is not funny anymore. Stop lying. You’re lying. You’re lying. You’re lying,” he kept on repeating.
“No, I’m not,” I sighed.
He stared at me for a long time. “You can’t do that to me, Brooke. Why do you want to break up with me? What’s wrong with me?”
“There’s nothing wrong with you, Darren. I’m just not good enough for you,” I tried to explain.
“Is it because of her?” He asked, staring down at me.
“Who?” I asked confusedly.
“Don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about. She told you didn’t she? Damn, that bitch. Gemma told you about the kiss, right? That’s why you want to break up with me, don’t you?”
I stared at him in shock. They kissed?
“You kissed her? When?”
“Like she didn’t tell you that already. I was drunk. It was a drunk mistake. And she kissed me. I never kissed her back, Brooke, believe me. She was drunk at the party and a stupid asshole wanted to get into her pants, so I punched him. And she, she suddenly kissed me.”
“Oh,” I said. I didn’t know what else to say. So that was what he wanted to tell me on the phone the day after the party. He kissed Gemma. So he kind of, cheated on me too? So that, kind of, evens things out, didn’t it?? Brian kissed me, Gemma kissed Darren. But the difference was that I kissed him back but Darren didn’t.
“But I’m sorry, Brooke. I didn’t kiss her back. Please, don’t break up with me,” he pleaded.
“Darren, I don’t love you. I had a bet with Brian in which I said that I could get a boyfriend in a day. I couldn’t find anyone, so I thought you would be…” I trailed off. Oh God, I hoped he didn’t slam me against a wall or something. “I’m sorry. I didn’t use you. I tried to love you, but… I can’t.”
“You-”
“Wait!” I cut him off. “Hear me out. I have a lot to tell you. At our date, Brian and Gemma were also on their own date at the same place. And Brian k-kissed me.”
“What? He kissed you?” Darren looked like he wanted to break Brian’s nose right now.
“And I kissed him back,” I said in a small voice but he heard me.
Darren’s fingers balled up into a fist and I was afraid he would punch me. He didn’t say anything for a long time. And neither did I dare to speak up. The atmosphere was still tense. I could practically feel the anger radiating off of Darren.
“I’m sorry,” I finally added, as if that was going to make any difference to him.
“Tell me the truth, Brooke. You really don’t love me?”
I thought about it. I liked Brian, not Darren. I was so sure of it.
“No, I don’t,” I finally confessed. “I’m sorry for hurting you.”
He fell silent as if processing my answer.
“Go home,” He said shortly. He turned around from me. “It’s getting late, go home, Brooke. I don’t want your family worried about you because of me.”
“No,” I said, grabbing his arm. He flinched at the contact but I ignored it. “I’m not going home unless I’m sure you’re okay.”
“I’m okay. Just go.”
“Are you really?”
“Brooke, please get out before I have to do it myself,” He said, his voice cold and instructive.
Making up my mind, I decided to leave. Maybe he needed some time to cool off and think about what I told him. I should give him the time and space he needed. “Okay,” I said, nodding at him and walking out of the door.
I turned around to see him close the door. But before he could do so, he looked at me one last time. “Do you love Brian then?” He asked, pain and sadness clearly reflected in his eyes. It broke my heart to see him like that.
“Yes,” I whispered in a heartbeat.
I loved Brian.