Tainted Love

Chapter 3

--------- Cara POV------------

Reggie and I decided to get in Reggie’s car to talk about what Emily had just confronted me about. Reggie almost looks mad about everything. Is this even the best time to speak to him about this?

“Can you drive around instead of sitting here? “ I asked Reggie, and he didn’t even respond. Reggie started his car and began to drive out of the parking lot. I made sure he got a good distance before I even spoke again. “To start, what exactly has got you upset right now? Was it Dylan?” I asked to see if he would possibly confess to what Emily said.

“Yes, that guy. After you left to go to the bathroom, that GUY kept talking to Ana about how stupid you were for dating me. And I wanted to respect you, so I didn’t respond. I just got up and left.” Reggie said with aggression in his tone.

“What? Dylan said that? What did Ana say?” I asked quickly, almost forgetting everything Emily told me about him.

“She agreed while starring at me.” Reggie spat back at him like it was my fault or something. “Ana liked me before you had Dylan come to the park.” He added more angrily.

“Excuse me? I never invited him to come; that was all Ana. And what about you? Emily told me how you asked her out first before me. Or what about the girl she caught you with the other day?” I said while raising my voice, feeling real offensive by his accusation. He instantly pulled over right next to the thrift store just a few blocks from the park. Reggie then unbuckled his seatbelt to look directly at me.

“Emily said what?” Reggie said almost calmly at this point.

“You know exactly what I said. You have nothing to say about it?” I said, still with agitation in my voice.

“I have never asked her out. If anything, she has been asking me to hang out almost desperately. And as for that girl, I believe she saw me with was my cousin, she asked me to meet her because her brother is sick and need our uncle's to help with money.” He said with anger slowly creeping in his voice.

“Then why didn’t you tell me about it?” I asked, slowly coming down from my mood.

“Because it is my family business and doesn’t have anything to do with you. You need to consider the fact all your friends are trying to get in-between us and are not good for you.” Reggie said, which felt like a knife through my heart. I have known Ana and Emily for as long as I can remember. “Do you not want us to be together? Why did you tell me you love me if you don't? How could you believe her over me?” He snapped at me with hurt in his tone.

“Reggie, I didn’t mean to come off that way. I do love you.” I said, starting to question everything that had been going on. What if Emily is trying to take Reggie from me? What if Ana thinks I am dumb and has Dylan played me since he and I never went there? Did he want Ana? They always had a close bond. I mean, I have been hanging out with Reggie a lot; maybe I don’t know what my friends are thinking about Reggie and me.

“Maybe I should take you home. I think you need to think about where we go from here.” Reggie stated. It made me feel horrible; I feel so guilty for letting Emily get in my head about him. I mean technique, she waited to tell me everything, and Reggie has been here for me all summer, especially when my parents were arguing a lot. I kept looking over at Reggie while he was driving. I wanted to say something to him to reassure him how I felt. Once we pulled up to my parents, he unbuckled my seatbelt and kissed me on my cheek. “It’s okay; just go to the room and think about how you feel about me.” He said, but honestly, I want this argument to go away.

“I love you; I know I do,” I said while placing my hand on his cheek. Reggie then leaned closer to me.

“Are you sure?” He asked, almost like he knew I was going to say yes.

“Yes, Reggie. I love you.” I said again while leaning closer to kiss him, but he stopped me. He leaned back into his seat while looking at my house.

“Is your mom home?” Reggie asked oddly, like he had something planned.

“Um… I believe so. Why?” I said, looking back to my house then back to him.

“You want to go to my Uncle’s. No one is home. Maybe you want to go talk there and make everything better?” He asked me while placing his hand onto my thigh.

“Um…. Yeah, that sounds fine.” I said while pulling out my phone to text my mom to let her know since she most likely saw me out of the window.

“What are you doing?” He said while pulling away and breaking while seeing me pull out my phone. He acted like he had no trust in me anymore because of Dylan and Emily.

“I am texting my mom to let her know I was going to your place,” I said, worried about his mood change. He grabbed my phone enough so he could tilt it so he could see I was telling him the truth.

“Okay, that’s fine. It would help if you stayed away from Emily and Ana; they don’t have your best interest. Especially that Dylan guy.” He snapped while anger instantly came back like it never left. I just remained silent. “Okay, good, now let’s go have some fun to make today better; I don’t like seeing you hurt by your so-called friends,” Reggie added.