Secret obsession

CHAPTER 20

I am holding the phone in my ear listening to my friend cry and sob. Today was a good day and suddenly everything started to crumble for her.

“What are you talking about? What happened?” I ask again to make sure.

“We went to the park near the lake… I thought we were going to spend some time there. He was in a weird mood again, and I noticed it because he was squeezing the wheel very hard… anyway, after some time there, I was trying to make him laugh or at least to change his mood.” Kim stops and starts to cry again “… that is when he told me that we should break up.”

“I can’t believe it, you guys were fine at school today, you looked so happy”, I say while I look at Henry, who is still in front of me. He looks disappointed, but I ignore him for a moment.

“That is the thing, Erin… he told me he wanted to break up because he saw you and Henry together today after school”, Kim sobs, trying to calm down.

“What do you mean because he saw me? Is that thing going on again?!” I ask, getting very pissed. I can’t believe Jake did that.

“Erin… Jake is in love with you, since I don’t know when. I know you never saw him that way, but the truth is that he loves you more than you can imagine… I just thought that after this time with me, he was going to forget about you”, she says with her sad voice “but your relationship with Henry seems to trigger his jealousy because he wants to be with you.”

I never thought Kim knew about Jake's feelings from the beginning. I guess that’s why she asked me if he and I were involved the first time she talked to me. Right now, I don’t know what to do, how to react, how can I help my friend? I feel awful, and I guess Henry notices my reaction because he gets close to hug me while I hold the phone and start to tear up.

“Kim, I… I don’t know what to say… I mean, you know I see Jake as a brother. He is important to me, but not in a romantic way and honestly… I don’t think I will be able to forgive him for this. You are my friend too, and you are important to me as well”, I say to her, still in Henry’s arms.

“I know girl” she breathes deeply “and I’m sorry Erin. Actually, the only reason I talked to you in the beginning was because I was interested in Jake, and since I knew you were so important to him, I tried to be friends with you so he could love me… I know it sounds terrible but at the end you became important to me… I blamed you a lot lately because I knew Jake’s attitude was because he is in love with you, but I guess I didn’t want to see the reality” she says before starts to clear her voice like if something is happening there where she is “Crap! My mom is calling me… I will have to call you later…”

“Please do, or you can even come to my house… but please call me” I said before she finished the call.

My head starts to hurt so much that it makes me feel dizzy. I never thought Jake could break up with Kim, after more than two years! They were the perfect couple at school. They were always together and to think that everything was fake from Jake’s side gets me angry and annoyed at him. I push Henry a little bit to put my phone in my pocket again. I feel so comfortable with him that I forgot I was supposed to be mad at him too.

“Is everything OK?” he asks, curious.

“I don’t know… Kim and Jake broke up” I say, looking at him to read his expression. He looks worried and thoughtful.

“That took him a lot of time, don’t you think?”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing… you should stay calm for now. I don’t think there is anything you can do for your friend”, he says while walking back to the spot where we were sitting before and sits on the grass again. I know he is right, there is nothing to do for now to help Kim. She is talking to her mom and I know her mom is not the easy type, plus I am determined to not be on Jake’s side. I will keep my promise to my friend and try my best to support her. After thinking that, I only see Henry waiting for me, tilting his head and giving me a warm smile.

“What is with you and the grass?” I ask getting next to him and sit where I was sitting before.

“I don’t know, it's nice… fresh” he shrugs at the ‘fresh’ part.

“Fresh?... do you need to sit somewhere fresh?” I ask mocking him for his answer.

“Well, you see, for a guy like me, sometimes things tend to get hot” he says, looking at my mouth getting closer. “And with someone like you, things could get even hotter”, he whispers the last part, brushing his nose with mine, making me gulp hard.

I think I can give up and kiss him now, and I want to do it so bad, but I should stay focused and firm to show him I don’t want to play his games anymore if he can’t be honest with me.

“You can be really annoying sometimes, you know?” I say pushing him away feeling proud of me. He looks at me surprised and chuckles, biting his lower lip. “Besides, I thought you wanted to talk to me about something, and it’s been some time now, and I don’t know what you want yet.”

“You know you are beautiful, right?” he looks deeply in my eyes.

“Don’t change the subject…”

“I won’t” he interrupts me. “It is just… there are some things I know I have to explain to you, but… that means I should be open to you and, honestly… I’m not sure if I can do it” he starts to get serious “That’s why I’m trying to avoid the conversation or at least I’m trying to be more relaxed, but the truth is that I’m terrified” Henry says getting nervous. I guess he doesn’t want to push me anymore, but he doesn’t know how to start. Maybe he needs to be relaxed before he opens his feelings completely, so I will try to help.

“You know I never went to the school festival”, I say, trying to change the mood. He smiles and looks at the sky again.

“Me neither, this school has a bunch of lame ideas, you know?”

“I don’t think they are lame, plus I helped to get the ‘museum’ ready and I heard everybody liked it.” I look at him proud.

“C’mon Erin, do you really think someone went to the ‘museum’?” he looks at me again and we both stay in silence for a moment before we start to laugh unexpectedly. “I mean, there were some weird paintings that I’m pretty sure I hung upside down.”

“What?” I ask, laughing so hard.

“I didn’t know which side was the right one, so I just hung them up anyway,” he says, laughing with me.

We both keep laughing at stupid stuff, enjoying the moment, getting closer to each other without realizing it. We are so close now that our shoulders touch each other and from time to time I can rest my head in his. I try to put some distance between us, but I want to be close to him, and I know he wants to too, because I see he tries to hug me or kiss me, but at the same time he stops himself saying another stupid thing to distract us. It is like we are fighting with our own feelings.

After we recover from the last laugh, a comfortable silence falls between us. I take a deep breath and let my head rest on his shoulder one more time. He turns a little bit and kisses my head so slowly that it gives him the chance to smell my hair, then he holds my hand and, after playing with my fingers a little bit, he tangles them with his fingers to then take my hand to his mouth and kisses it slowly and warmly. My heart keeps beeping fast, pushing me to stop playing and kiss him now, but the moment stops abruptly when we see a car approaching and stopping in the middle of the street squealing its tires.

We both look at the street and see Jake’s car. He gets out of the car parked in the middle of the street as if he doesn’t care and starts to walk towards us fast and angry. I stand up quickly, walking towards Jake, angry too at his sudden visit and because he made Kim cry. Henry walks behind me very close.

“So, after everything, you still want to be with this asshole?!” Jake shouts, even when I am in front of him now.

“What the hell are you doing here Jake?... what happened to Kim?!” I shout back.

“We broke up”, he says, looking at me seriously, like without regrets. It is almost like he never felt something for her “I don’t want to be with her, Erin!... I want to be with you” his voice is soft now.

“Jake, what are you talking about? Kim was your girlfriend for two years!”

“It wasn’t enough!... she is not you Erin.”

“So, you played with her?”

“No! I swear I didn’t.” he grabs my hand while saying that like begging me to believe him. “She knew from the beginning… I told her I was in love with you, and she accepted!”

I remember Kim told me that she knew about Jake and his feelings for me, but she didn’t mention that Jake was the one that told her.

“Jake I…”

“You told me that you didn’t know I wanted a chance”, he interrupts me, “and that is why I broke up with her… seeing you with that jerk made me realize that if I want a chance, I need to fight for that chance.”

“Jake, things don’t work like that… you broke my friend’s heart!” I removed my hand from his.

“I know, but… I don’t know what else to do” he looks at me desperately. “I love you Erin, and being friends is not enough anymore! I can’t… I can’t deal with the idea that someone else is kissing you or hugging you or holding your hand. I just can’t!”

I see how Jake starts to lose control of himself. He is looking everywhere, like looking for something, maybe looking for an answer or an exit.

“And what about him?!” he points at Henry. “You know he just wants to sleep with you, he told you that! I cannot accept that!... please tell me you are not going to sleep with him” he gets close to me and grabs me by my shoulders hard enough to hurt me.

“Jake! You are hurting me!” I say, trying to break free from his rough petition. But he doesn’t stop.

“Hey! She told you to let her go!” Henry appears next to me and pushes Jake away from me so hard that it works, then he stands in front of me protecting me.

“You stay out of this”, Jake says to Henry in a threatening tone.

“I told you I was tired of always beating you up, but if you touch Erin that way again, I might change my mind” Henry threatens Jake too.

Jake chuckles mad, looking at the floor as if he was thinking about what to say or do. I hope he just gives up and leaves. We are at my house. I don’t want my parents to come outside and see this scene.

“Don’t think you won Erin’s heart so easily, Henry”. Jake’s muscles tense again when he called Henry by his name, actually is the first time I heard it.

“Of course not, Jerky boy, but I am pretty sure that she would not be with an immature jackass like you.”

After that comment, Jake walks towards Henry, throws the first punch and fails because Henry moved. With that reaction, Jake throws another one that hits Henry’s jaw hard enough to make him step back and let his anger out. Both start to fight, punching each other with so much anger that it makes me worry that this could have a bad end, so I ask them to stop but none of them are listening. The only thing I think I can do is walk between them, thinking that maybe if they see me standing there they will stop.

The surprise of their reaction is big. Because when Henry sees me, he stops his next punch and steps back, avoiding the fight. On the other hand, when Jake sees me, he gets even madder and pushes me to the side, making me fall on my mom’s garden where she has a lot of rocks to divide the garden from the yard.

I fell on one of the rocks and I hear a weird sound inside my arm. Something broke inside me. I hear the sound in my ear, but I know it is from my left arm. I start to cry on the floor, screaming because I am in too much pain. The two fighters look at me worried and run to me to help me stand up, but they keep fighting, deciding who is going to pick me up. My dad walks out of my house and runs to me to pick me up, pushing Jake and Henry, who are not helping at all. He looks at both of them, trying to understand why none of them helped me, but I think he prefers to take care of my pain first rather than discover what was going on between them.

“Come on boys! Help me open the door”, My dad says when we get in front of his car, waiting for one of them to react.

“We should take her in my car. "After all, we don’t want to lose more time”, Jake suggests, knowing that his car is blocking my dad’s car; my dad accepts.

“Henry, please call my wife and tell her we are going to the hospital”, My dad says while getting in the front seat of the car. I am sitting at the back holding my arm and tearing up. I don’t even turn to see Henry, my concentration is now in pain.

“Sure thing, Sir” Henry answers.

“We’ll see you in the hospital, OK? My wife will know which one”, my dad adds and gives a warm smile to Henry, maybe because he looks scared.

Jake starts driving and, from time to time, I see his hands shaking. I’m not sure if he realizes that all of this is his fault. The pain is awful, and I hear my dad talking to me trying to make me feel calm. I can’t stop the pain. I never felt anything like this. I rest my head a little bit because I feel dizzy, and I’m pretty sure I’m passing out. The last thing I hear is my dad calling my name.