FB: Tell me do you think it'd be alright, if I could just crash here tonight

Jason followed me into Jacobs room. As soon as the door clicked shut, I started to feel uncomfortable.

“Where’s Kayla?” I asked, standing by the door.

Jason made his way to Jacob’s bed and plopped down on it. “We got into a fight.” He patted the space next to him, and I walked over and sat on the corner of the bed.

“What about?”

“Just. Jealousy issues. It’s stupid, and I don’t want to talk about it.”

“OK. Well. What do you want to do?” Uneasiness was still creeping into my stomach. I couldn’t put a finger on why I felt so uncomfortable, I just knew this was wrong.

“Wanna watch a movie?” He asked, laying back.

“I dunno…” I hesitated. “I’m not sure when Jake will be back.”

“Who cares? We’re just watching a movie. If he comes back he can join us.”

I looked at Jason. I knew he was just Jason, and not some random guy on the street. I knew if Jacob came in, he probably wouldn’t care. Probably. Still, something was telling me this wasn’t right. Still, I didn’t know exactly how to go about telling Jason that, without sounding like I assumed something was going to happen between us.

“Fine. Movie sounds good.” I said, leaning back on the bed. Jason reached over me and grabbed the remote, his face dangerously close to mine. I flinched, trying to move away from him. He noticed and laughed.

“Chill, Ella. I’m not going to punch you or something.” Jason said, moving back over. I still tried to stay away from him, hanging half off the bed.

He flipped through a couple of on demand movies, and eventually settled on some old movie that was on TV. I couldn’t focus on it, I was too busy paying attention to Jason’s every movement. I jumped about a mile in the air when I felt his arm slide around me.

“What are you doing?” I asked, shrugging him off.

“Cuddling. We always cuddle. What is your problem tonight? You’re all jumpy and stuff.”

“I’m just…” I trailed off, at a loss for words. “Hungry. I’m really hungry. You want to go grab something to eat? I could call the group and see what they were up too, if they want to eat.”

“I really just wanted to kind of hang out and chill.” He said.

“I know. But, you can still do that while we’re eating.” I said, reaching for my cell phone.

“We could order room service.”

“Room service isn’t as good, and it’s like, super expensive. Besides, I already texted them.”

“Isn’t as good? The only place open at this time of night is Waffle House or Steak and Shake.” Jason grumbled. Still, he got up and put on his shoes.


I had texted the guys, but I hadn’t gotten a response yet. We went down in the lobby, and paused in front of the bar.

“Where are we going?” Jason asked.

“I dunno. They haven’t answered.” I admitted.

“Jeez Ella. We could still be watching the movie!” Jason snapped, frustrated with me.

I shrugged and sat down in the lobby. Jason plopped down on the couch in front of me with a dramatic sigh. I wished I had never run into him tonight, he was in such an odd mood, and coupled with my bad mood, it wasn’t a good mix.

As I was waiting to get a text back to see what they wanted to do, I looked up and noticed Jacob’s Mom in the bar, by herself, drinking. It struck me as odd, considering she had told me earlier she was going to bed. I was about to go into the bar and see if she was OK, when my phone buzzed.

“They said we could meet them at Waffle House.”

“Great.” Jason scoffed. “Gourmet food.”

I ignored him, and waited for him to pull up the car. He didn’t talk, and I didn’t try to make him. I was back to stewing. I hadn’t lied, I was hungry. I wanted to eat and go to sleep.

We pulled up to the Waffle House and noticed that Michelle’s car was already there. I had forgotten about her, and realizing she was there plummeted my mood even more. I was even more livid when I walked in and saw Michelle smashed into a booth in between Jacob and Toni. Jacob’s arm was draped around her.

I left the hotel room because I thought Jacob might be uncomfortable with Jason and I hanging out alone together. Here he was, snuggled up to Michelle like it was nothing. I wanted to punch something.

Drew and Nick were sitting on the other side of the booth, but Drew stood when we came in, and Jason and I were slid in next to Nick. Drew got a chair and put it at the end of the booth.

“Hi.” Jason said, waving.

“Hey, I didn’t think we’d see you tonight. What happened to Kayla?” Toni asked, glancing at her menu.

“Fight.” Jason said, his words clipped.

“Yeah, so Jason met me at the hotel. We were watching a movie, but I got hungry. Though, now I’m a little tired.” I said, yawning and laying my head on Jason’s shoulder. If Jacob was allowed to cozy up to Michelle, then certainly I was allowed to cuddle up to my best friend.

“You went to Jake’s hotel room?” Toni asked, eyeing Jason and me, an eyebrow raised.

“He was there when I got back.” I said, shrugging. “I was lonely, so we decided to hang out.”

“You could have hung out with us at the bowling alley.” Toni pressed.

“You mean where I sat in the back being ignored? Loads of fun that is, a hot, loud, stinky bowling alley. No thanks.” I couldn’t hide the aggravation in my voice.

“No one was ignoring you. You were pouting, we just wanted to have a good time.” Michelle shot back.

“Sorry, Michelle, that my idea of having a good time isn’t hitting on and crawling all over anything that might have a third leg.” My tone was light, but my words were sharp.

“Ella!” Jacob protested.

“What?” I said, innocently. “I’m sorry. Did I not mention that I caught Michelle hitting on Sean? Sorry to tell you Jacob, but your friend is a whore.”

“Ella, don’t you think you’ve gone a little too far?” Toni started, but Michelle had already jumped up.

“I didn’t know just because you were jealous of someone that that automatically made them a whore.”

“Jealous of what? That I can’t spread my legs that far?” I scoffed.

“Ella STOP IT.” Jacob yelled. “You’re being such a…” He trailed off, his nostrils flared.

“Go figure you would take her side. She probably blew you before I got here. I’m going home.” With that I shoved Jason out of the booth and left.


My anger carried me pretty far, but eventually my arms gave out. I knew I wouldn’t be able to walk all the way home, but add in the fact that I was on crutches hindered me even more. I was hoping to at least be able to make it to Nick and Toni’s, where Toni would scold me but let me crash there, and take off in the morning. I had wasted too much time here, I needed to go back home, to my job.

I heard a car pull up behind me and started to get freaked. It was night, I was alone, and I couldn’t run or really fight anyone off. I kept moving, but I heard the car slow to a stop beside me.

“Get in.” Jason called.

“No.” I answered, relieved that it was just him.

“Ella, don’t be an idiot. I know you’re mad, and that’s fine. But you and I both know that you’re tired, and it’s not safe for you to be out here by yourself. So get in the car.”

I kept walking. Jason sighed.

“You gonna make me follow you all night? You know I’ll do it.”

I did know that he would. And he was right, I was tired. I stopped, turn toward his car, sticking my crutches in the back and hopping into the front seat. Jason drove off.

“Where are we going?” I asked, crossing my arms across my chest.

“My house. You can spend the night there. Tomorrow we’ll figure this all out.”

“I don’t want to go to your house.”

“I know you don’t. But I also know you don’t want to go back to Toni’s, or see Jake, so where are you gonna go? Drew’s busy comforting Michelle. You made her cry.”

I scoffed. “Those are crocodile tears, I promise you.”

“Yeah. I don’t doubt that. I know what kind of girl Michelle is. Still, you didn’t need to go off on her like that.”

“Of course you’d take her side…” I pouted.

“Right. That’s why I’m the only one who came and got you. Because I’m taking HER side.”

That shut me up, and cut me. He was right, no one else came after me. They all let me go, off by myself, and not one of them had even bothered to call me to see if I was OK.

Jason cleared his throat. “You know, Kayla and I were fighting because of jealousy tonight too.”

“I’m not jealous!” I snapped. Then, because curiosity got the best of me, “who are you jealous of?”

“She says I’m jealous of you and Jacob. I say she’s jealous of you.”

"Why would she say that?" I asked, confused.
"Well. Because it's true. On both counts."