Elly & Kent - The Complete Story: Includes Books 1-3 (12 page)

"Kent, I've been very patient with this Elly thing," Jen said as we walked through the halls together between classes.

I clenched my jaw. Elly wasn't a thing, she was my friend. Used to be, anyway. The squeeze in my chest reminded me that the thought was depressing.

"I know. I'm sorry, I'm just out of ideas. Since you don't want me hanging out with her alone I'm out of options."

Jen sighed as we entered class and sat down with me in the back. She took ahold of my hand and stared at them. After a moment she met my eyes. "Kent, look. I can't go on any more dates with you and her. You need to pick. Me or her. I can't do this anymore."

"What?" I felt my heart racing in my chest.

"You need to decide if you want to hang out with her or if you want to hang out with me."

"Why can't I do both?"

She shook her head and dropped her gaze to our hands. "You know how I feel about her. She has feelings for you, Kent, unfriendly feelings. Too friendly feelings. She's going to try to take you from me and I can't let that happen. I..."
 

My heart beat faster as I held my breath. Was she going to tell me that she loved me? I waited but the words didn't come.

"Jen, come on. That's not true. And not fair. She's just a friend."

She shrugged, "Maybe not. But that's the way it has to be. We don't get much time together as it is because of school and studying. You either go on dates with me, alone. Or we break up and you can see Elly whenever you want. It's just that simple."

Class started and she turned around after giving my hands another squeeze. I stared at the back of her blonde head as I thought about the ultimatum that she'd just given me. I loved Jen, I was pretty sure of it, but Elly was my best friend.

I tried to envision my life without Jen in it. I thought of her moving on, dating an asshole like Doug Baker. I didn't like that at all. It would crush me to see her with another guy, kissing him, laughing at his jokes, touching him.
 

And then I thought about my life without Elly. It was what it had been prior to the past three weeks. And it was livable. By the end of class I knew what I had to do.

After class I parted ways with Jen and intentionally bumped into Elly on the way to last period.

"Elly, hey."

She glanced at me and then really looked at me. She knew something was wrong. Shit, I hadn't done a good enough job of hiding it. I wasn't sure I was going to be able to tell her what I needed to if she knew it was coming.
 

"What's wrong?" she said, her eyes wide with worry.

I looked down at the ground, willing myself to appear nonchalant.
 

"Jen, um ... " God this was hard to say.
Man up, Kent, and just say it!
"Jen and I aren't doing so well and I need some time to work things out with her."

"O...kay."

"Just, like, don't plan on seeing me for awhile or whatever."

She was so quiet but I didn't dare look up. I didn't want to see what my words had done to her.

"Whatever. Good luck with that. I hope it works out for you two." I could hear the soft quiver in her voice as she tried to hold it together. I watched as her Doc Martens sidestepped me and then disappeared. I turned and watched her walk away, her hands swiping at her face as she went.

I was an asshole but true love was worth it. It had to be because this hurt like hell. But breaking up with Jen would've hurt more.

"Mmm," Jen murmured as she brought my hand to her lips for a quick kiss. "Dry humping is so good. But not nearly as good as the real thing. Everyone thinks we're doing it anyway, shouldn't we just go ahead and do it?"

I groaned as she rubbed against my already raw junk. "No. It doesn't matter what everyone else thinks. I want our first time to be special."

She smiled, "You mean
your
first time."

She loved rubbing it in my face that she was experienced and I wasn't. That was the whole reason why I wasn't ready to have sex with her. She would probably expect something earth shattering, and I was sure that for my first time inside of her I would be anything but.

"Yes,
my
first time. But more importantly
our
first time, as a couple." I pulled her down for a kiss, loving the way her moans filled the small space of her backseat.

"Do you love me?"
 

I felt my cheeks heat at the question. I did, I knew the answer, but I was afraid to tell her. What if she didn't say it back? Would I be able to handle that kind of rejection? Without knowing the answers to those questions I remained silent.

She smiled sadly and crawled off my lap despite my protests. "No, it's okay, Kent. I mean, it's okay if you don't feel it back."

I quickly swallowed the lump in my throat before this moment passed by. "Feel it back. Are you saying...?"
 

She looked at me as if I were stupid and then nodded. "Yes, I love you, but I don't want you to feel pressured to--"

"I love you too!" I wrapped her up in my arms and pressed my lips to hers. In that moment I didn't think about anything else. Just me and Jen. And how happy we were when we were together.

Chapter Fourteen

ELLY

Jake:
Hey Elly, how's it going?

Elly
:
Fine...

Jake
:
Why don't I believe you?

Elly
:
Because you're a weird IM-mind reader?

Jake
:
What's wrong?

Wait. Let me guess... Kent.

Your lack of response makes me think I'm right on the money. What happened? I haven't been online in awhile, spill.

Elly:
I think... I think we aren't friends anymore?

Jake:
What??

Elly:
Yeah. He told me a few weeks ago that he needed space.
 

Jake:
Were you stalking him?

Elly:
If you think stalking means Kent begging me to hang out with him and Jen and me saying yes then... sure. But I don't think that's what that word means.

Jake:
Why did you say yes?

Elly:
Because he asked me to?

Jake:
Elly. If he asked you to jump off of a cliff would you do that too?

You know what? Don't answer that.

Elly:
I'm pathetic.

Jake:
No. He is. He's going to lose a very cool friend. But you really shouldn't let him abuse you like that.

Elly:
I know.

Jake:
Prom is coming up soon, isn't it? Are you going?

Elly:
Doubtful.

Jake:
Elly, come on. Isn't there someone you want to go with?

Elly:
...

Jake:
Besides him?

Elly:
No. It's fine. It's a stupid school dance anyway.

Jake:
You'll regret it if you don't go.

Elly:
Are you drunk?

Jake:
No. Why?

Elly:
Because only a drunk person would think that I would regret not going to a stupid school dance.

Jake:
...
 

Elly:
Really? I should be that loser who goes to prom by themselves?

Jake:
Why not? Show them Elly isn't afraid of being alone. Show Kent that you don't need him to have a good time.

Elly:
...I don't know.

Jake:
Think about it.

I said my goodbyes and turned off the computer for the evening. My mom was due home soon from work and she hated it when I was on the computer chatting with boys. I'd have thought she'd be happy that I was chatting to boys seeing as how I never dated. But I guess that was part of her plan. Keep Elly fat so she won't get knocked up before she's legal. If that was her plan, it was working.

I brushed my teeth and hair, got into my pjs and climbed into bed with my CD Walkman and headphones. I turned out the lights and put the headphones on, Metallica's "Load" Album blasted into my ears, roiling my emotions, fueling the angst that was clinging to me.
 

My weeks without Kent had been lonely, empty. I did nothing but go to and from school, homework, and chores. And singing. I did that for a couple of hours every day after school while my mom was still at work.

While "Until It Sleeps" was mellowing me out I felt the bed dip beside me.
 

"Go away!"
 

A hand on my shoulder shook me, too hard and skinny to be my mothers. I let out a yelp and sat up quickly after pushing the hand away.

"M---!" It was all I could get out before a hand covered my mouth and most of my nose. I panicked and bit the fingers, not wanting to be molested or worse in my bed.

My headphones were ripped from my head and the metal music was replaced by Kent's voice.

"Elly! God damnit! You bit me!"

"Well, what the hell did you expect?!" I pushed him backwards, he fell with a thud onto the floor.

"Elly!" His voice was a loud whisper.

"What?"
 

The bed dipped again as he sat down. "Just stop for a second."

"Why should I? What the hell are you doing here? Aren't you afraid your girlfriend will find out?"

"Stop. I ... I'm sorry. She said I needed to choose you or her. And I chose her."

My chest tightened. Was that supposed to make me feel better? Why was he grounding dirt into my still open wound.

"Right," I could hear the tension in my voice. I pleaded with myself to straighten it out. "So what are you doing here then?"

"I..."
 

What did I expect him to say? That he missed me? That he made a huge mistake and that he wanted me instead of Jen?
 

"Kent, go home."

"No," he was firm on that, at least.

I sighed softly, not having the energy to fight with him, and lay back down, getting comfortable after rolling over, my back to him. He would hopefully get the hint and get the hell out of my room. He wanted me out of his life and he was going to get his wish. I'd give him all the room he could handle.
 

"Elly," he whispered.

I ignored him. My eyes wide open in the dark. My chest constricting with the thought of him leaving me.
 

I jiggled around in the bed as Kent laid down next to me. I heard his breath strong and steady after a few minutes. He'd fallen asleep. His mom was going to kill him.

I turned my head, my breath hot on my shoulder as I whispered, "Kent?"

"How can I fix this?"

He'd tricked me. I huffed as I rolled back over and pressed my lips tightly together as my mind reeled.
 

"Fix what? You have the girlfriend you always wanted."
 

"I don't want to have to pick you or her. I want to have you both in my life. How can I have both of you in my life?"

"I don't know."
 

I got up long enough to grab my CD walkman and turn the volume all the way up. It was very soft from a distance, I let Metallica play between us. Jen probably didn't even know who they were. I took comfort in that as I closed my eyes. For now the world was right. Metallica and Kent in my bed.
 

Some time during the night Kent had left my bed. And some time during the night I had a dream which had me convinced that if I just talked to Jen we could come to some understanding. Something that would fix what was going on between all of us.

So I waited until just before lunch the next day before choosing to seek Jen out. She was just a girl and early on in our relationship she was even kind of cool sometimes, for a cheerleader.

She saw me coming towards her and broke away from her friends. She didn't want an audience, that was a good thing, I thought.
 

"Elly. What can I do for you?"

I licked my lips and pressed them together, I needed to force my words out before I lost my nerve. She was so intimidating with her arms crossed over her chest like that. "We can't keep putting Kent in the middle of whatever this is between us."

"You mean you wanting to jump Kent's bones?" Her perfectly manicured eyebrow rose, clearly not convinced, and rightly so, that I didn't want to jump her boyfriend's bones.

I sighed heavily and shook my head. "I don't know why you think that. He isn't into me like that, Jen. He's into you." I motioned to her beautiful body.

She looked me up and down and nodded, seemingly satisfied with the truth in that statement. "True. But I don't care for the way you stare at him, like he's a nice big piece of meat. Not that I can blame you."