Chapter Five: Between the lines

I told myself it didn’t matter. That I wasn’t entitled to an explanation.

I thought about it the whole time I was walking back home from school.

He wasn’t my boyfriend.

But no matter how many times I repeated it, the thoughts refused to settle.

I knew what it meant for a guy like Jayden to spend the night at a girl’s house.

The way he dismissed it so casually… was she just a fling?

Or was I?

My stomach twisted every time I thought about it.

We weren’t dating, yet it still hurt like hell.

I wasn’t waiting for his message. I told myself that over and over again.

But each time I picked up my phone out of habit, of course—I found myself checking for his name.

Nothing.

Frustrated, I tossed my phone aside and tried to focus on something else.

Anything else.

Just when I was about to give up, my phone buzzed.

His name lit up my screen.

Jayden: Hey, what’s up?

I stared at the message, a million thoughts racing through my mind.

Was he texting me from her house? Had he just left? Or was she still there?

Before I could decide how to respond, my phone rang.

I picked up, my voice carefully light. I wasn’t going to ask. He wasn’t going to tell me.

I kept it short, told him I was tired and had school work to catch up on.

The call ended just like that—brief, empty, unsatisfying.

I wanted to ask who she was, but I didn’t. Instead, I waited for him to say something—to explain why he left so suddenly,

He never did.

I had spent the whole evening waiting for him. And that was all I got.

I went to bed with a heavy heart.

****

Saturday morning felt off. I woke up feeling sluggish, my mood as dull as the cloudy sky outside.

Still no message from Jayden.

I tossed my phone on the bed and went about my day, trying not to think about it.

In the afternoon, my phone rang.

I wasn’t expecting him.

But it was him.

Jayden: "What’s up?"

Me: "I’m good."

A lie.

My mind had been stuck on him all day, replaying every possible scenario of what he might have done last night.

I took a slow breath before asking the question that had been eating at me.

"How was your night?"

There was a pause. Then, he chuckled.

Was this funny to him?

"Good," he said simply.

That was it. No explanation. No details.

He knew exactly what I was asking, and he wasn’t giving me anything.

Something in me snapped.

Fine. If this was a game, I could play too.

"Whatever." I shrugged it off.

Then, as if it didn’t matter, I added, "So… when can we see?"

I heard the shift in his tone before he even spoke.

"Sharon, why are you rushing things? Where are you running to?"

My heart clenched.

Was he serious?

He spent the night at another girl’s place, and now I was the one moving too fast?

"I’m not rushing," I said evenly, swallowing the irritation bubbling inside me. "I just don’t get why you’re wasting so much time."

All I wanted was to see him. To talk, outside of school, without distractions. Was that too much to ask for?

But instead of answering, he asked, "Tell me the truth. Why are you rushing everything?

Do you have something you want to get from me?"

My pulse spiked.

What was he implying?

Maybe he wasn’t the relationship type. Maybe this wasn’t going anywhere.

Maybe I needed a different approach.

So, I did something reckless.

Something stupid.

"Okay… to be honest, I wanted a fling," I said, forcing a casual tone. "There’s no point wasting time. Let’s just get down to business."

Silence.

The kind that felt heavy, like a weight pressing down on my chest.

I pulled the phone away to check if the call had ended.

Still on.

"Say something." My voice was quieter now.

Almost uncertain.

Then, he spoke.

"I’m so upset right now. Is that how you see me?"

My stomach twisted.

"I feel so cheap. So, you approached me with an intention, and I fell for it."

His voice was laced with something I hadn’t expected—hurt.

"I’m never speaking to you again."

Panic surged through me.

"Wait—no, don’t misunderstand. I didn’t mean......."

But he cut me off.

"The girl I told you about." His voice was quieter now. "I didn’t sleep over at her place. I left in the evening."

I stopped breathing.

"I was in her house, thinking about you."

I gripped the phone tighter.

"It felt so wrong, Sharon. It felt like I had started talking to someone else."

His words landed like a punch to my chest.

"Even though this isn’t serious yet, I thought we were building up to something."

A shaky exhale left my lips.

We were.

This was my chance to fix it.

"I’m sorry," I whispered, my voice thick with regret.

"You gave me that impression," I responded.

"I didn’t mean it that way," I tried to explain, but my own words felt empty.

There was a pause. Then, a dry laugh.

"Now that I think about it, it’s so funny. You were the hunter, and I was the prey."

I swallowed.

"I wouldn’t call myself that. I just wanted to talk to you..."

"So you wooed me," he said, a teasing lilt in his voice.

A small, reluctant smile tugged at my lips. "Maybe… just a little."

And then he laughed.

Just like that, the tension broke.

"I’ll be the one to do all that from now on," he said, amusement laced in his voice.

I nodded as if he could see me, my heart finally steadying.

If he wanted to be the one in control, so be it.

As long as I had his attention, I was good.

We kept talking about everything and nothing at the same time.

But in the back of my mind, one thing replayed over and over again.

I didn’t sleep over at her place

Maybe, just maybe, this was the beginning of something beautiful…