Jealousy

           They strolled down the isle together: Ashton and some random girl. Where the hell did she come from? They laughed and looked at the puppies, kittens and fish; walking together hand in hand. I stood at my post in the aquarium section of the pet store where I worked, trying to prevent them from noticing me. Am I jealous? No. Am I pissed off? Hell yeah!

            The guy, Ashton, he had lead me to believe that he liked me or something. His actions seemed flirtatious along with playful and shy. You don’t usually act that way around girls when you have a girlfriend already; unless of course you’re just asking for trouble. Ashton had come into the pet store basically every single day to talk to me when I was on break. He claimed that the store was on his way home from work and that he loved animals. But if that were the case then why spend the whole time talking to me when he could be playing with the kittens? But either way, I wasn’t complaining.

            Ashton was handsome, to put it simply. He had dark hair and expressive eyes that I often found myself getting lost in. Not only was he drop-dead gorgeous but he was also kind, stubborn and ambitious. The more he came in, the more we talked – and argued sometimes, about the most stupid things may I add – and the more we talked, the more I began liking him. I had been hoping in vain everyday that he’d ask me out on a date but he never did. I can see why now. I can also see why he was with her: she’s beautiful!

            The way she walked was with a dainty, yet cheerful bounce to her step. She had flowing brown hair, big blue eyes and not to mention a body like a freaking hour glass. I’m glad now that I didn’t try asking him on a date myself; there’s no way that he’d pick someone as plain as me over someone as flawless as her.

            I was grateful when a customer asked for assistance in buying a fish so I had an excuse to stop staring at the couple. But to my dismay – and annoyance – they made their way over to me and waited until I had finished helping the customer to walk up to me.

            “Hey Raina,” Ashton said as he beamed at me.

            “Hey,” I answered, forcing myself to look busy with putting fish nets away.

            “I’d like you to meet my girlfriend, April. April, this is Raina,” Ashton introduced us.

            April smiled kindly and held a hand out for me to shake. “Hi Raina, I’ve heard so much about you.”

            Well if she isn’t going to be a bitch about this then neither should I, I decided silently. I shook her hand and put on a smile. “It’s nice to meet you too.”

            We stood there for a moment in an awkward silence, none of us really knowing what to say.

            “Well, it’s getting late and I’ve got to get home,” Ashton stated as he looked at his watch. “I’ll see you later Raina.”

            “Maybe we could talk sometime too,” April suggested.

            “Yeah, maybe,” I said, although not exactly keen on the idea of talking to my crush’s girlfriend. “See you later.”

 

            “So you’re just going to give up on liking him?” My friend, Terry, asked in exasperation.

            “What’s the point in being hung up over a guy who’s got a girlfriend? I don’t want to turn into one of those jealous stalker types,” I said, pacing my room.

            “Well,” Terry stroked his chin with the deep look of pondering striking his features, “maybe you can make him jealous.”

            “What good would that do?” I raised a brow as I looked at him in the mirror while brushing my hair.

            “Well you said that he acted like he liked you right?” Terry prompted.

            “I could have been mistaken but he sure acted like he did,” I said.

            “Well then maybe he liked you all along and will come crawling back when he sees you with someone else,” Terry said.

            “That doesn’t even make sense,” I said and put the brush down; I hardly needed any time to comb my cropped hair.

            “Just trust me, okay?” He said and stared at me like an eager little boy.

            I sighed. “Fine but how would we make him jealous?”

            Terry grinned and stood up from the chair he was sitting in. “I’m going to pretend to be your boyfriend.”

 

            The next day I was back at work, finding that today was actually significantly busy. Why was it that it became the busiest on a day that I had a goal to achieve?

            “Sorry I’m late. Is he here yet?” I jumped as Terry’s voice sounded behind me. Turning to face him, I saw that he was breathing heavily and sweating, having rushed to my job after school let out.

            “Nope, he doesn’t usually come in until five minutes from now. Take a breath and relax,” I said.

            He gladly took my advice and sat down on the first step of a short ladder used for reaching high fish tanks as I continued to get work done. I had been so busy that I didn’t even notice when Ashton and April had suddenly appeared behind me.

            “Hey Raina,” Ashton greeted, almost making me leap out of my skin.

            I spun to face them, shooting Terry a look from the corner of my eye. “Hi guys, here to buy fish?”

            “Nope, we’re just here to visit,” Ashton said.

            Terry leaped up from his place on the ladder and was at my side in a heartbeat. “Who are these people Raina?”

            He needs to calm down, he’s acting too anxious and possessive, I thought, wondering if he was going to sabotage his own plan with bad acting. I then decided that he just be pretending to be a boyfriend with that nature. “This is Ashton and April.”

            “Hi,” Terry said and held his hand out to Ashton. “I’m Terry, Raina’s boyfriend.”

            I could have sworn that I saw shock flash across Ashton’s face at this news and it took him a moment to recover and shake his hand. He shook April’s hand as well.

            I smirked inwardly. Maybe Terry’s jealousy plan will work after all, I thought but upon seeing April, I frowned. But if it does and he chooses me over her – which is very unlikely – that would just hurt her. I don’t want to be a bitch and steal someone’s boyfriend. I could only hope that this was all that Terry planned and that we could tone it down a bit.

            Ashton frowned. “Since when did you get a boyfriend?” He furrowed his brows.

            I laughed. “I could ask you the same thing.”

            Another awkward silence enveloped us and I wondered if Ashton was going to use time as an excuse to escape again.

            “Hey, we were going to go out to eat at the mall, do you guys want to come?” April asked.

            “Sure, I’m off work in a few minutes,” I responded, though I dreaded the awkwardness that may ensue.

 

            It had almost seemed like a competition as we strode through the mall. If Ashton was holding April’s hand, Terry’s arm was suddenly around me, resulting in Ashton giving April a hug, as if they had to “one-up” each other. It was pretty pathetic if you ask me.

            We sat at the table around a pizza that the guys had gone in on since we were on a “date”.

            “I had no idea I would find someone I had so much in common with,” I said to April with a grin, genuinely honest in my words. I had really come to enjoy her company even in that short time. Maybe we could be friends, despite the circumstances.

            Ashton and Terry on the other hand, were all but glaring at each other. I rolled my eyes. Man, Terry is getting WAY too into this.

            He suddenly turned to face me and put an arm over my shoulder, pulling me closer and planting a swift kiss on my cheek.

            My face burned up and I swear that steam was coming out of my ears both from the blush Terry had caused and anger from his actions. He was going a bit too far!

            But Ashton, in his silent competition with Terry, decided to outdo him by grabbing April and locking their lips together.

            I averted my eyes and tried not to let the green monster of envy take me over.

            April pulled away too quickly and I noticed that there was anger and embarrassment in her eyes. “That wasn’t part of the deal!” She snarled.

            I blinked. “Deal?” I echoed.

            They turned to look at me before April shot another glare at Ashton. He merely sighed. “Is Terry really your boyfriend?”

            Oh no he doesn’t, he isn’t going to make me admit that I lied. “Of course he is,” I said.

            Ashton frowned before looking away sheepishly. “Well April isn’t really mine. I had her pretend to be so that you could get jealous and then maybe you would like me.”

            My jaw dropped. “Are you serious? It doesn’t work that way! You usually do that when someone is going out with someone else to get them jealous like I did, not when they’re single!”

            “Wait,” April stood up abruptly and pointed at me. “You mean to tell me that while we were pretending to date to make you jealous, you two pretended to date to make HIM jealous since you thought that we were really together?” She asked in one breath.

            Terry and I nodded.

            April slapped her forehead and looked between me and Ashton. “You two are made for each other…”

            “So you liked me the whole time?” Ashton asked with wide eyes, as if still not believing it.

            “Yeah,” I admitted sheepishly. “I was hoping that you would ask me out but you never did.”

            “I never thought that you’d like me back,” Ashton said.

            We stared at each other for a moment before Ashton finally asked nervously, “would you like to go out on a date with me?”

            “I’d love to,” I responded with a smile.

            “Mission accomplished!” Terry and April exclaimed simultaneously with a grin and a high five.

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