He frowns at me. "Why do you want to know?" "I'm a concerned friend," I shrug. "You seem down in the dumps lately." "So have you, but you don't see me bothering." That hurts just a little bit. "What's up your ass?" I provoke him instead. Being friendly won't work, so I have to try another tactic. "I have an asshole for a dad, and I've been working my ass off to help my mom with the bills. I'm just sick of everything," he snaps, earning looks from Will and Vicky. "I'm not talking to you two." I give them an apologetic look before looking at him again. "What about Lauren? Isn't she helping?" "Honestly, I'm sick of her too," he shakes his head. "You don't mean that..." I trail off because I know he does mean it. If these are his real feelings, I'm better off telling Lauren to leave him. "All she wants to do is party, as if I don't have my mom riding on my back to pick up extra shifts at work. I don't need two needy women bitching at me." He runs a hand through his hair and I catch a slight glimpse of his tattoo. I wonder if I should tell him I'm planning on covering mine. "Can I tell you something?" I ask. "Sure," he says even though he's immersed himself in the computer. "I'm thinking of covering my tattoo." His head whips to me so quickly I'm sure he'll end up with whiplash. "Wait, really?" I nod. "My aunt's boyfriend say he'd help pay for it." His face is unreadable. "Damn. What are you going to get?" "I'm not sure yet," I say. "Do you ever think of covering yours?" "I did. It's not really at the top of my priority list right now though..." he lets his words fade. "Would it bother you if I kept it for a while?" I never thought the tattoo means that much to him. I always thought he secretly hated it, especially since some guys say it's too girly for him. "Does it bother you that I'm covering mine?" "No. I get why you'd want to." "Then no, it doesn't bother me," I tell him. That's the end of our conversation. It's best if I tell Lauren to just break up with him. I can tell the stress is getting to him and it isn't fair to her. Jacob, I've learned, isn't good at breaking up with someone he doesn't have feelings for anymore. After school, I'm walking to my car when I pull out my phone to text Lauren. Just as I'm going to hit send, Casey and Lauren walk up to me at the same time. It's a strange sight. The three of us haven't hung out since middle school. "I picked up a hitchhiker on my way over here," Casey forces a smile. "I was going to call you, but I couldn't wait," Lauren explains. "Then I ran into Casey so I figured I'd just walk over here with her." She bites her lip. "What did Jacob say?" "Let's walk and talk," I suggest. I give Casey a look to leave us alone and she walks ahead of me and Lauren. "It didn't take much to get him to open up. You just have to make him mad." "And?" she pushes. A glimpse of red catches my eye and I realize it's Kay's car parked next to Dylan's. He walks up to his car and she gets out of hers to hug him. While hugging him, she meets my gaze and flashes me a wicked smile as if to say, 'I won.' She holds onto him tightly before she taps her cheek. He leans down and kisses her cheek all while she is looking at me with the same grin slapped onto her face. "You should leave him," I finally say to Lauren, even though I can't tear my eyes away from Kay and Dylan. "Leave him? Why?" she frowns. Kay stands on her tip toes and kisses Dylan straight on the mouth. They stay that way until he pushes her slightly. "He says he can't handle two women in his life right now," I say, just as Dylan happens to look my way. I tear my gaze away and meet Lauren's eyes. "You and his mom, I mean." Confusion is all over her face, so I say, "If I were you I'd just leave him. It's only going to hurt you the longer you stay with him and he isn't going to do it himself. Trust me, I know." I thought I could handle Dylan being with Kay, but seeing them hurts like hell. I know he can't completely avoid kissing her full on, but he lingered too long when they did. Lauren's face is pained. "I guess I should've seen this coming." I don't know what else to tell her. Jacob is not going to break up with her himself, so she'll have to do it. It's a weird situation. I'm watching the guy I want kiss another girl while giving advice to my ex's girlfriend. What other weird situation can I be put in? ~ There's a tap on my shoulder as I walk into the main building on Friday morning. I look over and see Lauren standing by my side. Her hair is curled and she's light on her makeup. "I did it," she says. "Did what?" I didn't sleep well last night. Dylan hadn't called or texted and I know it's because he was with Kay. Almost every hour of the night I kept checking my phone and my mind kept going to the fact that there was a possibility he was with her all night. He said he wouldn't let things go far with her, but he still let her kiss him on the lips yesterday and in front of me, so I feel slightly doubtful no matter how hard I try not to be. "Broke up with Jacob," Lauren sighs. "I went over to his house last night and told him it isn't working anymore. He didn't really seem upset." She looks upset, however. I can understand why. Jacob is very good at manipulating his image. If he wants you to see him a certain way, he'll make it happen. It got me to go out with him in the first place, and it drove me mad after we broke up. He's charming, damn him. I shake my head. "Don't be upset over him. I might be a little biased, but he's not worth thinking about anymore." "Do you ever think about the possibility of you two getting back together in the future?" she asks, tilting her head. "Like, in five years you run into him at the supermarket, you both happen to be single, you both look good, and it's like the connection was never broken? Next thing you know you're sending out wedding invitations, and baby shower invitations, and everything that happened in high school happened because you were stupid kids?" That is oddly specific. I have the feeling she likes Jacob more than she's letting on. "Are you referring to yourself, or me?" "I don't know," she turns her head. "I guess I was obsessed with you and him. You guys always seemed happy and he seemed like the perfect boyfriend. I wasn't jealous of you, I was just envious." "Well, you got a taste of being in a relationship with him anyway," I point out. "Yeah, but I got the rough patch in his life."