The Importance of Getting Revenge

by Amanda Abram

But instead, I blurted out, “I have a better idea.” Even though, at the moment I said it, I had no clue what that idea was.

  And then it came to me, hitting me over the head and screaming, “This is what you need to do!” Slowly, I began to grin as Jase tilted his head to one side and gave me a curious look.

  “Go track down your boy,” I instructed, “and then bring him back here.” I pushed myself up from the bench.

  “Where are you going? And what's this better idea you have?”

  “You'll find out,” was all I said before taking off in the direction of Zach's pool.

  I spotted Trish and Jessica on the deck. From the looks of it, they had just gotten out of the pool and for that, I was thankful. It might have been hard to convince Trish to get out of the water to follow me.

  I ended up introducing Trish and Jessica at another one of Zach's parties a few weeks after Jase and I started dating, but right away Trish wasn't too fond of Jessica. At first, it appeared as though they had clashing personalities. Jessica's “life is a party” attitude was almost the polar opposite of Trish's “parties are obnoxious” attitude. However, Trish eventually warmed up to her and at times it almost seemed as though they were the best friends, not me and Trish. I had to admit, I couldn't help but feel a bit jealous. Yet, at the same time, I thought of Jessica as a welcome distraction for Trish. The more she hung out with Jessica, the more she forgot I was spending most of my time with her brother.

  “Trish,” I called up to her. I waved my arms too, in an extra effort to get her attention.

  The two girls glanced down at me. Jessica gave me a huge grin and a wave. Trish, however, looked skeptical, as though she was already suspecting I was up to something.

  “What's up?” she said.

  “I need you to come with me for a minute. It's very important.”

  Her skepticism quickly turned to curiosity. “Why? What is it?”

  “Just come here,” I urged.

  She glanced at Jessica, who shrugged, and then proceeded to descend the short set of stairs.

  “What's so important?”

  “You'll see.” I grabbed her arm and began pulling her in the direction of the picnic table, where Jase had already returned with Eric.

  “Lexi?” she said hesitantly, when she caught sight of her brother and his best friend. “Explain yourself, please.”

  But I didn't. I wouldn't. If I told her exactly what I was about to do, she would have found a way to escape my grasp and run as far away from the picnic table, as fast as she could. I couldn't let that happen.

  Jase and Eric stared at us as we approached. Well, Jase stared at me, and Eric stared at Trish. I could see a light blush creeping up onto Eric's cheeks at the sight of Trish in a bikini.

  “Here he is,” Jase said, motioning to Eric. “Just like you asked.”

  “Lexi,” Trish said, but once again, I ignored her.

  I loved Trish. And I adored Eric. It was really too bad that, in less than one minute, they were probably both going to hate me.

  At the moment, I didn't really care. I was feeling bold, which was rare for me and which was exactly why I needed to do this, right here, right now.

  Taking a deep breath, I turned to Trish and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Trish, Eric is in love with you. He's been in love with you forever.”

  Total silence suddenly filled the air. Trish's jaw dropped. Her eyes widened. She appeared, for the first time in her life that I could recall, to be speechless.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Eric, whose jaw had dropped as well. I was also sure I could see a look of pure mortification come over his face. I had no idea how Jase had reacted, because he was now located behind me, but I wouldn't have been surprised if he'd looked just as shocked as Trish and Eric had.

  “Lexi?” Eric said in a small, strained voice.

  “And Eric,” I continued, spinning around to face him, “Trish likes you too, she just hasn't fully realized it yet, because she thinks she wants something she actually doesn't want. And, no offense, Trish, but she sometimes has a very hard time seeing what's right in front of her, even when what's right in front of her is exactly what she's been looking for all along.”

  Trish was now wearing the exact same expression as Eric. She turned to me, red-faced from a mixture of embarrassment and fury, and said in a low, dangerous voice, her teeth clenched, “What the hell are you doing?”

  “I'm helping you guys,” I replied, taking a step back. “You may not think that's what I'm doing right now, but later on, trust me—you will thank me for this.”

  I glanced over my shoulder to look at Jase, whose eyes were wide with surprise. But he looked amused, and I could tell he was fighting hard to suppress a grin.

  “Let's leave these two alone, shall we?” I asked him, to which he responded with a slow motion nod. I winked over at Trish, who looked as though she was trying to murder me with her piercing gaze. I glanced over at Eric, but he wasn't looking at me. He wasn't looking at Trish, either. Instead, he was staring down at the ground, one hand stuffed into the pocket of his shorts, the other hand resting on the back of his neck.

  I couldn't help but feel sorry for him. And I had to admit, that was a lousy stunt I'd pulled. But I truly believed it when I said they would thank me for it later. It could take years maybe, but they would thank me. Exchanging a glance with Jase, he and I began walking away from the table.

  “Lexi, you come back here right now!” Trish hollered to me, but I just gave her a wave over my shoulder and continued walking.

  When we were out of earshot of the two, Jase stopped, causing me to stop dead in my tracks as well.

  “Way to go,” he grumbled.

  I blinked. “What?”

  “I finally get a girlfriend I actually enjoy being with, and now I have to worry about her getting murdered by both my sister and my best friend.” He smirked when he was done talking and shook his head slowly back and forth. “I cannot believe you just did that.”

  Honestly, I couldn't either. But I just shrugged and said, “It had to be done. I can't even remember the last time Eric was reported as having any sort of girlfriend, and I know it's because he doesn't want to date anyone but Trish. I think it's sweet and romantic, the way he feels about her, but this has gone on long enough! People need to just come out and tell other people exactly how they feel about them. It would save everyone a lot of heartache, you know? Because most of the time, those feelings are mutual. People just don't understand that, and then their fear of rejection hinders them to the point where—”

  I stopped talking as Jase began to chuckle. “What are you laughing at?” I demanded.

  He reached over and took my hand in his. “You're just so adorable when you start babbling on and on.”

  “I wasn't babbling.”

  “You were babbling. But that's okay, because I find it endearing.”

  In a fake bout of anger, I ripped my hand away from his and shot him a glare before glancing back over in the direction of the picnic table.

  To my complete surprise, Trish was still there. So was Eric. I had half expected both of them to bolt after Jase and I left.

  “You were right, you know.”

  I blinked and turned back to Jase. “I was? About what?”

  “Your idea was much better than mine.” He glanced down at the ground and began poking it with the toe of his sandal. “If I had just come right out and told you how I felt about you the minute I realized how I felt about you, things would have been a lot easier.”

  The same could have been said about me. If I had told him back when I'd had a crush on him as a little kid that I'd thought he was the bee's knees, everything would have turned out differently. Maybe we would have been close to celebrating our three year anniversary, like I would have been celebrating with Jeffrey in a couple of months had we not broken up. And while it was kind of depressing, thinking about all the time that Jase and I could have spent together, if only we had come clean abo
ut our feelings for one another, I had to assure myself that everything in this world happens for a reason. And that the reason would be worth it in the end.

  Absentmindedly, I reached out and grabbed onto his hand again.

  He gave my hand a gentle squeeze as we both turned around, to give Trish and Eric some privacy.

  I shivered as a light breeze hit my bare arms. The sun had begun to set a short while ago, while I had gone to get Trish, and now dusk had officially taken its place, eliminating some of the heat the sun had provided earlier. Jase, noticing I seemed a bit cold, let go of my hand and then draped an arm around my shoulders, pulling me close up against the side of his body. We stood like that for a moment, just staring at the beautiful night sky, ignoring all the kids that were beginning to gather near us.

  “You know,” he said, the sudden sound of his voice startling me, “living a ten hour drive away from you is not going to change the way I feel about you.”

  Uh-oh. We were about to have the conversation we'd been trying to avoid having for the last four months. But I didn't want to. I wasn't ready.

  “I know,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper. “The same goes for me.”

  He let go of me and I instantly frowned at the absence of his warmth. He turned and stepped in front of me and then took both of my hands in his. “I know we didn't want to have this conversation yet, but it has to happen sometime.”

  I nodded. “I know.”

  I could feel tears beginning to well up in my eyes. This was exactly why I wanted to avoid having the conversation.

  Simultaneously, we fell into a hug. When I rested my head against his shoulder, he planted a soft kiss on the top of my head and sighed.

  “We've spent the last four years not even speaking to one another,” he said. “And look where we are now. If we can overcome that, we can overcome four years of talking to each other on the phone every day, and seeing each other on major holidays and a random weekend every now and again. Not to mention every summer vacation.”

  I brushed away a tear that had managed to escape. “I know.”

  He chuckled softly. “You seem to know an awful lot right now.”

  I pulled back only slightly and gazed up at him. “I know.” Honestly, it was all I could say at the moment. If I had to say anything more, I probably would have just burst into tears and wouldn't have made a whole lot of sense anyway. So instead, I lifted myself up on my tiptoes and brought my lips to his.

  He slipped his arms around my back and pulled me in closer, deepening the kiss, making me weak in the knees. Suddenly, I wasn't so cold anymore.

  I heard a whistle in the distance and giggled against Jase's lips. Apparently, some bystanders thought they were watching an episode of a corny teen sitcom, where it was required that the audience howl every time two people kissed.

  But then the whistle was followed up by a loud, crack-BANG, and I jumped, pulling away from Jase.

  The fireworks had begun.

  Jase chuckled. “That scared you, didn't it?”

  “No,” I mumbled casually. But he knew I was lying.

  All of the party guests started gathering around us and stared up at the sky, cheering at every new colorful explosion. I turned to look up at Jase, who was already looking at me. He smiled. I smiled. He took my hand in his once more and squeezed.

  I thought there was nothing that could ruin that moment. Nothing at all. But then, something did. A firm hand clamped down on my shoulder from behind, and a shrill voice said into my ear, “You're a dead woman.”

  I turned to see that Trish had joined us, looking mighty pissed off. “I'm sorry, Trish. I hope you can forgive me. I was just doing what I thought needed to be done.”

  “Well next time, think again,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest.

  I chewed on my lower lip. “So things didn't go well, I take it? I hope you turned him down nicely.”

  She narrowed her eyes. “Actually, I didn't turn him down at all.”

  Jase and I exchanged surprise glances. “You didn't?”

  “No,” she said, glancing up at the sky. “I didn't. He's taking me to dinner and a movie tomorrow night.”

  My jaw dropped. “What? You're serious?”

  Trish shrugged. “Yeah, whatever. He's hot. And...well, I saw a different side of him when you started talking to him and I guess I decided he isn't as loathsome as I once thought he was. Happy now?”

  I grinned, and then began jumping up and down. “I am very happy!” I threw my arms around her in a hug.

  “But you're still a dead woman,” she said, hugging me back. “Don't you ever try to pull a stunt like that on me again, you got that?”

  I said nothing. There was no way I could make any such promises.

  “What's going on?” came a voice from the crowd. Over Trish's shoulder, I saw that Jeffrey and Amber-Lynne Rose had emerged from their make out session and joined us as well.

  “Nothing,” Trish replied sternly.

  “Trish is going out on a date with Eric tomorrow,” Jase said, earning a death glare from his sister. He responded with a smirk.

  Jeffrey laughed and said something, but I couldn't hear him over the sound of the fireworks and the cheering. Trish could, though, and I could tell by the way she scrunched up her face, and then punched him in the arm that he had said something she didn't appreciate.

  Smiling, I slipped an arm around Jase's back and rested my head on his shoulder once more. If someone had told me six months earlier that I would be standing here now, watching fireworks with the childhood crush I was so sure had gotten away, along with my ex-boyfriend, his life-force-sucking demon of a girlfriend, and my slightly homicidal best friend who had just told me she was going to start dating the guy she hated, I might have told that someone that they were crazy.

  But life, I guess, was just full of surprises.

  See, sometimes, plans come together nicely. They work out beautifully and everyone gets their happy ending. Other times, plans fail and everyone ends up miserable and alone. My plan...well, I certainly wouldn't use the word “beautiful” to describe it. And it didn't exactly turn out the way I had originally intended. After all, I never did exactly get the revenge I wanted.

  I did, however, get the happy ending.

  And I could live with that.