Page 118 of The 21-Day Boyfriend
We help Jake up the stairs and Sean hurries to open his front door while I hold up our friend.
“Mila’s not there,” Jake tells us.
I try to cast him a glance, but he’s too drunk to pick up on my signals.
“Of course. Otherwise you wouldn’t be waiting on the stairs,” Sean says naively.
Jake drops onto the sofa, a dead weight, while Sean grabs his phone – probably to call his sister.
“Don’t say another word,” I hiss at Jake as soon as Sean is out of earshot.
“Weren’t you the one who told me to be honest?” Jake asks me.
“Not while you’re like this.”
“She’s not picking up.” Sean studies his phone, concerned.
“She’s out with her friends,” Jake tells him.
“How do you know that?” Sean asks Jake.
“That’s what she told me when I asked if I could come and see her,” Jake responds.
I watch as Sean furrows his brow.
“After she told me she wanted nothing to do with me anymore.”
“What are you…?”
“She says she’d ruin my life, that… That it would ruin our friendship… I mean, why is she only saying this now? After everything that’s happened?”
I gesture for him to stop, but Jake’s in full force.
“All these years of back and forth, secret meet-ups, glances, trips away… Fights. There’ve been loads of fights! You know what she’s like…”
“I don’t think I understand…” Sean doesn’t want to work this out.
“But I love her.”
“Who are you talking about?” Sean asks.
“Who do you think I’m talking about? Mila!”
“Excuse me?”
“I love her. I’ve always loved her, since we were kids, since…”
“What the hell are you…? What…?”
Jake leaps totteringly to his feet.
“It’s me! I’m the one she cheated on Ethan… Me!”
Sean’s fist connects directly with his nose. Jake falls back onto the sofa while Sean kneels to the ground, cradling the hand that just hit Jake.
“Jesus! What the hell have you two done?”
“Me?” Jake grumbles, his hand cupping his nose. “He’s the one who hit me!”
