Filed to story: Cheating with My Boyfriend’s Best Friend Novel by Jane E L (Olive & Aaron)>>
I looked down. The top half of her round, perky breasts were exposed, giving off an air of sexiness and seduction.
I silently vowed to ignore Cinder’s advice.
Suddenly she squeezed in beside me on the couch, folding up her legs beneath her. “Aw, baby, let me ask you something. You’ve been having this affair with Aaron for a long time now. You must be attracted to him, but do you have feelings for him?”
“I…” I paused, thinking carefully about Aaron for a moment. She was right, I was attracted to him. After all, Aaron was really good–looking. But my feelings for him…
Cinder exclaimed, “I can’t believe it! You hesitated! That’s got to mean something, right?”
“What could it mean? I’m just thinking about the question…” Now Cinder was distracting me with her overreaction.
Cinder tossed aside the plans she’d been working on all night and jumped up on the couch excitedly. “Nope! That means you’re starting to care about him! If you didn’t care, you would have said ‘no strings attached‘ or ‘fuck buddies‘ right away. The fact that you hesitated is proof you have real feelings for him.”
“Well, maybe I just… like his technique. I mean, he always gets me off,” I protested, trying to convince myself as much as I was trying to convince Cinder. “He’s just a rich playboy. Our relationship is always going to be about sex, not love.”
Yep, that was us. Me and Aaron, all sex, no love.
Cinder’s smile disappeared.
“Maybe I should not support your ‘revenge‘.” Cinder whispered: “I thought a good sex would make you happy, but I forgot Aaron was a dangerous person.”
“What do you mean?” I chucked, tried to make things not serious. “Aaron had good sex, and I enjoyed it. That’s all, girlfriend.”
“Just keep telling yourself that, baby.” Cinder put her hands around my face sincerely, her chocolate brown eyes filled with warm concern. “Aaron is a player. You’ll be screwed if you ever forget that and end up falling for him.”
“I know, I’m not that stupid,” I reassured her.
Cinder looked at me with a grave expression. “I mean it, Olive.
Don’t ever fall in love with Aaron.”
“Why?” I asked, without really meaning to. “I mean, I know he’s a player, but…”
“It’s not just that he doesn’t have a heart. It’s worse than that. He gave his heart to someone else.” Cinder’s voice was like a hammer, chipping away at my heart piece by piece. “I’ve known Aaron for a long time, and I know almost everything about him. He’s been dating since kindergarten, but in college, he kept himself purer than a Catholic. We all guessed which lucky girl would be the one to deflower him, and there were some bets about whether he’d be the first in our class to get married. But after college, he turned into a total tomcat, playing the field and waking up in a different girl’s bed every day… Olive, I think I made a mistake. I shouldn’t have encouraged you to sleep with Aaron to get back at Vincent.”
“It’s really not that big of a deal.” I forced a smile. “Don’t worry about it, I’m not falling for him. I swear, Cinder, I’m never going to fall in love with Aaron Morris.”
It was a new day, and I went to the laboratory with dark circles under my eyes.
Cinder’s bed was soft, but I spent the whole night tossing and turning, thinking about what she had told me. When I arrived at the lab with coffee in hand and yawning, I saw David already changed into his lab coat and working.
I froze. I didn’t know how to face David after the embarrassing events of last night. I had told him that Aaron and I weren’t a couple. But him knowing that Vincent proposed and seeing me and Aaron walking off together was the most awkward moment of my life.
I was expecting a torturous meeting with David today, but I was just overthinking it. David barely noticed me at all.
He wore a white lab coat with disposable medical gloves and held various reagents in his hands for his experiments. His medium–length hair was tied at the back of his head, and his grey eyes were focused on the test tubes. His seriousness was charming. I’ll give him that. But he wasn’t as funny or as easygoing as he had been last night.
I spent too much time looking at him and then realized what I was doing. Focus, Olive.
“Pass me tube number two.” I yawned and held out my hand.
Nick put a test tube in my hand, and I was about to pour it into a beaker when I saw the bright red color of the tube.
It should’ve been colorless. When I turned it around, the bright red test tube was clearly labeled “No. 35.”
“Nick, this is the wrong…” I turned my head to reprimand my partner, but I made eye contact with him and stopped.
Nick was pale, his eyes were red and swollen, and he looked even more miserable than I did after a night without sleep. He’d definitely been crying all night.
“What’s wrong, Olive?” Nick said quietly. I wiggled the test tube in my hand at him and waited for his answer.
“Oh, did I get the wrong one? Sorry.”
I watched as he set the bright red test tube down, then picked up a tube of solvent. My eyes widened in fear, and I hurriedly stopped him. If he had poured the reagent into the tube, it would’ve caught fire and killed him with the fumes.
“Nick… do you want to go out for a cup of coffee? “I pulled him out of the lab carefully and forced a smile. Today was not the work day.
It was just too dangerous to have him at the lab like this. And I didn’t intend to die in pieces in the lab. That’s so pathetic.
“Want to talk about it?” I handed my coffee to Nick as he sat in the chair, seething.
It was nearing Christmas, and holiday decorations were all over campus. Everybody who passed us seemed to be in a festive mood.
Nick’s eyes shifted from the little kids playing soccer on the grass to the “Joy” sign plastered onto the wall. He looked at me, and his lips parted.
“It’s ok. Olive. I’m just too tired…” Nick shivered.
“Nick.” I held his head “We have known each other for years. Ok. You know who I am. And you can rely on me.”
“Olive, l-I’m so sorry,” He croaked. Then, he rested his head on my shoulder and started to sob.
I’d never seen Nick like that. He had a great personality, and he was usually so funny. Every day he was happy, and this was the first time I’d seen him cry out loud.