by Anna Hardcastle
Chapter 3
When Alegra got home, she was floating on cloud nine. She had spent an hour with Spencer just walking around the park, talking about everything from books to movies to favorite places, (Alegra’s being London, Spencer’s being Manhattan). Alegra felt a strong attraction to Spencer; on more than just a physical level; they could really talk and connect. He was fun, spontaneous, exciting, smart and extremely gorgeous. They had made plans to hang out on Friday after school, to welcome in the weekend. Alegra couldn’t wait to see him again, even if it was just as a friend.
Just as she was changing before dinner, her phone rang.
Alegra prolonged picking up for twenty seconds but when the phone continued to ring, she answered it.
“Hello?”
“Hey, it’s me. What’s up?” she heard Jon’s voice on the other end.
“Oh, hi…” Alegra said unenthusiastically.
“Were you expecting it to be someone else?” Jon asked, teasing her.
“Uh, no I was just busy when you rang. What’s up?” Alegra wanted to get the conversation out of the way.
Just as Jon was reliving practically every instance that had occurred during his day, Alegra realized that the situation wasn’t fair to her, Jon or Spencer. She knew that if she stayed with Jon, then she would end up cheating on him and would hate herself for it. Alegra wasn’t happy with Jon and the sooner she told him, the better off they’d all be.
“Jon, I have to talk to you,” Alegra cut him off, before she had time to change her mind. “Um, well, we’re talking right now…” Jon said, confused.
“No, I mean I have to talk to you in person. Tomorrow. There’s something that I need to tell you,” Alegra said slowly, careful with her choice of words.
“Are you breaking up with me or something?” Jon sounded worried.
“Look, just wait until tomorrow and I’ll explain everything, alright?”
Alegra knew that breaking up with someone over the phone was not a good move.
“No, I want to know now,” Jon said, a finality in his voice that Alegra couldn’t let down.
“Fine,” Alegra sighed. “Can we meet up?”
Jon quickly agreed to meet Alegra in the lobby of her building and hung up.
“Miss Alegra,” Beatrice, the family’s maid called from the kitchen. “Supper is ready.”
“Um, I’ll eat a little later,” Alegra shouted back.
Alegra was nervous. She hadn’t realized that this moment would come so soon.
She barely had time to decide what she was going to say when Jon texted her to announce his arrival.
Alegra hurried downstairs so that Jon wouldn’t have a chance to come up; having him in her apartment would make everything even more complicated and weird.
At the slap of Alegra’s Miu Miu sandals on the marble floor of the lobby, Jon turned around, revealing his concerned face. He looked as if he was about to come over to hug Alegra but appeared to think better of it, noticing her uncomfortable, nervous frown.
“What’s wrong?” Jon asked worriedly.
“Look,” Alegra started. “I don’t really know how to say this, but… I’ve been thinking lately that maybe we should just be friends.”
Alegra hadn’t realized how cliché that would sound. It was the oldest line in the book.
Jon didn’t say anything for what felt like five minutes. Alegra glanced up from her shoes once or twice to make sure that he wasn’t crying, but as soon as she saw that he was staring straight at her, his expression unreadable, she returned to examining her turquoise sandals.
When Alegra decided that she could no longer take the prolonged silence, she opened her mouth to speak.
“Please say something.”
“Why?” Jon asked.
“Uh,” Alegra was confused. “Because the silence is awkward…”
“No,” Jon cut her off impatiently. “I mean why did you suddenly decide that you want to dump me? Did I do something?”
Alegra had dreaded this question. The truth was that her reasons were not nice or even acceptable and she didn’t want to have to reveal them to Jon.
“I dunno, it just isn’t working anymore,” Alegra hoped Jon wouldn’t expand upon his question.
“Yes it is,” Jon advocated, grabbing Alegra’s hands and looking down at her.
Alegra yanked her hands away and looked to the side.
“Please don’t make this harder than it has to be,” she said, focusing on the front desk situated at the far end of the lobby.
Jon was looking really hurt now; Alegra was worried that he actually might cry. She definitely wasn’t equipped to handle that.
“Are you going to change your mind?” Jon pressed.
“I don’t know, Jon.” After yet another uncomfortable few seconds of silence, Alegra said, “Please don’t hate me for this, it’s just not working for me anymore.”
Jon scoffed. His eyes were dark blue slits and his fists were clenched. Although he wasn’t very strong, Alegra was scared that he might hit her. But instead, he yelled. His voice resounded off of the spotless, sparkling marble of the floor and walls in the lobby causing Buster, the doorman, and Gucci-clad Mrs. Second Floor to stare in alarm.
“It’s been five months and now it’s not working?! Did this relationship mean anything to you? You’re so caught up on that dead Dylan guy that you can’t focus on the here and now!”
He continued for at least two minutes, but Alegra couldn’t concentrate on the rest. The only thing that had registered in her mind was the fact that Jon had not only just called Dylan, the love of her life, “that dead guy,” but was also actually blaming the end of their relationship on him. She knew that before he had died, Dylan had never been friends with Jon, who had actually hated Dylan, but Alegra never knew what had really happened between them.
Jon stopped shouting, bringing Alegra back to reality.
“Whatever,” Jon said, and walked through the glass door, not waiting for Buster to open it for him.
Alegra didn’t go after him. She was surprised that he had just walked away like that. It was the most tense conversation that she had ever had in her life. The last thing she had expected was for Dylan’s name to be brought up. From the time that she had started dating Jon in January, Dylan was never once mentioned, he even felt taboo and off-limits. This must have been how Jon had felt the entire time.
¤ ¤ ¤
After slowly walking back to her apartment and flopping down on her queen sized bed, the only person that Alegra could think to call was Jackson. She knew that Jules was at a press conference for the opening of her dad’s new management firm and she didn’t feel comfortable talking to her maid, although she had practically raised her, about the situation.
Jackson picked up halfway through the first ring.
“Hey Ali,” Jackson said brightly. He was the only person aside from her sister who ever called Alegra that.
Just hearing his voice made Alegra smile slightly.
She began to tell him what had happened with Jon; how he had brought up Dylan and what he had called him. Once she started, she couldn’t stop and the tears began to pour down her perfectly made-up face.
“Hang on,” Jackson said slowly. “He blamed your breaking up with him on Dylan? Wow, what an insensitive asshole.”
“I know!” Alegra agreed. “I can’t believe he chose now to bring him up! This must have been how he had always been feeling. I should hire some bouncers to go over and knock his brains out.”
“Ali, come on, calm down,” Jackson soothed his best friend. “You seem really mad now, just go to sleep and hopefully in the morning, you’ll be okay. But you know that they had some beef a couple of years ago, right?”
“What do you mean?” Alegra asked, confused.
“People were saying that Dylan and his crew were bullying Jon or something; he’s always had a thing against Dylan.”
“Really?” Alegra was surprised. “I mean, I always knew that Jon wasn’t too fond of Dylan but I never knew that anything had actually happened.”
“Yeah, whatever, I mean it’s probably just a dumb rumor,” Jackson tried to assure her.
“I hope so. I’m so sick of-” Alegra was cut off by a beeping noise on the other end.
“Oh, it’s Jules,” Jackson said. “Anyway, what were you saying?”
“Don’t worry about it,” Alegra answered. “Talk to Jules, I’ll be fine.”
“Are you sure?” Jackson said, unconvinced.
“Yeah, thanks.”
“Okay, feel better,” he said before hanging up, no doubt to talk to Jules about their getting back together, yet again.
As Alegra got into bed ten minutes later, she couldn’t help but think about what Jackson had said about Dylan. Alegra never would have thought that the boy who she had loved so much and who had been so good and kind to her could ever do something to hurt anyone else. But she couldn’t deny that she had heard the cruel rumors about Dylan and his friends; she had just chosen to ignore them because she never wanted to believe that Dylan would ever bully the ‘losers’ or give someone a swirly.
But of course the hot, popular guy had to be the bully as well; it was a basic rule of the universe.
To Be Continued...
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