“I can’t believe your making me eat in the car because of him,” Kelly complains. But she doesn’t understand how embarrassed I am about what happened. “So yes, you screwed up, but its been almost a year now and you guys haven’t talked since, just leave it behind you.”

“I can’t,” I say. “I don’t want him to hate me like this.”

“How can he not after what you did?” She gives me a look that says YIKES. Which is exactly how to describe what I did to him last summer. “You need to move on Jade.”

“I have moved on!” I tell her. “I’ve hooked up with plenty of guys since Jacob.”

“That just means you’ve hooked up,” She says all insightful-like. “That doesn’t mean you’ve moved on.”

But I have moved on, I haven’t thought about Jacob in so long now, but when I saw him in there… I think I forgot how hot he is. He has the brightest blue eyes in the whole world, and the fullest lips and beautiful blond hair. Don’t even get me started on those arms of his and his hands are so masculine and –

“Jade snap out of it!” Kelly slaps me across the face.

“Ow!” I yell as I bring a comforting hand to my now red cheek.

“That’s it,” She tells me. “We are going on a mission.”

Every time Kelly thinks there’s a problem she decides we need to go on a mission. I never know exactly what the mission is going to be because it’s customized differently to every problem. But, it’s usually pretty stupid and she forces me to participate.

She pops the rest of her burger in her mouth and drives out of the parking lot like a raging lunatic.

“Kelly,” I practically yell. “Where are we going? You know these missions of yours are always ridiculous.”

She ignores me and keeps driving, but we only end up in her driveway.

“Why are we at your house?” I ask with a raised brow.

Ignored again.

We go inside and into her kitchen. Kelly lives in a basement apartment with her mom and sister Kat. Her sister is older by about 4 years and she is probably the prettiest girl to ever live. She doesn’t even wear any makeup and she still looks flawless, I’ve never been more envious of a person in my life.

“Where’s mom?” Kelly asks.

Kat has music blasting in kitchen and she’s making eggs in pajamas and an oversized black t-shirt that says RAW RAW GO TEAM. Her hair is in a sloppy bun, she’s barefoot and she still looks better than Kelly and I combined.

“I don’t know Kel,” She yells. “Where ever is mom? She never tells us shit. She’s probably drunk somewhere, you know she has that whole day drinking problem that continues into night drinking. Oh, hi Jade!”

I smile at her, Kelly and her sister are both a little wacked but they are the funniest people I know.

“Okay Kit-Kat I need you to throw a party tonight then,” Kelly says. “With a ton of hot college guys!”

I grab Kelly by the wrist and whisper, “What the hell are you doing? Abort mission!”

“Sure, thing Kel,”

And just like that I find myself in a basement apartment surrounded by college boys drinking beer and laughing.

I’m not having a good time at all, I don’t want to be here.

I’m standing in Kelly’s kitchen trying to make a peanut butter and banana sandwich without someone spilling beer on it or asking me if I want their banana in my sandwich. Which has already happened about 4 times.

I take a bite of the gooey goodness when a hot guy leans beside me against the counter.

“Good sandwich?” He asks.

I nod.

“Sorry, mouth, full… bananas.” I’m such a dork.

This guy must be drunk because he grabs me by the waist, pulls me into him and kisses my peanut butter and banana filled mouth.

I smash my sandwich on his head and get the hell out of the kitchen, there was no way I was taking that heat. All I wanted was a simple sandwich, is that too much for a girl to ask?

I step outside the house where a bunch of hot college guys are smoking. I sit down on the steps with my chin in my palms.

One guy leaves the crowd of people and sits down beside me and offers me a beer. He’s wearing a floral button down and a bucket hat. He kind of looks familiar.

I take a big gulp of it. The beer, I mean.

“What’s your deal kid?” He asks. “I’ve never seen someone look so soberly depressed to be at a party.”

“It’s nothing,” I say. “Just thinking I guess.”

“Well start thinking aloud,” He tells me. “I got all night and it seems like you need a pick me up.”

“I think the beer is a good enough pick me up,” I tell him, then take another chug.

“Well sure for now,” He says. “The beer is your friend. The beer is always there through thick and thin, cold, or warm. Beer has gotten me through my darkest days and my brightest ones. Then you look in the mirror one day and all you see is beer. You got the belly, no job, or if you do your working construction. Your wife’s left you, your kids don’t visit anymore cause you reek like liquor and urine. You say you’ll trim your beard but then you wonder what will catch those stray drops of beer that fall from your mouth if you do. You thought it was a friend, that forever pick me up, until your just too bloated and lonely that not even the strength of beer can’t help your fat ass get off the toilet. Then you wonder where your life went, and you realize your sitting on it, down that porcelain white bowl full of excretes.”

“Mr. Greenly?” I ask.

“Oh shit,” He says. “That you Jade?”

“Yeah,” I say. “Kelly invited you to her party?”

“Oh shit,” He says again. “We’re at Kelly’s? I thought this was my house and someone threw a party for me. Shit, I better get home.”

He stumbles down the driveway and down the road.

Mr. Greenly lives on Kelly’s street and he is always drunk. I’ve never seen that man sober in my whole life.

Kelly bursts through the doors and grabs me.

“There you are!” She yells in my face, her breath reeks of alcohol. “There is a super hot boy downstairs who wants to hook up.”

“Kelly I think I’m just going to go home,” I confess. “I’m really not having a good time.”

“Come on,” She says. “This guy is so hot Jade! You’ve got to hook up with him, bet he will be way better than all the others you’ve hooked up with, and way better than Jacob.”

“No Kelly,” I turn to go.

“Jade what the hell,” She says. “What’s wrong with you? You never back out of one of our missions! This is to help you get over Jacob!”

“This isn’t going to help Kelly,” I yell. “And I haven’t hooked up with anyone since Jacob. I lied. I’m not over him, I never was.”

I walk down the driveway and don’t look back. It doesn’t make sense how I could do something so wrong to someone who I still care about so much.