5 Desire - Part 5 (2/2)

I continue eating my food as if nothing's going on.

But the entire time Jennifer approaches us, the fear in Scarlet's eyes as she looked on at Jennifer almost made me feel sorry for her.

And once she finally arrives, it's Scarlet who offers up the first words.

”J-Jen? Um, hey. What's up?”

Jennifer seems to size me up for a while, then turns to face Scarlet.

”We need to talk.”

Scarlet freezes up as if completely lost about what she should do next, then glances back at me.

What, does she want me to answer for her?

I offer her a shrug.

”Umm, okay… Sure.”

”Okay. Let's head back inside.”

Jennifer turns to head back to the cafeteria, but she notices almost immediately something's off.

Scarlet isn't following her.

”No, whatever you have to say can be said in front of the both of us.”

…

Uu..

Uuaaahhhh!

Oh my god, is this what having a girlfriend feels like?

Shut up, I'm not blushing you're blushing.

Jennifer puts her palm to her face and sighs before flicking her bangs back. It seems she's resigned herself to the situation she's in.

”Listen Scarlet, I… may have gone a bit overboard with my teasing.”

Hah, may?

”I-it's just…”

She fidgets for a moment as if she's trying to find the right words to say. It's obvious that she isn't used to lowering her head to others like this. The trait of a bratty kid, I guess.

”I'm sorry, okay? It's just that you never really say anything about those kinds of jokes before so I've been getting carried away recently…”

”I know I can be a bit of a jerk, but I only recently realized how strong words can be if you don't pick them carefully. Like, I only wanted to tease you a little but I still have a bad habit of going overboard and it's kind of hard for me to hold myself back.”

”I promise you that I didn't mean any harm, I just… messed up.”

”…”

Scarlet is frozen for a moment, as if she can't believe what she's just heard.

”Really? You promise…?”

”Of course I do, silly. We're BFFs aren't we?”

Scarlet stands up for a moment, still looking visibly shaken.

”O-oh, Jenny…”

She wraps her arms around Jennifer and pulls her into a loving embrace.

”I'm sorry for treating you like that, I wish I could have seen how I was acting without all of this.”

”No, it's okay. I knew you didn't really mean any of it.”

She pulls herself away from Scarlet.

”That's not okay! You have to tell me when I'm going overboard. I won't get mad at you for speaking out.”

”Mm, you're right. I guess I was at fault too.”

The two of them stare at each other for a moment before sharing a giggle.

Jennifer turns toward me.

”Thanks for standing up for her Chase, I probably wouldn't have noticed how far I went if you hadn't done what you did back there. I've got to admit I underestimated you. You're a good guy for her.”

I smile nervously and look away.

”N-no, not at all.”

”Oh please, no need to be all humble.”

She turns back to Scarlet.

”Do you guys want to come back to our table? We've still got a few minutes to kill before lunch break's over.”

”Well…”

Scarlet turns back toward me and awaits my answer.

”No, you guys head over without me. I'll stay here alone.”

”Okay, I suppose.”

Seeming a tad confused about my choice, she picks up her tray then walks off. She seems to have regained a bit of the vigor she'd lost after the whole cafeteria incident.

”Bye Chase! Thanks for standing up for Scarlet!”

I wave at the two of them as they walk off.

That's a relief, things ended up working out after all. It ended on a much more peaceful note than I'd expected too.

I think I may have had a misguided impression of Jennifer.

She might be a drama queen and a bit of a bully, but she's at least mature enough to recognize her own wrongdoings. That's definitely worth something, right?

There just might be a good person under that man-hating guise she puts up all the time.

But, as I was beginning to arrive at that conclusion, I just barely caught a glance of her staring back at me as she walked away with Scarlet.

It could only be described as a gaze of pure malice.

The sheer openness of her hostility had caught me completely off guard.

Never had I experienced a look of that much hatred in my life.

I must have barely caught it.

It must have lasted a single second.

But the moment she laid eyes on me, I was frozen in time for what felt like an eternity with nothing but my fear to accompany me.

I don't think I will ever forget this feeling for the rest of my life.

And for the rest of the lunch period, I found myself repeating one simple question.

”Just what on earth have I done?”