Sixteen:

“Hello Jonathan,” she greeted him. She then noticed that I was standing next to him and shot a glance down to our hands, when I realized my fingers were still laced with Jon’s. “And Cole,” she added in a tone of hatred. I just stood there, not really knowing what to say.

“You never answered my question,” Jon replied quickly. He noticed my edginess, so he wrapped a secure arm around my waist.

“Oh,” she said sarcastically with a laugh, “why am I here?” she paused for a second, and directed her attention out of the opened front door. I decided to take a casual glance out the door as well. I noticed a guy approaching. Unruly blonde curls tucked under a hat, and a pair of sunglasses shielding his eyes. If I had known better, I would have thought it was my brother. He stepped through the doorway and shut the door behind him. What the fuck? It was my brother.

“Patrick,” I mumbled angrily, “I should have fucking known.”

“Patrick…? What the hell is this?” Jon asked, annoyance obvious in his tone.

I watched as my brother grabbed Marie by the hand, and placed a kiss on her cheek. If my jaw wasn’t on the floor beforehand, it definitely was now. “This is what I’d like to call, a ‘coming clean’ party,” He said with a slight edge of smugness in his voice.

“Oh, so there was no like, call, you just decided to show up, eh?” Jon asked.

“Pretty much,” Patrick replied.

Jon let out a sigh, “alright, well sit down.” He pointed over to the couches in his living room.

Right as I positioned myself on the couch, I spoke up. “So, what is this, Patrick? You and Marie?” I asked rudely.

“It’s called dating, Cole…” Marie replied smartly.

“Marie, here’s a tip for you… shut the fuck up and realize that I wasn’t talking to you in the first place, so we won’t have any future problems.”

“Oh you think you’re all tough, don’t you?” She asked.

“Honey, please. You should be scared of me if you know what’s good for you.”

“Excuse me?!” she exclaimed.

“You heard me,” I replied.

“Hey, hey,” Jon butted in, “easy now.”

We all sat in silence for a few minutes until Jon spoke up, “alright, since nobody’s going to say anything… I guess I will,” he paused and looked over at Marie, “soo… how can I put this…” he trailed off for a few more moments, “Marie… Cole and I, well, we had been having sex behind your back for… I don’t know… three months, before we broke up...”

“Three months?!” Patrick and Marie exclaimed at the same time.

Jon nodded and we all sat there for a few more moments in silence. “Well you know what Jonathan?” Marie asked. “Patrick and I had been fucking each other behind your back for a good three weeks before we broke up.”

I stared at Patrick in disbelief. “Are you kidding me?! Patrick, you fucking flipped out on me, when you were doing the exact same thing.”

He just sat there and smiled at me meekly.

“Wait… whoa, you knew Patrick… and you didn’t even tell me?” Marie asked exasperatedly.

Now it was Patrick’s turn to be the bad guy. “Uh… uhm, yeah… sorry baby.” He replied.

“Sorry? That’s all you have to say to me?!”

I honestly had to hold back a chuckle while watching this.

“Not right now, Marie,” he said through clenched teeth.

“No Patrick, go ahead. This is a coming clean party, remember?” I said smugly.

He just glared at me. “Okay, well I didn’t know about it the whole time. I caught them about a week or so before you guys broke up.”

“I still can’t believe you didn’t tell me, babe,” she pouted.

“Marie?” I asked.

“What?” she spat.

“Would you like me to wipe your tears away now or later?”

She just sat there glaring at me. I looked over at Jon who was chuckling to himself.

“Stop laughing, Jonathan!” she shouted.

“Sorry, it’s just… kind of funny...” he replied between chuckles.

“Oh and Marie…” I added.

“What?!” she shouted.

“You remember that one day that my parents had that little party at my house that you came to with Jon?”

“Yeah…” she replied with an eye roll.

“Well I fucked him upstairs in my bedroom during that party.”

“I hate you, Cole.”

“Good,” I replied with a smile. “You know what else?”

She sat there glaring at me.

“I don’t regret any of it. Hell, if you guys were still dating, I’d probably still be fucking him.”

She got up and furiously stomped her way over to me. I stood up. “You don’t scare me, Marie,” I said with a laugh.

“Okay Cole, lay off.” Patrick said.

“What? I’m just being honest, Patrick. After all, this was your idea.”

He rolled his eyes at me.

“So are you done trying to sabotage my life now? Or do you have any other ideas, Patty?” I asked.

“No. I’m done with you, Cole.” He stood up and grabbed Marie by the hand. “Let’s go.”

“Good.” I replied as I watched them walk out the front door.

“You know how much I love you?” Jon asked with a laugh as he stood up and wrapped me in a hug.

“No, how about you show me.” I hinted suggestively.

“Okay, follow me.” he grabbed me by the hand and led us back into his bedroom.