RoomHate by Penelope Ward

heart was pounding. I couldn’t believe Brian asked him that, and I was truly scared of the answer, whichever way it went.
    He shook his head. “Pass.”
    Brian sounded surprised at Justin’s refusal. “Pass? Are you sure?”
    “Pass.”
    “Alright, then.” Brian wasted no time bending down to spin the bottle. The glass spun around, scraping across the laminate basement floor before coming to a stop.
    “Oh! You’re not-so-lucky victim is…Sophie!”
    Justin looked at me. The worry in his eyes was tangible, but he knew he had to go through with it.
    “One minute,” Brian reminded.
    Sophie, who’d been sitting on the ground, slithered toward him. I watched, devastated, as Justin pressed his lips into hers. She opened her mouth wide and wrapped her hands around the back of his head, pulling him harder into her and practically eating his face. I always knew she liked him.
    It felt like my heart was slowly breaking with every second that passed. That was the longest minute of my life. It was the first time the jealousy monster had reared its ugly head to that extent. It was also the first realization of how strong my feelings for him really were.
    When the minute was up, Justin wiped his lips with the back of his hand and came back over to me. I wouldn’t even look at him. I knew I shouldn’t have been mad, but my feelings were out of my control.
    “Are you okay?” he asked.
    I continued to look down at my shoes. “Let’s just go.”
    He followed me. “Patch…it’s just a game.”
    “I don’t want to talk about it.”
    We started the quiet and awkward walk home. I stopped suddenly in the middle of the sidewalk and turned to him. “Why didn’t you just answer the question?”
    He just looked at me for the longest time before admitting, “I didn’t know what to say.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “If I said no, your feelings would have been hurt. If I said yes…then things would be weird between us. And I don’t want that. Ever.”
    “Was she your first kiss?”
    He hesitated, looking up at the dark sky, then whispered, “No.”
    I shook my head and started to walk ahead of him. It felt like I didn’t know him anymore.
    “Patch, come on. Don’t do this.”
    Tears started falling. I was crying, and I couldn’t even pinpoint exactly why. That was the first time I realized that I’d fallen in love with him. I loved Justin. More than a friend, more than anything. I was so mad at myself.
    My biggest fear was losing him. It hit me that it was going to happen someday.
    Maybe it was already happening.

CHAPTER 5
     
     
    A week later, and Justin had practically become a local star in Newport overnight. The crowd at Sandy’s was nearly double what it had been before he became the nightly entertainment. Of course, the newest patrons were primarily young women who had heard about the hot new headlining guitarist.
    One late afternoon, Jade and I were just headed out the door to work when her cell phone rang. “Shit. Hold up. It’s my agent,” she said.
    I waited in the doorway for her to take the call.
    After a few seconds, her hands started trembling. “You’re kidding. You’re kidding!” Jumping up and down, she covered her mouth. “Oh my God. Oh my God! Yes, of course, I can.” Finally, she just let out a yelp of excitement. “Thank you, Andy. Thank you for letting me know! Oh my God. So, what’s next? Okay. Okay. I’ll call you tonight,” she said before hanging up.
    “What’s going on?”
    Jade let out a scream of joy and pulled me into a hug, her boney frame pressing against my ample chest.
    “I got the part of understudy for a pretty big role in The Phenomenals…on Broadway! It was one of the two auditions I had last week. I had thought it was a longshot. My agent wasn’t even going to send me initially!” When she let out another loud squeal, Justin came downstairs.
    “What the hell is going on down here?”
    She ran toward him and threw herself into his arms. “Baby! I got