I sat down at lunch, finally prepared to talk to Jack about Rowan. Jack had to know that Rowan was an important part of my life. If he really cared about my happiness, he would accept that. I was determined to convince Jack to at least give Rowan a chance. Jack sat down beside me, pulling out his chemistry notebook.
“Hey, can we talk?” I asked.
“Yeah, of course,” he said. “What’s up?”
I took a deep breath, preparing myself for his inevitable anger. “I’ve been seeing Rowan regularly, and I’m planning to continue seeing him.”
Jack’s smile instantly faded with the mention of Rowan’s name. “So you’re like a thing now? You’re official?”
I noticed his hands were clenched into tight fists. He was letting his temper get out of control again.
“Yes. I wanted to tell you before, but I was afraid you’d be mad.” I said. I reached down, touching his hands. They were hot, really hot. “Are you okay?”
“Fine,” he said, pulling his hands away from me.
“Jack, please,” I said, pleading with him. “I want the two of you to at least try to get along. Rowan wants to meet you, to talk with you. Couldn’t you at least try, for me?”
“Lily, I already told you. I don’t trust him. A few of the cheerleaders even said that he cheated on his ex, and that’s why he hasn’t had a girlfriend since last year. I don’t want you to get hurt.”
I sat still, taking a moment to process what Jack had said. I’d asked Rowan about his past relationships, and he’d told me that he’d only dated one other girl. She was a faerie and had graduated last year. He had said that she liked him far more than he had ever liked her and that the relationship had only lasted a couple of months. I trusted him way more than I trusted a bunch of girls who just liked to stir up drama.
“Jack, you know what those girls are like. They make up stories about people just to have something other than their hair and nails to talk about. I trust Rowan. He’s a good guy, and he’d never hurt a girl like that.”
Jack stared at me. I could see the anger behind his eyes. It was way more intense than I had expected.
“So you don’t believe me? Lily, I’ve been your best friend for four years! Why are you taking his side? You barely know this guy! Look, if there’s some kind of problem we need to talk about—a drug problem, an addiction…. Does he have something on you?” he asked.
My jaw dropped. He was asking me if Rowan was forcing me to be with him. And he was accusing me, the girl who was considered to be the smartest in the school, of being on drugs! Now my anger was definitely stronger than his. I wasn’t going to let him say those types of things about me, or Rowan.
“I tell you that I’m going out with a guy that I like, and you accuse me of being on drugs?!” I yelled.
He flinched, looking away like a puppy who had been scolded. But I didn’t care. He’d gone too far this time. He reached over toward me, trying to hold my hand. I pulled away, turning my back toward him.
“Lily, I’m sorry,” he said, looking as if he wanted to say more.
“Don’t,” I said, holding up my hand.
I felt something touch my arm and looked down to see a rose with a card tied to it. I untied the ribbon that had been holding the two together and opened the card.
Lily,
Prom?
Jack
I closed the card, looking back over at Jack. He was standing up with his backpack on.
“I was going to give it to you earlier,” he said, “but I assume you’re going with him now. I understand if you’re too mad to talk to me for a while. Call me when you want to talk.”
He looked genuinely sorry, but I wasn’t ready to forgive him yet. He was being overprotective and controlling. Jack had always had a temper, but he’d never tried to control me before I’d started talking to Rowan. I looked back down at the rose in my lap, gently picking it up. Part of me felt guilty. But another part of me told myself that if I didn’t hold my ground, Jack would never understand how important Rowan was to me. I’d give him time. After a few days, neither of us would be angry anymore, and maybe he’d agree to give Rowan a chance.
Frustrated, I went home to an empty house. There was some soup on the stove and a plate of cookies on the counter, but I wasn’t hungry. With my mind spinning, I went up to my room and put my things down on the floor. Hurriedly I found a jar, filled it up with water, and put the rose that Jack had given me in it. After looking at it for several moments, I placed the jar on my nightstand and lay down on my bed. After a few minutes, I noticed the vase of flowers near my window that held the lilies Rowan had given me last night. Without much thought, I went to the window and exchanged the lilies for the rose, putting the lilies beside my bed. Somehow, it felt better this way.
A few months ago, my life had been completely drama free. The only romantic problems I used to have to worry about were either the ones in my books or the fact that I had no romantic problems to worry about. Now I had a perfect boyfriend. Faerie or not, he was exactly what I had pictured as a little girl when I’d thought of Prince Charming. But I couldn’t seem to get my best friend to even speak to him. Jack had heard some rumors about Rowan, and if I didn’t know Rowan, I might have believed them too. However, I did know Rowan, and everything in his behavior indicated that he would never intentionally hurt a girl. He was respectful in every way, and I knew that he could never bring himself to hurt another person so deeply as to cheat on them. Plus, the source from which the rumors had stemmed wasn’t exactly who I would call reliable. Jack should have believed me over some cheerleaders that we barely knew. He was treating me like I was some naïve little girl who didn’t know how to handle her own love life.
My phone started to ring, and I reached over to look at it. Jack was calling me. I was definitely not ready to talk to him again yet. Quickly I pressed “deny,” fully aware that he could tell I’d denied the call. Well, I never said I wasn’t a little dramatic.
The rest of the week passed rather uneventfully. It hurt me to keep denying Jack’s calls, but I knew a conversation would only lead to a fight. Honestly, I was still mad. He’d accused me of being on drugs and claimed that my boyfriend was a manipulative cheater. Maybe I was crazy, but I thought this warranted the silent treatment for at least a few more days. He needed to finally get the idea that Rowan was a permanent part of my life and wasn’t going anywhere. If not, I didn’t know what I would do.