A/N: First of all, Happy Easter. Christ has risen! And it just feels so good to know that we our all saved because of Him. This is a short story that I wrote, and I know it's a little bitter considering what today is, but it's been stuck in my head for a while.

Love Game

Lauren was always the smart girl. She was always reasonable with herself, and she knew just from Amy's relationship with Ricky alone that guys liked to play games. She never in a million years thought that she would get played. She never expected that she would be the one heartbroken. She had always imagined herself with someone who would respect her completely. She never thought that she would fall for any of the sweet talk that most girls seemed to fall for.

But then she met Jesse.

And suddenly her eyes were open, and she could see just how Amy had made the mistake of falling for Ricky at band cap. She could also see why Madison had such a hard time letting Jack go.

There were things that Jesse would say to Lauren that would just make her heart swell. It all sounded so sincere, and at the time she thought that he was everything that she could possible want. He was handsome, and kind, and everything just fit, so she overlooked all of the red flags in their relationship. She overlooked him constantly pressuring her to have sex because she liked him so much, and she didn't want to let go of that.

The day that Jesse told her that he loved her was a day that Lauren would never forget. They were sitting in her bedroom, and as usual he was talking to her about sex. At first she was annoyed, but when he suddenly told her that he loved her, she completely forgot about everything that he had done that day to annoy her. Because he sounded like he could really mean what he was saying. In the back of her mind she knew that he was probably lying, but she wanted to believe that what he was saying was true, because she wanted him to love her just as much as she believed she loved him.

But it was all a game. He was playing with her. He was just trying to find ways to persuade her to have sex. It was like he was mentally checking off a list of things that wouldn't work with Lauren, and what would. She found herself heartbroken that day, because she realized this simple thing: He never cared about her the way that she cared about him. And she had never felt so stupid in her entire life.

It was hard enough for her to trust guys after what Ricky did to Amy, but that just made it ten times worse. But now she got it, now she finally understood how easy it was to get trapped up in all of the lies. She would never admit it to Amy but she thought it was stupid that she couldn't say no. But after her falling out with Jesse she realized that saying no to him was the hardest thing to do. Now she understood why Grace tried to keep Jack by having sex with him.

Because at that moment, when a guy that you like and really want to be with is staring you right in the face, and telling you everything that you want to hear, you just want to give in and believe him because you so badly want it to be real.

A/N: I know this is short, but I just wanted to show Lauren reflecting on her relationship with Jesse. And I think this is a common thing that girls and guys go through all the time. It's sad but true. Thanks for reading!