"Fuck." I whisper to myself after I get back into my car waiting for Tori.
I thought that everything had been going well, it seemed like Tori was finally starting to open up and actually have feelings for me and then all of a sudden something changed.
"Beck will know what to do." I say out loud while I dial his number.
"Why are you up this early? Did someone die?" Beck says sarcastically after finally picking up on the last ring.
"Shut up I need your help right now." I say sounding more panicked than I meant to.
"Wait did someone actually die?" He says sounding more alert than before.
"Oh my god you idiot just shut up and listen." I say cutting him off. "Tori texted me and asked me to come over to her house and as soon as I got here she tried to end our friendship and told me that she couldn't be friends with me knowing that I had feelings for her."
"Shit, what did you say?"
"I panicked! I told her that I flirt with everyone and that I don't have feelings for her I just like messing with her and I can't help that I flirt with people a lot." I stop to look around and make sure Tori isn't coming out yet before listing to Beck's response.
"Did she buy it?"
"I think so, I promised her I would stop flirting with her if it made her feel that uncomfortable but I went off on her telling her she promised not to give up on me and all this shit and I think that's the main reason why she changed her mind." I say while tapping my thumb on the steering wheel nervously.
"Okay so obviously the flirting freaks her out but only after your done doing it, while it's happening it seems like she likes it so maybe she's just feeling guilty about liking her student." I can hear him thinking up a million ideas from here.
"I don't even think she likes me." I say bitterly. "She cares about me sure but she doesn't actually like me. Maybe she likes the attention but right now that's all it is."
"She doesn't have feelings for you because all you do is flirt Jade. It's not a bad thing but she isn't going to sleep with you out of pure lust and you know that. She may be attracted to you and she may even like the flirting but unless she develops feelings for you that's as far as you're going to get with her." Beck says sounding weirdly serious.
"So what I shouldn't flirt with her anymore? How the fuck am I supposed to sleep with her if I just act like her friend" I'm getting even more agitated now.
"Believe it or not Jade normal people usually befriend people and get close with them before they have sex with each other, it's called dating. And dating usually requires an emotional connection on some type of level." Beck says and I can tell he's smirking through the phone.
"Woah, hold up no one said anything about dating. The deal was I fuck her before the end of the year and I win that's it, now you're saying I have to date her? I don't even know how to date Beck! The longest I've ever spent with someone was three weeks with that waitress from downtown and that was only because she got us in the bar every weekend."
"Look Jade I know what the rules were for the bet in the beginning but things have changed now, if you want any chance at all of getting her to sleep with you then you're going to have to make her fall for you. And not like you have with other girls in the past, you have to really make her fall head over heels in love with you and you have to make it seem like you feel the exact way that she does. If you don't do that then you might as well call the bet off right now." I could hear the excitement in Beck's voice at the thought of my letting him win.
I thought about for a second and almost agreed with him. Tori isn't going to give it up just from flirting, I'd have to make her fall for me. It would take a while, a lot of planning and I would have to commit all my time to trying to get her to date me. The thought of that alone made me want to quit. Beck is the only person I've ever officially dated and that ended so quickly I sometimes even forget it happened, but now in order to win I have to basically be in a committed relationship with Tori if I have any chance of winning. I know it's really not worth my time and if I'm being honest I recognize how cruel this sounds, getting my teacher to sleep with me is one thing; it's nothing serious just lust and two consenting people. But making her actually develop feelings for me and making it about more than just sex is completely different and if someone else had told me they were doing it I'd call them an asshole and definitely stay away from them. However, I'm Jade fucking West, and I don't lose, period.
"No one is calling anything off. By the end of year not only will I have slept with Tori, she always be completely and foolishly in love with me." I say with such certainty that It wasn't an assumption, just me stating a fact and Beck knew it.
"You know this Is kind of fucked up right? I'm all for bets and games but this could cause a lot of pain not only for her but you too Jade. You really think you can make her fall in love with you and not develop some sort of feelings for her too? And if you do win the bet are you going to be okay with the things you had to do to win?
I looked up and saw Tori walking out of her house towards my car. She had changed and looked beautiful as always, when she saw me looking she smiled and waved and I had to look away.
"I gotta go Beck, I'll see you tonight."