Jealousy
I saw him talking to her at the mall. I saw her perfect curve, creamy tan, long, blonde hair and full lips. I saw the way he looked at her, with his eyes full of love and caring. I wanted to walk up and slap her. How dare she talk to the guy I’d been in love with for years! Didn’t she know that John had finally asked me out and we’d been dating for a week! How dare she put her hand on her hip like that, laugh like that! It was outrageous.
But I held my anger in and left, driving home with my fingers gripping the wheel. I breathed evenly, I worked very hard to calm down. Back at the apartment, I cooked dinner, finished my homework in record time, and did mine and my roommates laundry.
Then the phone rang. It was John. “Hi, Honey. Have a good day?”
“Well, I learned a lot today.” I hedged.
“Really? What about?”
I couldn’t hold it in any longer. “I saw you with that chick at the mall. She was totally flirting with you and you were all fawning over her. I wanted to barf right there. I trusted you how could you do this to me!” I was really fired up now, digging my nails into the phone.
“Calm down, sweetie.” He said.
I wanted to scream. Was he patronizing me? “I am not going to calm down! You think you can just go flirting with anybody and I’m gonna be calm!”
“Honey, that was just Angela, my cousin.”
I stopped dead still. “Cousin?”
John laughed. “Yea, she lives in Australia so I haven’t seen her since I was little, but we used to be real close until she moved when I was thirteen. I’m sorry if I gave you the wrong idea. You should know I would never spend time with another girl and not at least tell you about it. You mean far too much to me.”
I tried to laugh with him. I felt like I moron. I had known John a long time, long enough to know how loyal he was. It was one of the reasons I’d fallen in love with him, and here I was acting like thirteen-year-old brat. “I’m so sorry, baby. That was really immature of me. I promise to trust you in the future.”
“Good, because I wanted to know if it was all right to bring Angela to the concert this weekend. She really loves the band and…’
“O, no you don’t!” I snapped. “That night was supposed to be for us!” Then I stopped and took a deep breath. “But if you want to see her, since she just got back, I guess it’ll be all right.”
He laughed again. “Just kidding, baby. But it’s nice to see you learned your lesson.”
This time my laugh was real. “O, John, you joker! Funny, how I love you even for that.”
“Love you too. Now about dinner tomorrow night…”
