Heather's Choice by H.L.B. Adams (if you give a mouse a cookie read aloud TXT) 📕

Heather couldn’t help but look around for him, she had made sure to tell them that the invitation was for all of them. Tonight was her graduation and he was nowhere in sight. “I guess he had something better to do tonight,” she thought to herself.
She had wanted Tim to come so they could talk. She wanted to tell him how she felt, how she had made such a big mistake breaking up with him. She hoped that he still felt the same for her and that they could spend all summer together. “Well it looks like that talk will have to wait until another day,” she thought silently.
She turns back to her party and tries to have fun. Somehow she manages it. Well it wasn’t that hard with her friends and family around, especially with James. James is Tim’s younger brother. James is one of Heather’s best friends, and one of the few people who has never let her down. She knew he wouldn’t tonight.
“Well congratulations my love,” James says with so much enthusiasm and love that she can’t help but smile. He holds a bouquet of tulips, her favorite flower.
Looking only slightly surprised, she replies, “Thank you, but you shouldn’t have. You know I don’t need flowers.”
“Well I thought a beautiful girl deserved beautiful flowers, and plus I know they’re your favorite,” he said. He couldn’t help but think how his jackass of a brother ever had a shot with this wonderful girl. How could she ever have fallen for him, and how could she still be hung up on him. Why couldn’t she see what was staring her in the face? Why couldn’t she see that he loved her?
“Well thank you.”
“So when do you leave for Troy?”
“The beginning of September, what are you going to miss me.”
“Well actually, yes.”
“I’ll be back practically every weekend, I promise.”
“This party is lame. You want to get out of here and go to the creek. I think a midnight swim would be awesome right now.”
“Sounds great to me, let’s go.”

Tim watched Heather from a corner. He knew he had hurt her, and felt keeping his distance was the best thing for her. He couldn’t help but be jealous. What the hell was his brother doing? Tim knew his brother had a thing for Heather, but James knew that he still loved her. He might not have showed it very well when he had her, but he hadn’t realized it until he lost her. He thought miserably, “Why did I have to cheat on her? She is the most amazing girl I have ever met, and I screwed it up. I don’t deserve her, but James is just going to hurt her too. He doesn’t know what it means to love someone, and plus she was mine first.”

The next day Heather went to Littlebit’s looking for Tim, but he wasn’t there. Disappointed though she was, she stayed and had fun hanging out with James, Steven, and Nathan. She hung around all day hoping he would show up, but he didn’t. She stayed so late that she ended up spending the night. Heather did this every weekend all summer and only saw him once, and then she couldn’t even get a moment alone with him.
The last weekend of the summer she was at Littlebit’s yet again. It was just her and James this weekend. She always had fun with James, but sometimes it was still a little hard to believe she really had so much fun with him.
“So what do you want to do today? Hunting, fishing, swimming, or a very passionate make out session personally I vote for the last one,” James said.
Heather laughed and said, “How about hunting, then fishing, and last swimming. We’ll see about that last one.”
“Ok,” he said just a little disappointed. You would think after all the hints he had been dropping all summer she would realize how he felt, but no she was still in love with his brother, and it killed him to know that. He didn’t want to see her hurt again, but that was what was going to happen. He knew she would end up back with Tim, but what he couldn’t understand was why.
James spent the whole weekend wishing Heather wouldn’t leave. He had yet to get her to see that he was the one for her and that his brother was a cheater and would always be one. Heather was always so easy to forgive people. She had such a big heart, and couldn’t manage to hold grudge. She couldn’t do it even if it meant her life. That was one of the many things he loved about her, she just couldn’t help but to care about everyone, no matter what they did to her.

Then before Heather knew it she was off to college, she was happy to be away from Alexander City and her family for the first time in her life. She was even happier to leave all the drama of her past behind her.
When she started classes she found them to be easy, and boring. She made friends easily. She even met a few guys that she was interested in, but Tim never left her mind and heart.
Randy became Heather’s best friend. They became inseparable in matter of weeks. Everyone thought they were dating. Heather couldn't help but laugh at that, "How shocked would the be to find out that Randy's gay."
"Hey sweetie," Randy said coming up behind her at the cafeteria.
"Hey, how was class?"
"Okay, I guess. Why do I have to take English I'm a foreign language major. I already know English."
"You're not all that great at English. You know to many other languages. Get over it, its a reguirment."
"Yeah yeah, lets get something to eat."
"Okay, so what do you want to do this weekend?"
"I'm going home as usually. You?"
"I dont know I might stick around. Campus is deserted on the weekends. It's kind of nice."
Monday when Randy didnt show for class Heather started to get worried. She called him, but got no answer. It took a couple of days but she finally got a hold of him.
"Hey sweetie," Randy said when he answered his phone. He sound sick.
"Hey, what's up babe? I havent seen you around this week. Are you okay?"
"Umm, not exactly I'm sick. The doctor wants to run some more test. I dont know if I'll be back this semester."
"What?!? Does he know what's wrong?"
"Not yet. Dont worry about me I'll be fine."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, well I'm tired. I think I'll take a nap. Talk to you later."
"Bye," Heather said and hung up. Randy did not return to school that semester.

Heather decided to go home every weekend from then on out; school just wasnt the same without Randy. With this decision came some benefits, she could see Tim on weekends. Though it was now a little bit more complicated than she would have liked, Tim now had a girlfriend. It also was made obvious though that he still cared deeply for Heather, but for some reason he did not seem to want to break up with his girlfriend.

Tim didn’t know what he was going to do. He had thought that if he dated someone else he would stop thinking about Heather, but that was not so. It didn’t help that she was coming home every weekend now that her best friend in Troy had withdrawn. He did not know what he was going to do.

James saw how Heather was looking at Tim. He knew that she came home every weekend to see his brother, and it hurt. Even though she hung out with James most of the time, he could tell she wanted to be with Tim. He also knew she wouldn’t try anything seeing as Tim had a girlfriend, but he also knew that wouldn’t stop Tim.

One weekend James stayed at home, and that left Tim and Heather alone together. She tried to keep some distance because he had a girlfriend, but he was making it hard. Every where she went he turned up. He just wouldn’t leave her alone.
“Why won’t you leave me alone?”
“Do you really want me to do that?”
“Yes, maybe, I don’t know.”
“Why do you keep pushing me away?”
“Um, I don’t know? Maybe because you have a girlfriend?”
“I broke up with her. She just wasn’t right for me,” he replied knowing it was a lie.
“Well I’m sorry. What type of girl is right for you?”
“You don’t know,” he said with a little laugh. “You are.”
“Oh,” she said taken a back. Here he was giving her just what she wanted, and now she was unsure whether she should believe him or not. So she said simply, “Whatever.”
“You don’t believe me. Well I should have expected that. I haven’t exactly treated you great, but I promise you that will change.”
“Well you’re going to have to earn my trust back, and you know that is not an easy task.”
“I’m up to it.”
And with that Heather was back with Tim. All James could do now was wait for Tim to break her heart again.

Yet again break snuck up on Heather. It was winter break in no time. She packed up some stuff and headed home for a few weeks.
The first week back she got a call from James asking her to come pick him up at school. She went of course; she couldn’t just leave him there and hope someone else would go pick him up. She did know his family, and she knew exactly how they were.
When she got there she saw something that she wished she hadn’t seen. Tim standing in the parking lot making out with the girl he supposively had broken up with. She was happy when a second later James got in the car. She didn’t mention it to him, but he knew what she had seen. He knew she would see them that is why he called her and asked her to come pick him up. He had watched his brother go out with Ginny whenever Heather wasn’t around and he just couldn’t take it anymore.
“So where to?”
“Littlebit’s, I’m supposed to be helping David paint the living room and kitchen this weekend.”
“Do y’all need some help? I would like to have something to do this weekend.”
“Of course, you are always welcome to help us out. You make work very interesting.”
“Well then, I think I’ll stay down there this weekend, at least.”
“Sounds great, I really have missed you.”
“I’ve missed you too.”

James had decided now was the time to tell Heather how he felt. Now that she knew about Tim, she might actually see what is right in front of her. They had fun painting. They got more paint on each than on the walls, which made everything more fun.
“So have you had fun this weekend?” James asked Sunday morning.
“Of course I always have fun with you,” Heather replied.
“Heather have you ever thought about not being with Tim? I know you saw him yesterday. All he ever does is hurt you.”
“I know. I keep thinking he has changed, and then I catch him with someone else. Why did you not tell me?”
“I thought that it might help for you to see it with your own