Make You Mine // {LaChambers}

Tree Talks

I was obsessing over a straight guy who had a girlfriend. I was ruining my own physical health over it. And I was pushing people who cared away from me. I needed to stop. It wasn't worth it. Besides, if the guys found out, I could say goodbye to having friends at all. I needed to move on.

I'm not going to lie, it hurt coming to that conclusion, but it was something I needed to hear eventually. I stood up and mentally came up with a plan to make myself normal again. First, I would start talking to the guys again. And I would try to hang out with Gordie again. And I'd stop letting myself get scared off by Michelle. Maybe I'd even try to get a girlfriend. Anything would help. I could start working out, work on my flirting, and maybe I'd still have a chance-

'Damnit!' I thought, 'I'm thinking about him again. You're not into him, you're not into him, you're not into him...'

I flopped backwards onto my bed, staring up at the ceiling. It was useless. I knew I wasn't going to get over him that easily. It hurt. I hated liking guys. I hated liking Gordie and lying to his face about it. It wasn't fair. Straight guys didn't need to deal with obscure situations like mine.

Frustrated, I opened a nearby window. I looked out at the streets. Happy couples walked hand in hand, one boy, one girl. Just the way society liked it. I let out a heavy sigh.  Why couldn't it be me?

I felt a branch brush up against my arm. The big tree in my backyard stood tall and strong in the calm summer air. On impulse, I climbed out of my window and manoeuvred myself into the large plant.  The outside world faded away as leaves and branches obscured my view.  It was nice, nothing but me and the leaves.  Calm.  I almost forgot about him.

"Chris?  Hey, Chris?  That you?"

I almost fell out of the tree.  I looked down and saw Gordie, looking up at me.  I probably looked like an idiot.  Startled, I stared down at him like a deer caught in the headlights.

Without saying another word, Gordie started climbing up the base of the tree.  He sat down next to me, staring out at the street.  I could tell he wanted to talk to me about something, but I didn't know what.  I kept waiting for him to say something, but he wouldn't budge.

"Hey," I said after a few minutes.

"Hey," he said as he nervously fidgeted with the edge of his shirt.  A few long seconds passed.

I picked a leaf off of a nearby branch.  "So..." I started.

"Why do you keep doing this?" asked Gordie suddenly.

Confused, I turned my head to look at him. "What'd ya mean?"

"You keep running off every chance you get. It's... it's weird, Chris. You haven't been acting yourself, you know?"

I knew exactly what he meant. I looked back out at the street in front of us. I didn't say anything.

"I called things off with Michelle," Gordie said quietly.

I whipped my head around. "What? Gordie, why?"

He hesitated. "It- it was a bunch of stuff. We just didn't work out. Besides... I think I like someone else."

I could see a blush slowly creep up his face, starting from the bottom of his neck and ending at his ears. I felt my stomach drop. Of course he liked someone else. My heat rate seemed to double its speed. Who was it? What made her so special?

Gordie nervously scratched the back of his neck as he kept staring forward. I anxiously waited for him to say who it was. But it didn't look like he was going to budge. Until he did.

"Chris, promise me you're not going to tell anyone this?" he whispered.

"I promise," I whispered back.

Gordie took a deep breath. "I really don't want this to mess up our friendship, okay?"

I cocked an eyebrow. "I really don't think some girl is gonna mess up our friendship."

"But, see, here's the thing. She's- she's not, you know... how do I put this..." Gordie stammered. "I guess you could say... she's not a-"

"Hey, girls!" called a vaguely familiar voice, interrupting Gordie. Gordie practically jumped out of his skin. If I wasn't there, he probably would have fallen out of the tree.

"What, Teddy?" I barked back.

Teddy just laughed, climbing up and plopping down in between me and Gordie. "Whatcha' doing?" he teased.

"Nothing," mumbled Gordie.

Teddy turned to look at me instead. I shrugged. "He's not lying."

"Wow, you two are so interesting. Anyways, got your bags packed? You know we leave in a few days, right? I don't wanna be all unprepared like last time," said Teddy.

"Yeah, don't worry about it, mom," I mumbled.

Teddy rolled his eyes and hoped back down out of the tree. "Where're you going?" I called.

Teddy called back something along the lines of "somewhere interesting" before walking away.

"I should... I should probably get going now, too," said Gordie.

"Wait, what about... you know?" I asked quickly.

Gordie shook his head. "Forget it," he mumbled.

He was gone before I could get another word in.