Popularity Contest

28

I decide to skip practice, grabbing my things and running out of the gym, ignoring all of the warnings from Coach and jumping in my car. If everyone on the team got this picture I can guarantee everyone in school got it too.
I don't bother calling Quinn, I just show up at her house and knock on the door. She opens it and looks seconds away from crying. I cross the threshold and hug her, shockingly she lets me.
"You have to know this is fake, Chelsea came up to me before practice and she said she wanted to apologize but obviously-," I rant but Quinn cuts me off.
"It doesn't matter," she says. "It's never going to stop."
"Yes it will," I say, pulling back enough so I can see her face. "It will, just like you said, something else will happen and everyone will forget about this."
"Until someone else starts another rumor. Or you're in another position that could be taken the wrong way and the whole school sees it. It doesn't matter if I trust you or believe you when everyone else around me doesn't."
I can feel it ending. I know where this is going. "Quinn, please."
She steps back, breaking my hold around her and crosses her arms over her chest. "I really like you. I like being with you but this is just all too much."
"It doesn't have to be, I'll quit the team, I'll stop hanging out with all of those assholes, it'll just be me and you," I say, frantically.
"No, Wyatt. You need the team, you need your friends. It's not healthy to drop everything for a girl," Quinn says.
"You're not just a girl. I think I-." I'm about to say something I've never said before but she cuts me off again.
"Don't, please. Don't make this harder than it has to be. We can still be friends and hang out but the drama and the gossip is too much for me to handle. I've been invisible until this year and now it feels like all eyes are on me and I don't like it. I thought I knew what being with you would be like but it's so much more," she says, wiping the tears off her face.
She has cried a lot since we've been together. She doesn't deserve that, she should be happy all the time. I want her to be happy all the time. Maybe she's right. Being together is just too much for both of us.
"So, what does this mean?" I ask, reaching my hand out for hers. Surprisingly, she takes it.
"It means I can't be your girlfriend. I'm not cut out to be a part of your world. And that's ok. You've helped me grow into the next chapter of myself and I can never thank you enough for that." She pulls my hand around her back and we stand there holding each other for what feels like forever.
I clear my throat after a while and ask, "So this is it then?"
Quinn takes a step back and looks in my eyes. There's something different there that I've never seen before.
"Not yet," she says before stretching up and kissing me.
Before I know it, the kiss deepens and everything shifts. Quinn presses her body against mine and tangles her hands in my short hair. We've never kissed like this before and I'm confused why it's happening now.
After a few minutes, she pulls away and takes me by the hand again, leading me down the hallway and to her bedroom. She closes the door and pulls her shirt over her head in a split second.
"I said I wanted it to be you and I still do," Quinn says, standing three feet away from me. "I've never felt this comfortable and safe with someone and I don't know when I'll feel that again."
I hear what she's saying even though my brain is very distracted and scrambled. "Are you sure? It doesn't have to be now, we can wait."
"I'm sure," Quinn says, pushing her leggings down and stepping out of them. "Please."
I go to her and hold her in my arms. I know Quinn well enough to know that if she's made up her mind on something it's because she took a long time thinking about it and weighed every possible option until feeling 100% confident about her decision.
After everything I've put her through, the least I can do is give her this one thing. I can't act like I haven't wanted this for a while, though. The old me wouldn't need any convincing. This time, I know it'll be different.
Everything's been different with Quinn. She's made me feel like a whole new person. She's changed me and helped me grow just like she says I have for her. Whatever happens now, however things go after this, I will never be the same.