Falling

42

I shouldn't have even asked. The thought of Isaac and Vinny together was one of the few things that made me truly uncomfortable. One of the reasons I could stay so close to Isaac after finding out was that we didn't talk about it and I did my best not to think about it.

Isaac's eyes widened slightly. "Me and him never talked really, so I don't know. I didn't know much about him anyway and he never offered anything up."

I grimaced, thinking of the two of them and all the not talking they did.

"I shouldn't have asked," I muttered, looking away from him.

"You're in a real relationship with him," he continued. "It's different. Maybe he should be telling you things, opening up to you."

Luckily, I was saved from having to continue this conversation by the others making their way back over to us. Darren had thrown his arm around Hadley while holding the football in his other hand. Hadley stared adoringly up at him and for the first time I saw how good they were together.

Logan and Dana had always been good together and their relationship just seemed to be a given. With Darren and Hadley, it was different. They didn't seem like they worked at first. It was like they were together just for the fun of it instead of actually caring for each other, but now I saw that wasn't the case and my own insecurities about my relationship came creeping in.

I began wondering how my friends saw my relationship with Vinny, if they thought we fit or if they thought it was only a matter of time before we broke up. I wondered if they looked at us like we made sense or if the two of us together confused them. It was like how all of us looked at Archie and Crystal. They didn't make sense, and now they were done.

I couldn't help but wonder if Vinny and me didn't make sense to people, if we even made sense to each other. I wanted nothing more to be happy with him, but it seemed like every time I got comfortable something else came up to take that away.

"Darren says I'd be a better quarterback than Seth," Hadley announced, throwing herself down next to me.

Even just the sound of Seth's name made my blood boil.

"Maybe you could be back up," Isaac suggested as the others came to stand before us.

"No, I want to be the star."

"She has what it takes," Darren said with a grin, sitting down beside his girlfriend. "We might need you tomorrow."

The annual Thanksgiving game was taking place at our school tomorrow. Nearly everyone would be there. I didn't know if I could stomach it, not with how I was feeling lately.

"Not too confident in Seth's abilities?" Dana asked with a chuckle.

"He has a lot on his mind," Darren replied with a shrug. "Might choke. Who knows."

I was shocked to hear him speaking about his friend in this way. There must have been a rift between the two if Darren was being so brazen when speaking about him. It was probably for the better. Darren was too good of a guy to hang around with him. Maybe he was actually starting to figure that out.

"I'm starving, are we going for lunch now?" Archie cut in, looking impatient.

That was enough for all of us to heave ourselves off the ground and toward the parking lot. As we made our way to the cars, I tried to keep my eyes away from Hadley and Darren in each other's arms to stop the pang of jealousy I felt at their happiness.

***

Vinny Taylor

We had to move family therapy up to Wednesday because the office would be closed tomorrow and Friday for Thanksgiving. Dad insisted that we couldn't skip a session, so it was just another day of me being forced to sit through a solo therapy session immediately followed by a family session. Though, I would admit Dr. Brown went easy on me the days I had both.