Falling

51

Spencer moved toward me, then hesitated with a contemplative look on his face. It was like he wasn't sure how close he could get to me, what would be too much for me. So I reached out and pulled him to me in an embrace. He was stiff for a moment then melted into my touch, wrapping his arms around me tightly.

It was strange. I was never much of a hugger, but that could change.

We pulled away after a few moments, Marina smiling over at us.

"So, uh, you and Isaac huh?" I awkwardly let out and Spencer let out a short laugh.

"Yeah, me and Isaac," he replied with a smile. And it was good to see him smiling about someone else, good to see not only has he moved on from me but he was happy with Isaac.

"They just made it official," Marina added, her grin widening.

"Really?" I asked and Spencer nodded.

"We'll see how it goes," he said, seeming to finish the conversation at that.

I was glad he didn't ask me about Carson. I didn't want to have to tell them that we broke up, though Spencer might have already known

The three of us spent some time watching TV. It was awkward and quiet, but I didn't expect things to go back to normal. For the moment, I was just content with having friends of my own so that I didn't have to be alone or rely on Logan or Carson.

Just the mere thought of Carson seemed to make him appear. He pulled up to the house with Archie, Isaac, Dana, and Hadley. Hadley was about the second to last person I wanted to see at the moment. If she knew about Darren, which I was sure she did, I couldn't imagine she would want to see me either.

Carson stopped short when he entered the house, looking at Spencer and Marina then back at me. A split second later he was rushing over to me.

"Vinny," he said as he scurried to the couch. "Are you okay?" He kneeled before me and took my face in his hands and I wanted to cry at the look on his face.

He looked so concerned, like he was looking for any lingering injuries. His eyes stopped on the bruises on my neck as he rubbed his thumb over my cheek.

"I'm fine," I assured him, placing my hand over one of his that still rested on my face. And at that moment, I did feel fine. With him there. Even with his friends looking on.

I glanced over Carson's shoulder and saw Hadley looking at me with red rimmed eyes. Archie stood beside her with a guilty look on his face, his eyes everywhere in the room but me.

I wanted to close myself back up in my mind. There was now an audience in the house. I didn't want them to see me vulnerable, only Carson.

"Logan!" Dana called out walking over to shout up the stairs. He came running down the steps and stopped short when he saw that all of his friends were in the living room.

"What are you guys doing here?" he asked, greeting Dana at the bottom of the stairs with a kiss.

Carson stood up. "Checking on you. And Vinny."

He looked down at me and Spencer stood up from the couch to greet Isaac, allowing Carson to sit down next to me.

At that moment, I didn't care that Carson and I were broken up, or that we had an audience. I pulled his arm around me and curled into his side, putting my arm around his waist. I nearly sighed in relief when he pulled me closer instead of rejecting my touch.

"You look really bad," Dana told her boyfriend, placing a hand on his injured face.

"I know," he said, his eyes drifting over to Hadley.