Stepping Out of Me

28

LANCE

Lance smiled as he sat on the wall and grabbed his water bottle. "You out of practice since you got that scholarship?" He said to Dylan.

"Not at all," Dylan replied, panting. "You just caught me on a bad day."

"Winter formal isn't until next week so you can take your mind off her for a little while." Lance teased.

Dylan chuckled at his friend's remark. "Man, I didn't think she'd be so into me when I asked her. Though it's kind of nice." He said. "When are you going to find a date?"

Lance shrugged. "I'm not even sure if I'll go anymore."

"Because of Kiera?"

Lance sighed. He kind of figured Dylan would bring her up sooner or later. He avoided speaking about her ever since the last time they spoke, so Dylan didn't even know what happened between them. Despite them being friends, Lance preferred for it to stay that way.

"I had to ask. One minute you two are all in love and the next second you act like you don't know each other." Kyle stated. "I think I've seen this before."

Of course, he was talking about Mariah. Instead of responding Lance stood up and gathered his things. Thankfully, Dylan didn't push the Kiera topic further.

* * *

They soon got back to Dylan's house. Lance had decided to spend one night there but the parents welcomed him to stay a bit longer when Dylan mentioned he was having family problems. They wanted to talk to his parents but there was no way Lance would allow that. It would only lead to his dad getting mad that he dared mention anything to anyone.

After Lance showered and got dressed, he was ambushed by Dylan's older sister, Morgan. Yesterday she arrived home from university since she had finished her exams. Apparently, she really wanted to spend the Christmas holiday with her family, something Lance couldn't relate to.

"Happy Birthday!" Morgan shouted then blew one of those paper horn things. "Big 17!"

Lance chuckled. "Thank you, Morgan."

As he walked out of the room Morgan nudged him with her elbow. "Why are you so grumpy?" She asked. "The last time you were like this I heard it was because of a girl. Hmm...oh, Mariah. Are you two still together?"

Lance shook his head. He wondered who else was going to bring up Mariah that day. It's like the universe was trying to torture him or something.

"So another girl?"

"Her name's Kiera." Dylan's voice came from behind them. "She just transferred here in September."

Lance shot a look at his friend who seemed to find amusement in spilling the details of his life.

"Oh," Morgan said as her face lit up. "So what happened with Kiera?"

Lance sighed. "We had an argument and it didn't end well. I don't think she'll want to speak to me again."

Morgan quickly moved in front of Lance and walked backward as she spoke. "What was the argument about? Maybe I can help."

"You can't. It's already done." Lance replied, not wanting tot drag it out any further. He didn't want to expose what Kiera had said because he sensed where it was coming from. Hurt. The voice recordings that Mariah sent out were proof of that. He hated hearing what that asshole Daniel did to her. Though he wanted to go to her immediately it would have been selfish of him to use that moment to make up. 

As much as they weren't in a good place Lance didn't want to spread anything about her. She was already struggling and he'd hate himself even more if he added to that.