**Completed** Colby Byers and Wyatt Matheson shared an enviable love-at least, until that fateful day. Torn apart by tragedy, the stubborn ex-lovers struggle to come to terms with their desire for one another, while reconciling their feelings with t...
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Wyatt
Today's been shitty, and it's not even over yet. First I had to play dress up in the wee hours of the morning, when sleep would be a far better alternative. Next, I got to make an ass of myself on stage for the auction and subsequently went on to be purchased by a starry-eyed freshman girl. During the one break I got from the ball and chain that won me at auction for the school-wide assembly, I got to watch the official coming out party for the duo now affectionately known as C-squared— Colby and Cole.
And it ain't over yet. Currently, I'm chauffeuring my boss for the day, and her three closest friends to the bonfire. Incessant whispering filters forward from the back seat, the freshmen girls snickering and hissing to one another like a flock of warbling pigeons.
Yes, it's true. You're sitting in the car with a boy! A senior boy! Bliss!
I roll my eyes, my patience about as threadbare as an old burlap sack. I've been with the girl all day, having avoided her for as long as humanly possible. I was detected around second period, hiding behind the chariot-walker, which turned out to be of more use than I had originally imagined. I accompanied her to all of her classes, lunch, and her after-school book club, wherein they were reading Twilight, heaven help me.
Now the doe-eyed girl sits beside me in my old pick-up, her fingers inching ever nearer to mine. I whip my hand away from the center console, placing it out of reach on the steering wheel. My eyes fall closed when we reach the old field, and I pray for endurance.
Sighing, I muster up some enthusiasm, plastering a forced smile on my face. "Alright, y'all, let's go party."
The teenage screams that ensue make me wanna cover my ears and crawl into a hole somewhere.
An hour or two...that's all I have to do...
We wander toward the piles of pallets in the middle of the field, bulging out of the bowl the football team dugout last weekend. The student council has outdone themselves this year-the stack is huge. I hope the fire department is on call.
There are a handful of teachers and administrators around here somewhere, but they can't be paying that close of attention, as I can tell a large number of the student population is drunk. Maybe they just don't care.
"Can I...hold your hand?" Amanda asks, batting her eyes as we walk.
The hell?
"No."
She looks away, wounded.
Huffing, I decide to quit being a dickhead. Why am I so damn nice?
"Hey," I say, grabbing her by the shoulders so she'll look at me. "Lemme go get us some drinks."
"O-okay," she says, beaming.
Colby floats into my mind then, all hopped up on roofies, and I shake my head. Needless to say, I would never do anything so incredibly pathetic and heinous. I'm a good guy.
Ha. Lemme qualify that: I'm not a desperate prick, anyway.
But when a girl that has, for all intents and purposes, just met me, is thrilled that I'm bringing her a beverage, it makes me cringe. I decide some advice is in order.
"Look, Amanda," I say, pausing mid-stride. She stops alongside me.
"Mandy," she says insistently, turning to me and placing her fingers on my chest. Guess she wasn't that wounded after all...
"Right..." I say, suppressing the urge to make a run for it. "Anyway, you should know better than to take drinks from people you don't know. It can be dangerous."
"Are you...dangerous?" she asks in a husky voice.
Aw hell, I give up.
"Nope," I say, sighing. "Let's go."
....
"You finally did it!" Nash says, shaking my hand in congratulations. I chuckle at his exuberance.
"How'd you free yourself of the barnacle?" Mari asks, smirking.
"Easy," I say. "Her parents wanted her home at nine, so she and her friends had to get a ride with them. I have extra duties that'll keep me here long after that, you know."
Not true. We all know this.
"Sure you do," Nash says smiling. "Good man. Today wasn't half bad." He wraps his arm around Mari's waist, their heads tilted toward one another reflexively. They aren't intentionally excluding me, they're just in their own world. I can't begrudge them that.
I smile, clapping Nash on the shoulder. "Have fun tonight," I say. "But not too much."
"Wouldn't dream of it," Nash says, grinning like he won the lottery.
I wander around the field, greeting teammates and chatting about the big game tomorrow. Everyone is keyed up, excited to take it to the Tyler Titans tomorrow. Should be a hell of a game.
I see Ari a short distance away, and can't believe my eyes. He's actually here with Anna tonight. It's then that I realize we must be to the portion of the evening when everybody pairs off. It's not a planned thing, it just seems to happen sort of organically. Everywhere I look its couples and more couples.
And one I wished I hadn't seen. Just beyond Ari and Anna, I see Colby's unmistakable platinum ponytail bobbing with each step, as she retreats to the parking lot hand in hand with Cole.
