Viral

Six

I thought nightmares were supposed to end when you opened your eyes.
-Grown-ish

We stood wordlessly between our houses for a moment before Finn nodded towards his backyard. I knew where we were headed and it made my stomach flip; this meant business. This conversation would either wedge a larger space between us or reset things to how they were previously.

I followed behind him to the large Oak tree behind his house and began climbing the old wooden ladder to his treehouse. I haven't seen the inside of it since I was 14, it seemed nothing was out of place. I sat cross legged next to Finn and leaned back on my hands for support. I could see the stars from the skylight his dad had expertly crafted into the ceiling when we were 9.

I could feel him next to me but I couldn't look. I felt like I was about to go through a breakup and we weren't even together. Finn was by far the longest most consistent relationship I've ever had.

He then surprised me by finally speaking, "Ry, I'm sorry."

"What?" That certainly wasn't what I was expecting to hear.

"Seriously, I'm sorry for the way I've been acting." I let my eyes meet his and they seeped sincerity. "Carly's all in my head, in a good way and a bad. It's just been messing with me. I honestly wasn't trying to hurt your feelings in the car."

That was it. It was enough to be a reset button for me. Finn was forgiven before he had even finished his sentence.

I took my elbow and nudged him playfully in his side. He was overdramatic in his reaction falling over, his blonde mane reacting violently over his shoulders, "It's not a big deal, we're cool." I scratched the back of my head at a loss for what to say next. I decided on asking a question I didn't care to hear the answer to. "So what's going on between you two?"

Finn smacked his teeth and rubbed the back of his neck, unconsciously I mimicked his actions and accidently snapped the scrunchie in my head. My hair slowly began to spill down my back "Everything will be going fine then she just gets jealous out of no where and it screws up the moment. It's like we take a step forward then take thirty steps back."

"What could Carly possibly be jealous of?" I gathered my hair in my hands and twisted it in preparation to pull it back up into a bun forgetting I had just snapped my scrunchie. I let my hair fall back into place.

Finn let out a deep breath. His words came out so soft for a moment I questioned if he even spoke at all. "You." He fell back onto his back and glued his eyes to the stars.

Why the hell would she be jealous of me? I laughed carelessly and laid down next to him. I decided to burn a hole into the side of his face until he looked at me. "What about me could possibly make anyone, let alone Carly, jealous." I was, as she had so sweetly put it, 'a young man.'

"For the obvious reasons and the not so obvious." It sounded so cryptic, I waited for him to elaborate. "One, she keeps comparing our relationship to my friendship with you. Like the two can't happen simultaneously. She feels like she has to compete. She gets mad when I share my attention, and I'm conflicted. I'm trying to give her all of my attention but when I do I don't feel like myself."

"That's because your not." It was meant to be a thought and not something for me to say out loud, but it was the truth. He hadn't truly been Finn since Carly entered our lives. "And what's the less obvious reason she's jealous."

Finn reached over and brushed a stray hair from my face, smiling softly. "She says I look at you differently." The words floated between us for a moment and I didn't know what to do with it. I felt heat in my cheeks and prayed the moonlight would hide it.