Straight Boys

Make it Straight

"Zach! Zachary?! Zach!" I dropped my hands into my lap and lifted my head at the shrill call of my name. Across the hall and sitting in the uncomfortable plastic hospital chairs, Corbett and Annie seemed to do the same, both lifting their heads to see who was rushing into the emergency room looking for me.

It was Taylor.

Her red hair was up in a messy bun, a pink, fluffy hair band pushing back her flyaways, and her dad's lettermen jacket was slipping off of her left shoulder. Her eyes were wide and filled with confusion as she rushed towards me. I stood to meet her, but my feet wouldn't budge when I saw two bodies following her.

Mandy Hartfield and Gretchen Yondi.

"What -"

Taylor stopped before me, her hands reaching out for me as she quickly said, "I was having a sleepover with Mandy and Gretchen. . .," on a Sunday? ". . . We were discussing cheer activities when you called. What's going on?"

My eyes shifted between Taylor, Mandy, and Gretchen as I tried to formulate an adequate answer for her question. I was at a loss of words, however, after taking in Gretchen's teary eyes and Mandy's worried stance.

I physically could not explain the situation to the girls in front of me, and I was so sure it was not only because I was terrified for Andrew's safety. Deep down, I was feeling guilty, and having the steely eyes of Corbett drilling holes into the back of my head wasn't helping in the slightest.

I was just confused and overwhelmed and I couldn't figure out what to do or say. I felt suddenly so helpless and I hated it. I rarely felt these feelings, so when I suddenly did, I didn't know what do or how to handle the situation.

If Andrew was here, he would have. . .

Luckily - or unluckily - Corbett stepped up to our little quartet, Annie clinging to his arm, and told them for me, "Andrew passed out and wasn't waking up, so we brought him to the hospital."

All three girls turned to look at Corbett as if they were just not noticing him and his little, red headed tail. Taylor's eyebrows lifted just the slightest - the way they do when she's surprised - and she shrugged her dad's lettermen up her shoulders as she gave Corbett a once over. Gretchen, while still trying her hardest not to cry, sniffled and asked if he knew anything else -Corbett shook his head - but the most surprising reaction - or unsurprising - I witnessed was Mandy's.

She crossed her arms, pressed her lips into a thin line, and glanced at Corbett with a second of venom that was almost imperceptible if anybody wasn't looking - but I was always looking, always analyzing - before questioning him, "What are you doing here, Corbett? I thought you hated Drew?" Her voice was keenly wet, as if she was innocently asking someone because she was simply just curious and sad at the thought of her crush being in the hospital. It was a meticulously placed question, one with high emotions and a great amount of thought out into it.

And the funny thing is that everyone was buying into it, everyone except me and Corbett Connors, and maybe even Taylor. Her hands that had been around my arms tightened their grip, and she stepped closer to me as if she knew what was going on inside of Mandy's head.

Maybe she did. They were becoming really close these days.

I pulled her close out of habit, but the minute my hands met her waist, the war inside of my head that I had been trying to push away this whole time flared and I couldn't help but let her go. I wasn't feeling that bubbly sensation in the pit of my stomach like I used to. I couldn't bare the emptiness that was taking its place inside of me where that youthful love was supposed to be, so I dropped my hands and pushed her off of me, but I didn't push her away. I was too tense to push her away because then she would get suspicious.