Falling

29

"He's trying to look out for both of you, even if it doesn't seem that way," she responded. "But he doesn't know anything about you two and if it does end in heartbreak, that's just part of life. You'll survive it."

"He shouldn't have even said anything at all," I muttered, crossing my arms over my chest. He had no business doing that and although my mother told me not to, I couldn't help but be angry with him.

"Maybe he shouldn't have," she agreed. "But fathers have this need to protect their kids and he sees you as his son. I'm not saying he should have done it, but that's why he did. He doesn't want you or Vinny to be hurt."

"So he wants me to hurt Vinny by breaking up with him because his dad told me to?"

Mom chuckled. "I never said it made sense. But in his mind it does."

We pulled up to Paul's house quicker than I thought we would. I hadn't realized that he lived so close to us. Mom and I got out of the car and walked up to the house where Paul immediately opened the door and greeted us like he had been watching through the window for us to arrive.

"Carson, I'm so glad you made it!" Paul said, clapping a hand down on my shoulder.

"Thanks for having me."

"You can go on up to Spencer's room while I finish up dinner," he offered. "He's the last door in the hall upstairs."

Although I would have preferred not to invite myself into Spencer's room, I went up the stairs and to the last door anyway and knocked my knuckles against it. Spencer let out a "come in" and I opened the door, revealing Spencer and Marina sitting on the bed. I hadn't seen Marina since she had gone with Spencer to visit Vinny at the hospital.

"Oh, hey," Spencer said, ignoring the look of confusion on Marina's face.

"Not that I'm not happy to see you, Carson, but why are you here?" Marina asked as I stepped further into the room and shut the door behind me.

"Oh my dad's dating his mom," Spencer told her as I took a seat on his desk chair.

"What?" she asked, looking at each of us. "Since when?"

I shrugged. "For a couple months I think? They were keeping it quiet for a while."

"So you two are going to end up being step brothers," Marina said with a light chuckle.

"Potentially," Spencer responded.

I took a moment to look around Spencer's room. The wall across from his bed was covered from the ceiling to the floor in pictures. Some were nature shots, others were of the night sky and stars, and quite a few of them were of Marina and Vinny.

"Did you take all these?" I asked him, standing from the desk chair and walking over to the wall of pictures.

"Uh, yeah," he said, clearing his throat.

"They're really good."

"Thanks," he said as I looked back at them. "A lot of those are old."

I looked back at the wall and my eyes landed on a picture of Vinny that looked like it was from about a year ago. His hair was a little shorter, his face a little fuller, and his eyes had a sparkle that seemed to be dimmed now.

The picture was of him sitting out on a blanket under the stars. He was looking up at the sky with a small smile on his face. Marina could be seen in the background, but the focus was on Vinny sitting under the stars with his skin glowing from the light.

"These are really good, seriously," I repeated. "How did you get into photography?"

"My mom's a photographer," he replied. "She taught me the basics."

"Does she live around here?"

"Technically, yes, but she travels a lot for work," Spencer told me. "I have to go check on her house every week."

I nodded, continuing to look at the pictures.

It was silent for a few moments before Marina started to speak up.

"So, um..." she trailed, causing me to turn my head to face her. Marina looked down at her hands in her lap before turning her gaze to me. "I know you probably don't know much, but I figured since you're friends with Logan you might know something."

An expression of confusion overtook my face.

"About what?" I wondered.

"About how Vinny's doing," she said, earning an elbow to the side from Spencer. He shot her a dirty look and shook his head as if telling her not to bother me about this.

"What do you mean?" I asked, though I knew exactly what she was talking about.

"It's just—" she sighed. "We kind of had a falling out over the summer and he hasn't spoken to us since."

I knew that something had to have happened for Vinny to have become so closed off. It was possible it was caused by whatever falling out Marina was talking about, but I wasn't so sure that was the only reason.

"What happened?" I asked, though I knew I shouldn't. It was selfish of me to try to figure Vinny out through his friends.

Marina and Spencer shared a glance.

"There was just an argument between Spencer and Vinny and I kinda took Spencer's side at first," Marina started. "But I think there's more to it. I just feel like that wouldn't be what caused him to cut us off, you know?"

I couldn't help but agree with Marina. Even though Vinny didn't often speak of his two old friends, he didn't seem to have any resentment toward them. He just didn't want to talk about them anytime they were brought up, but he didn't seem hostile.

"So how is he doing?" Marina asked again. "Mentally and physically."

"Well, his head healed fine," I told her and paused as I thought of what to say next. "As for mentally... I don't know. He seems different but I really don't know."

Disclosing anything about my relationship with Vinny to the two of them didn't feel right. And disclosing anything Vinny had shared with me since we started dating felt even more wrong.

Spencer wasn't engaged in the conversation. Instead he was looking down at the camera in his hands and messing with the buttons. Marina's full attention was on me.

"Do you see him much?" she asked. Spencer nudged her again as if he was begging her to stop asking me questions. "Sorry, I just get worried about him."

"I see him sometimes when I'm at Logan's," was all I said.

Thankfully, we were called down to dinner after that and I no longer had to endure Marina's questioning.

I couldn't help but feel bad for her. She was sad and confused about whatever had went on with Vinny over the summer and all she wanted was some closure. But I couldn't be the person to give that to her.

And despite my curiosity, I wouldn't question Vinny about this, even if it would bring me another step closer to understanding him.

**

Thanks for reading!

What did you think about Jeff's conversation with Carson? Did you expect that? Do you think he's in the wrong? What about the scene with Carson, Marina, and Spencer? What do you think happened?