"Vincent, you ditched me at school," Maddy approaches me as soon as I get out of my car. "I thought you went home. Where were you?" She gasps,"You're lip's busted!"
She extends her hand to hold my face, but I slap it away. Face glowing red from shock, Maddy attempted to calmly ask me, "What's wrong?"
I yank her hand out and place the crumpled homecoming ticket on it.
"You made this didn't you?" I growl.
"What? I don't even know what this is."
"Its the fake homecoming ticket you gave to Wendy."
"I never gave her anything fake," Maddy denies.
"When we went to drop off Wendy's ticket, you said you would give it to her. So why was Wendy's ticket still in your purse?"
"I told you that was Luke's ticket."
"Luke told Logan to give it to anyone who didn't have one at the door as a nice gesture. I texted him and asked him."
Maddy, speechless, couldn't come up with anymore excuses.
"If you have a problem with me, tell me. Don't take it out on Wendy anymore," I warn.
"I felt bad for you since Wendy kept hanging out with that one actor guy, so I-"
"Don't overstep your boundaries again. I don't need you to do that for me."
"I was trying to be a good best friend."
"Don't flatter yourself. Wendy's my best friend."
"Vincent, why are you being so hurtful?"
"I'm forgiving of you because we're family friends. Don't do anything else to make me reconsider."
"Vincent-"
"I'm tired."
Leaving Maddy outside, I stroll into the house, only to be met with the furious asshole. He sits on the couch, arms crossed, and eyebrows furrowed into a glare that focuses on me as soon as I walk in.
"How could you leave Maddy at school? Her dad called me and said he had to pick her up!" he yells.
"Honey, calm down. I'm sure Vincent had a reason," Mom pleads with him, emerging from the kitchen. "What happened to your lip?"
"Leave me alone," I warn, trying to stomp upstairs. However, Mom latches onto my arm, now angry as well.
"I know you're upset, but you can't be rude to your dad,"she scolds.
"You're an embarrassment. First, you refuse to get into business. Then, you get a ditzy girlfriend. Now, you're rude to Maddy."
"Say anything you want about me, but don't bring Wendy into this."
"Honey, don't be rude. Wendy's a sweet girl," Mom insists.
"I'm sure she is, but she's ruining his life."
"How is she ruining my life? If anything you are!"
"You two, stop it!" Mom raises her voice.
"Letting some girl seduce you-"
Grabbing an apple from the fruit bowl, I clench my fists onto it, cracking and crumbling it into smaller bits. Then, I hurled it at him. While most of the bits disperse on the couch, little hitting him, it still relieved some of my anger. I stared at him blankly, juice running down my arm and dripping onto the floor. It is obvious that he's overflowing with rage, but his bewilderment left him speechless.
"Wendy's not like that," I say with clenched jaws.
"What's gotten into you, Vincent?" Mom gasps, picking up bits of the apple. "You've never done this before- Vincent!"
I stomp upstairs to avoid talking any further, or the next thing I might break will be pricer than an apple. However, the sight of Veronica at the top halts me.
Her bottom lip quivers, seeming to have witnessed the whole thing.
"Hey," I greet her gently.
"Hi," she responds, voice shaking.
"I'm sorry if I scared you," I apologize, holding my arms out. Veronica smiles and immediately jumps into my arms. I toss her in the air before carrying her to her room.
For a while, I let her do whatever she wants. She starts by tying my hair with tiny elastic bands and topping it off with a sprinkle of glitter and a tiara. Next, she moves onto my face, caking it with her plastic-scented pigments and red lipstick that covered my cut. On my arm, which is still pretty sticky from the apple juice, she slips on about fifty different bracelets.
"You look like a princess!" she giggles, throwing more glitter onto me and in the process her bed as well.
There's a knock at the door and Mom slowly inches inside, closing the door behind her.
"Vincent, what was that?" she sighs.
"I'm sorry..." I reply, not knowing what else I could say.
"You never had trouble controlling your anger. Did something happen today?"
"I guess," I shrug.
"I don't even know why I'm asking. There's only one person who can make you that emotional," Mom lightly chuckles joining us on the bed. The sight of glitter annoys her, but she ignores it for now. "You had a fight with Wendy, right?"
"How did you know?"
"You're my son. Of course I know."
I let out a deep breath.
"I don't know what happened between you two, but you guys should make up soon. The longer you guys wait, the awkward things will get. You guys will end up hesitating even though you both want to go back to normal."
"I'll try."
"And you have to consider Wendy's personality. She doesn't ever show what's she's feeling."
"I know. That's why is frustrating sometimes. I wish she would just tell me."
"What she can't say she shows."
"What do you mean?"
"The fact that she even holds your hand in public means that she's trying to show how she feels."
"I never thought about it like that..."
"So make sure you make up with her okay?"
"I will."
"And don't get too upset with Wendy. Whatever she did, she was probably doing it to make others happy."
"I know she's like that."
"So you better make up with her."
"I will."
"I'm saying this selfishly, because I adore Wendy. And if I don't get to eat her pies for thanksgiving, you're going to feel my wrath," she jokes, patting me on the back. "Have fun you two. You look great by the way Vincent." She tries to subdue her giggles, leaving the room. She reopens it for another second. "And clean up all that glitter!"
I reach for the mirror, realizing I looked like a pageant clown during the entire conversation. Even more awkward is the fact that Veronica had listened to it the whole time.
"Did you make Wendy mad?" Veronica asks, crossing her arms across her chest.
"A little," I admit.
"What did you do?"
"I might've been a little mean to her friend."
"Oooh," Veronica chastises.
"I didn't mean to."
"Was it a boy?"
"Yeah..."
"You were jealous, weren't you?" Veronica excitedly pipes up.
"What? No!"
"Yeah huh."
"No."
"I think so," Veronica says in a sing-songy voice.
"Wendy likes me, so I'm not worried," I try to convince her and myself.
"Yeah, but you just made her mad. What if she doesn't like you anymore. What if she likes him now?"
"No way," I scoff. "But you think so?"
"Is he handsome?"
I google a picture of Gregory Grayson and show my phone screen to Veronica.
"Wow, he's like a prince!" she says in amazement.
"He's not that good looking..."
"Wendy should marry him!"
"What? No!"
"You're right. She shouldn't..."
"Good. See? You should support your older brother one hundred percent-"
"Because I'm going to marry him!" Veronica announces.
"What? You can't-"
"Why not?" Veronica whines. "I'm a princess, so I HAVE to marry a prince!"
"You can't marry my mortal enemy," I explain, altering my vocab so that Veronica is tuned in.
"So you are jealous."
"No!"
I can't believe I'm being out-argued by a second-grader.
"Vincent." Veronica leans in closer to me. "Do you love Wendy?"
"Why are you asking?" I ask in return, suddenly flustered.
"If you want to marry Wendy, you have to love her. Duh," Veronica explains, looking at me as if I'm some idiot.
"How do you know I want to marry Wendy?" I ask, trying to make an excuse to bend my head and hide my flushed face by brushing off the glitter. It flutters onto the carpet and makes a bigger mess.
"So you're okay with her marrying someone else?"
"No!"
"Then you have to tell her you love her before its too late," Veronica urges, shaking my arm and causing glitter to fly off my hair.
"What do you even know about love? You're seven," I mock.
"I've had plenty of boyfriends..." She raises a finger on the hand as she recounted each of their names. "Charlie... Derrick... Josh... Adam... Christopher... Issac... and I'm dating Max right now. But I'm going to break up with him and marry that prince when I'm older."
"You're driving me insane," I sigh.
"You're the one driving me insane! How hard is it to say three words? THREE!"
"I'm going to bed."
"No," Veronica throws a fit. "I still have to paint your nails!"
"Good night," I ignore, closing the behind me as I left.
Then, hopping in the shower, I rigorously scrub off the makeup and attempted to rinse the glitter out of my hair. It was no use, since the tiny, plastic parties clung themselves to my scalp, and no amount of soap and water could get all of them. Finishing up by brushing my teeth, which the minty toothpaste irritates my cut lip slightly, I slip into some pajama pants and flop onto my bed.
She hasn't called or texted...
Sighing, I place my phone face-down on my nightstand and try to sleep. An hour of closing my eyes and periodically checking my phone passes, and I'm still not the slightest bit sleepy. It makes no sense, because I can tell I'm exhausted from what happened today.
In an attempt to bore myself, I pull out some homework and start to work on them. After many hours, I manage to finish a math worksheet, a physics lab write-up, an anatomy presentation, and the English project not due until the day before fall break. Despite this, I still can't sleep, and I've run out of things to do.
Still no calls or texts.
It's already four in the morning, and I haven't slept a wink. I don't even know why I'm waiting for a call or text at this hour. Wendy's probably sleeping. She's always sleeping or eating.
My phone rings and I rush to pick it up. For some reason, its Mr. Lee, not Wendy.
"Hello?" I answer.
"Oh, Vincent. Sorry to you wake you up," Mr. Lee replies.
"It's fine. I was awake anyways."
"Hope you don't mind, but can you come over real quick?"
"What's wrong?" I ask, nervous something had happened to Wendy.
"I don't know actually. Wendy came home and has been crying all night non-stop. She won't even eat, and this is Wendy we're talking about."
"Really?"
"I tried to ask her what happened, but she won't say. At this rate, she'll pass out an she might even kill her turtles by stressing them out. I'm pretty sure you're the only person who can calm her down at this point."
"To be honest, I'm the reason she's like that."
"What?"
"We had a fight..."
There's a long pause on the other end of the line.
"I don't want to butt in, but please try to talk it out with her," Mr. Lee finally speaks again.
"I'll be over in a bit."
Quickly changing into a plain t-shirt and some gym shorts, I head first to the 24-hour diner. After ordering to-go, I finally drive to Wendy's house.
It seems like Mr. Lee had been anxiously waiting for me to arrive, because the front door swings open once my car reaches the driveway.
"She's in the room," Mr. Lee says to be as I come inside.
I nod and make my way upstairs, slowly creaking the door open.
"I don't want food, Dad," Wendy sniffles, head buried into her pillow.
"It's Vincent," I notify.
"Vincent?" she asks, voice muffled by the pillow.
"Yeah..."
"What are you doing here?"
"Your dad called me."
"He's overacting. I'm just doing breathing exercises."
"With a pillow?"
"Works like a brown bag."
I set the plastic down on Wendy's desk and take a seat on the edge of her bed.
"Wendy, look at me," I plead, trying to pull the pillow down. Wendy refuses, gripping onto it tight.
"No."
"Are you mad at me?"
"It's not that I'm mad..."
"Then what is it?"
Wendy's silent for a while.
"I have snot I don't want you to see..."
"I don't care-"
"I do... It's embarrassing," she sniffles.
I walk over to Wendy's desk and grab her a box of tissues, returning to the bed and placing it into her hand. She takes a few and hides behind her pillow, blowing her nose multiple times.
"Ready to come out yet?"
"I don't know..."
Slowly, I inch the pillow away until it rolls off Wendy's lap, revealing her face. Her eyes were so swollen from crying, it was as if balloon were inflated under her eyes. Residual tears sit on the edge of her lashes, a couple falling and running down her cheeks, which were sticky and had strands of hair clinging to them.
I could feel a hammer slam into my chest, seeing Wendy in this state.
"Does it hurt?" she suddenly asks.
"Does what hurt?"
Wendy extends her hand out and places it on my cheek. Her thumb lingers around the corners of my lips. She leans forwards, biting her lip and staring intensely at my face.
"Your lip. It got cut..." she sniffles again. "Did you put ointment on it yet?"
"Its minor."
"Still-" Wendy's voice starts to break again, "You should've treated it."
"Wendy-"
Wendy brings her lips up and softly places them on my cut, instantly numbing the pain. Pulling away, her wet eyes blink at mine.
"It would be a shame if they hurt every time you kiss me."
Clutching onto Wendy's back, I pull her forward, linking her lips onto mine. Using my hand, I press the back of her head so that our kiss deepens, crashing like waves on the shore. Reluctantly, we release to catch our breath.
"See? They still work fine," I whisper, our foreheads pressed together.
"You jerk!"
"What?" I ask, taken back by the sudden anger.
"You made me think we broke up!" Wendy hurls her tear-stained pillow at my head, and I duck to avoid it.
"I'm sorry," I apologize, pulling Wendy into a tight hug before she can try to attack me again. Unexpectedly, she breaks into a flurry of sobs, drenching my shoulder with salty tears.
"I got you food."
"Food?" Wendy perks up, instantly halting her weeping.
I get up to retrieve the plastic bag.
"Yep. A breakfast burrito."
"With broccoli and tortilla chips?"
"Of course."
Wendy happily digs into her burrito, while I scrape the hair crusted onto her cheek away, so that she won't eat them.
"Where's Wilbur and Charlotte? Aren't they for emotional support?"
"Wren came a bit ago and took them to her room. Something about me stressing them to death and endangering their well-being."
"Why did you have to cry so much?" I sigh.
"Don't make throw this burrito at you," Wendy warns. She must've been really hungry, because the burrito is nearly gone already.
"Finish up and sleep," I instruct, getting up to leave. However, Wendy latches onto my arm.
"I can't" she pouts.
"What do you mean you can't? I've seen you fall asleep just about anywhere."
"I told you. I can't sleep... thinking you're still mad."
"I'm not," I smile, trying to reassure Wendy.
"Still, I want to make sure." Wendy blushes and my knees buckle from her doey eyes.
"Fine," I give in. "I'll stay until you fall asleep."
I pick up the thrown pillow, flick off the light, and remove the empty styrofoam box from her bed. Wendy scoothes over to make room for me, and I crawl under the blanket with her. She rests her head on my arm, staring at me blankly. Slowly, she runs her fingers through my hair, stopping abruptly and pulling away.
"Vincent..."
"Hmm?"
"You have dandruff..."
"That's glitter."
"You expect me to believe that?"
"I'm serious! Veronica did my hair earlier and dumped a whole bottle on my head," I defend myself.
"That makes sense."
Wendy shifts her head onto my chest, and I can hear the sound of her deep inhaling.
"Are you smelling me?"
"No... I just- just like the detergent your mom uses," she stammers.
"Its the same one that you use."
"How would you know that? Are you smelling me?" Wendy counters.
"Yes."
"What? You- you- you shouldn't be that direct!" Wendy scolds, too flustered to deliver it with any weight.
"I love you."
"What?" Wendy asks, even more flustered.
"I love you."
"Why- why- why are you saying this all of a sudden?"
"Because a very smart second-grader told me I should say how I feel. And that's how I feel."
"I think sleep deprivation's getting to you, Vincent. You should sleep too."
"Fine. Goodnight."
I close my eyes and try to fall asleep. A few moments later, Wendy shifts again, laying her arm over my torso.
"Are you asleep, Vincent?" she whispers.
I keep my eyes shut and don't respond. This technique was successful last fall break, when I was able to catch Wendy trying to count my abs while I 'slept'.
"Good. Because I don't think I'm brave enough to say this if you're awake..."
My heart almost leaps out of my chest as Wendy's breath brushes my neck, crawling up to my ear. I can feel the slight touch of her lips against my earlobe.
"I love you too."
*****
Sorry the last chapter was so sad, but I hope I made up for it with this one :) Sorry for playing with your feelings like that. I'm not promising I won't do it again though [cue the evil cackling].