I stood shakily, waiting for someone to open the door. It was getting hard to stand. Ike came to the sliding glass door, looking utterly surprised to see me.
“Ike!” I said, hugging him.
“You look so different!” he hugged me back, lifting me off the ground. The pressure of his arms on my spine sent killer pain up and down my body. “Your hair looks awesome!”
“Thanks,” I smiled, tears from pain in my eyes.
“How are you?” Ike seemed sort of reluctant to let me in.
“I guess I’m good, how are you?”
“Fine,” he smiled. He looked behind him in the house and then said, “Umm… do you want to come in?”
“Sure.”
I followed Ike, holding onto the counter as I walked. I was so happy to be in their house again, but I was also nervous. Where was Tay? What did his mother think of me?
“I… um, is Zac here?” I asked, feeling really weird.
“Yea, he’s upstairs. You can go up there if you want.”
“Okay. I’ll be back down in a little bit,” I smiled. I hadn’t tried to go up stairs yet. My palms were sweating as I gripped the railing and made my way up. By the time I was at Zac’s door, there were tears running down my cheeks and there were beads of sweat on my forehead. My body hurt all over. I knocked meekly on the door. When Zac opened it, I fell on him, but he caught me.
“Are you all right?”
I shook my head, sitting on his bed, breathing deeply. I was okay to talk after a minute.
“Robinson, do you want me to-”
“Remember that time I fainted?” I asked.
“Yea.”
“It happened again a little while ago. I couldn’t walk for a long time…” my voice trailed off as I tried to sit up.
“Lay down, lay down,” he said, pressing my shoulders to the mattress.
“I came up here,” I paused as my spine like, tightened and I couldn’t breathe for a second, “I came up here because I need to talk to you about before.”
“I didn’t tell anyone.”
“I didn’t mean for anyone to find out.”
“Robinson, I have to tell you something,” he sat next to me on the bed.
“Wait, let me explain.”
“I think-”
“Listen, Zac… Have you ever heard the song ‘Love the One You’re With’?”
“I guess so…”
The pain was subsiding, and I sat up next to him, “It goes ‘If you can’t be with the one you love, honey, love the one you’re with,’” I sang.
“Uh huh.”
“Zac, I don’t want to hurt Talor’s feelings. It’s different with Dave… You’ve met him. He’s not at all like your brother…”
“Robinson,” he put his hand on my knee, “I really need to tell you something.”
“I didn’t even really mean to go out with Dave… he’s my friend, you know? But I just couldn’t be alone… We needed each other, you know?”
“Taylor has a girlfriend,” he interrupted me.
I was paralyzed.
