Before I fall

“She said she’s been feeling ignored lately, which I don’t understand. I’ve given her all the attention she could ask for. I don’t know what else to do.”

Dump her, I thought. But instead I said, “Maybe you guys should just talk again, you know, do that couple compromising stuff.”

Shane smiled and slung his arm around my shoulder, “You’re awesome; you know that right?”

“Yeah, you tell me that every time I solve one of your problems.”

“Nah, you’re awesome all the time. And you’re a great friend.”

“Now that I don’t need you to tell me,”

He ruffled the top of my hair, “So why’d you call me?”

“I just wanted to plan a get together for Gabby’s birthday, her mom won’t be home so…”

He smiled, “Wouldn’t miss that for the world, I’ll see if Scarlett would like to come along.”

My smile disappeared, “Yeah, after you make up with her,”

“After I…” He shot up from his chair and pulled out his wallet, “What time do you want to do this get together thing?” He asked quickly.

“I don’t know,”

He threw a twenty on a table, “Well call me when you do.”

I slid out of the booth and put a dollar down for tip, taking my soda with me.

On my way down the street towards my house, I ran into Scarlett.

I sighed, it was cold today and I watched the fog escape my mouth.

“B!” She said totally taken by surprise, “Nice to see you, I didn’t catch you at all today at school,”

“Yeah,” I muttered.

“Hey, have you seen Shane? They said he was with you.”

I shrugged, “I think he went looking after you,”

She pursed her lips, “That boy,”

I scratched the back of my neck tugged my jacket closer to me.

“I heard you’ve got butterflies for the new kid,” She started again.

Even in the summer time, her long, black hair was still glossy and her green eyes still stood out.

“I, um, where’d you hear that?”

She smiled and shrugged one shoulder, “Gabby,”

“Of course,”

“You should hear the plan she’s got for getting you two together,”

“I don’t think she believes I can handle this myself,”

“I don’t think she does either,” She let her gloved hand pat my wrist; “I’ve got my money on the fact that you can do it yourself though. But I should get going, I really need to find-“

“Yeah,” I said, my stomach flipping uncomfortably in my body, “Go ahead, I’ll see you later,”

She waved before walking off, her hair bouncing with her.

Why was I so jealous?

♣♣♣♣♣
Nathan was the first to arrive at the pizza place that Shane and I met up at before.

I saw Gabby shift in her seat and her face flushed a little.

Was this a crush?

I smiled and elbowed her in the side.

She looked up and I gave her a knowing glance.

Nathan sat down and yanked his hat off, letting his red hair fall onto his face.

“Hey Brooke, hey Gabriella.”

“Why do you guys insist on calling me that,” She complained, “Only my mom and teachers call me Gabriella. For you, it’s Gabby. Got it?”

He held his hands up in surrender, “Got it.”

“Gabster!”

We all know who that is, “What about that,” Nathan asked, “Can I call you Gabster?”

“You can call me whatever you’d like, besides Gabriella,”

Shane sat down, taking off his scarf, and Scarlett followed behind him.

“Yay, we’ve got the whole crew here, we can start ordering,” Nathan said rubbing his hands together.

“Not quite,” Shane said looking back at the door, “I invited someone else,”

He locked eyes with me for a moment, and my heart was beating rapidly in my chest.

I quickly averted my gaze to something else; the door. And I gaped when Blake walked in, looking around.

“Who invited Blake?” I exclaimed in a whisper.

All eyes went to Shane who was grinning like an idiot.

I groaned, “Oh gosh.”

He spotted the table and walked over with a smile. He pulled out the seat beside me, “Hey,”

I smiled at him, “Hi.”

He looked up, “Thanks for inviting me, dude.”

“No problem,” Shane said giving him a manly handshake across the table.

“I suspect you know everyone at the table?”

His eyes scanned, “Yeah, um, Scarlett, Nathan, and Gabriella right?”

“Gabby,” Gabby corrected, “Just call me Gabby.”

“Alright, Gabby.”

“Okay,” Nathan said looking a bit irritated. “Can order now?”

Suspicious much?

“Go ahead and order, Fatty.” Gabby mumbled.

And she flushed slightly again.

♣♣♣♣♣

There was a lot of commotion going on at our table for a group so small.

Shane and Scarlett were engaged in a deep conversation while Nathan and Gabriella yelled at each other from across the table, arguing over who gets the last piece of pizza.

“Is this how things normally are?” Blake asked me; apparently he was studying everyone too.

I nodded, “Practically always.”

“And if I weren’t here,” He started, with a grin, “You’d be sitting her with yourself, enduring these maniacs?”

I shrugged, “Pretty much,”

“How about we slip out and go somewhere, I don’t even think they’ll notice.”

I looked at Gabby, “I don’t know…”

“Oh, come on…” He urged.

I didn’t like being pressured, but I didn’t want to stay here and listen to these two fools bicker back and forth, or watch the love fest going on across from me. So I slipped out of my seat cautiously and followed him out the door.

He grinned when we reached outside, pulling on his hat.

“It’s so cold out here,” I muttered, my teeth chattering just a bit.

“I’d hate to be born in the winter.”

“It’s not even winter, its still summer. School just started less than twenty four hours ago,”

“You’re right, on the news; they said something about how weird the weather would be today. Of course, me being me, I ignored them.”

“I bet you were thinking there’s not way it’ll be cold in August huh?”

“You bet; it won’t be cold for long though. Tomorrow and such will be hot.”

“I hate Florida,” I murmured.

“Eh, get used to it.”

“You’ve lived here for awhile?”

“No, just moved from Ft.Lauderdale last month.”

“You just had to come to this small town area didn’t you?”

“Actually my mom came down here to my grandma, she doesn’t have much time to live,”

“I’m sorry,” I said, “I-“

“No problem, I don’t know her that well anyway.”

“Still, I mean…” I trailed off. There was no way I was going to tell him about my sister. The only people who knew were Shane, Scarlett, Gabriella and Nathan. And that’s only because they knew her before her death.

“Hey, Palm Bay’s not really that bad anyway. It may be a small town, but who knows what we’ll discover one day,”

He looked ahead blankly before averting his gaze to me, he ran his finger through his short hair and said, “What’s your family like?”

“Um, my mom is a graphic designer and a painter. Basically she’s the one who I inherited my artistic side from. She works at home most the time but she does have an office outside of the household.”

“And your dad?”

“He’s a lawyer,”

“That’s it?”

I shrugged, “there’s nothing else to say,” I muttered bitterly, “He’s barely home. I mean he comes at night, but he’s always accompanying his clients. Or he always has some meeting, some new case.”

“Sorry to hear that,”

“What about you?” I asked.

“Oh, well my mom was a teacher back in Ft.Lauderdale. But now she’s a counselor. My dad on the other hand is an O.B.G.Y.N”

“Really, that’s so cool. My sister’s wanted to be one since she was a little-“I stopped myself, sometime it just slips. Simple things remind me of her.

“You have a sister? I wish I did, I’m an only child-“

“I don’t have a sister,” I interrupted.

“But you just said,”

“I lied.”

He looked confused for a moment, “Why would you lie about something like that?”

“Okay, okay.” I broke down, “she’s dead. My sister’s dead.”

“Oh, Brooke, I’m sorry-“

“Shut up, I don’t want your pity.”

He smile, just slightly, “What do you want to be when you get older.”

“A writer or an artist. Maybe I can do both.”

“Maybe,” He smiled, “I’d like to be a dentist, and I’m fascinated with teeth. Especially my own considering they’re the only one I’m allowed the practice on.”

“How come?”

“Come on, who’s going to trust a seventeen year old with dentist tools. I haven’t even studied it yet, I won’t know what I’m doing,”

“Hm,”

“I mean, I’ve looked up some things. I’m trying to learn as much as I can without being in school but…” He shrugs.

“Being a dentist sounds cool.”

“It does?”

I nodded, “Yeah, and it also explains why your smile is so awesome.”