From Teammates to Best Friends to Boyfriends?

Friday night.

Alright, I’m going to get right to the point. Garret’s been a little distant with me. Did you tell him what I thought what was wrong with him, Liam?

I wrote this down on the sheet of paper on my desk. I passed it to Liam who was beside me. We had biology together, along with our good friend, Grant.

I sat and worked on the worksheet but I was waiting for Liam’s reply.

Dillon has been basically ignoring ever since I invited Liam over. Did Liam tell him we were talking about him?

He passed the paper back to me and I read it.

No. Why do you ask?

He’s been ignoring since that night I asked you about him. I handed it back to him.

Liam tapped me on the shoulder and I turned to stare up at him.

“He’s been having problems with Hannah.” He informed me. I wasn’t sure if I should believe him or not, but I nod anyways.

“Oh, okay. . . Like what?” I asked. I should have the right to know that at least, right?

“. . . I accidently told him about me seeing her with Quin at the movies. . .” He said quietly.

“Oh. . .”

The conversation ended at that, but I had so many questions I wanted to ask. I just have this feeling Liam knows everything that’s going on. But I don’t want to ask him because I feel like he’ll lie to me or something. . .

This . . . thing with Dillon. I want to know so badly. I want to help him. I just hope it’s not the one thing that I don’t want to happen. I don’t want to find out in the end if Dillon has grown feelings for me. I don’t want to hurt him, turn him down. I don’t want to make our friendship complicated or awkward. But it’s just bothering me to the point that I don’t care what it is, I just want to know.

I don’t get it why he’s not telling me in the first place, especially when he’s telling Liam.

Dillon’s known me longer than Liam. Does he not trust me?

I groaned.

At the practice right before the game, I stole a couple glances at him. He had this constant frown. It looks like whatever was wrong with him, was getting worse every day, because he didn’t look this sad yesterday.

Should I just straight up ask him? I mean, is that what he’s wanting me to do? I don’t know. But I think I’m going to do it right after the game.

When the game started, I was on center field like usual. I got a couple balls my way. I got someone out of second base too. Dillon played third base half of the game. Ryan got two homeruns. And Eli hurt this finger really bad. We ended up losing. All in all, I felt like this game was different from the others. I felt like we as a team weren’t really in it together. We didn’t communicate like usual. It was just an off game for us as a team.

After the game, I went through with my plan and grabbed my stuff. I looked around Dillon but didn’t see him. Did he already leave? I walked into the parking lot and looked for him. I spotted him putting his stuff in the bed of the truck. I fast walked over to him and called out his name.

He froze in his spot by his door and looked my way. When I was in front of him, I sighed.

“Hey.” I said.

“Hey, Garret.” He said back, quietly.

I looked up at him to meet his eyes. “Can we talk?”

He looked at the ground for a few seconds. It took him a little time to actually think of answer. This was new.

“Sure. I was heading to get some food. Want to come?” He asked. I nodded and put my stuff in the back with his.

“So what’s up?” He asked.

I stared at him. He was looking at the road as he drove down the highway.

“Do you –“ No. I can’t just ask him straight up. I got to build up to that point, I thought. “How are you?” I asked.

He shrugged. “Fine.”

Everybody knows when someone says fine, they really aren’t.

“Really?”

He glanced at me. “Yeah.”

Screw beating around the bush. “What’s up with you? You’ve been ignoring me.”

His eyes widen. “Nothing’s ‘up with me’. . .” He said.

“Then why are you ignoring me?”

He glanced at me, seeming like he’s thinking and then looked back at the road.

“. . . I’m just having problems with Hannah.” He said.

“Wanna talk about it?” I asked. I just want him to be open to me about anything. If the problems with Hannah, then what exactly is it? But that still doesn’t explain the note, the starring, and the ignoring me part.

“We – we aren’t really talking anymore.” He hesitated.

“Oh, I’m sorry, man.”

After we stopped at Burger King and got our meals, I asked if I could hang out with him at his house. It took him a few seconds to answer but he said sure and we picked out a movie to watch with his little brother. Sammy, that’s what we call him.

Since we did have a little kid in the room, the movie had to be appropriate for him. So we went with Grown Ups. Sammy sat on Dillon’s left side, me being on his right. All throughout the movie, we would laugh, but Dillon’s laugh was different from mine and Sammy’s. His was quieter and shorter.

When the movie was over, Dillon asked me if I wanted to stay the night, or if he needed to take me home. I thought my mom probably wouldn’t mind, considering its Dillon and stayed.
I ended up in Dillon’s bed. I claimed my back was sore and I didn’t want to sleep on the ground. I think he was alright with it, but he looked like he was hesitating while getting under the cover.

But really, my back wasn’t sore. I really don’t know why I said it. I guess I just wanted to see what Dillon would say, or how he would react. I guess I just wanted to see if he would say ‘too bad’ or something and push me away. I don’t know.

Dillon got a text sometime that night from Liam. He wanted to know what he was doing. Dillon told him he was hanging out with me. And Liam asked him if Dillon and I wanted to go on a trip with him and his dad over spring break. I want to go, but I told him to tell Liam I’ll have to see with my mom if it’s okay when I got back home. I hope she says yes.