For the Rest of Our Lives

Sally has cycled through two boyfriends and a girlfriend at this point in the year. I haven't had a boyfriend or girlfriend since Liam. I still haven't even told Sally that I'm gay, yet. I keep having trouble finding the right moment to tell her.

It's a Friday night. We stayed at the school for a few hours after it let out, so we could meet up with Sally's new love interest. My chest tightens. It's now a few minutes past when the new guy- Thomas- said he'd be here. I can hear my heart pounding in my ears. I want to tell Sally to forget all the others, to stop trying to find love in broken people who only end up hurting her. I want to tell her that she can just be with me; I'll keep her safe, warm- loved.

I bite my lip as Sally glances down at her phone again, for the 15th time in the past 25 minutes. She still hasn't received a text from this guy. My heart starts to beat a little harder. And then there's a little bit of movement I catch in the corner of my eye; a head of red hair bobbing up and down. My heart stops. Here's the guy my best friend is currently into. I hide my hands behind my back and clench them into fists.

"Tom!" Sally calls. She's lifted her head and gaze up from her phone screen, and caught sight of him. Now she's running toward him and my hands fall limply back to my sides. She throws her arms around him and he returns her embrace.

There's a glint in his green eyes as he looks at me over her shoulder. I do not like this look. My face hardens to stone, and Thomas gives me the faintest of grins. I dig my fingernails into my palms. Why is there always something off about Sally's love interests?

"You're here!" They pull apart from the hug. Thomas refocuses his attention on her. He looks softer now; innocent, as if he hadn't been sending me the dirtiest of looks.

"Yeah, girl," he says. I cringe at the way he talks to her. "You ready to head to that party we talked about? You can come too, Luna. You seem keen on being Sal's baby sitter." Thomas looks up at me then; the glint in his eyes is back, but Sally doesn't notice.

I bite the inside of my cheek. Don't say anything mean back to him, I tell myself. I close my eyes and slowly take in a breath, before letting it back out and opening my eyes again. Sally has turned to me and is smiling at me.

"Come with us," she says. I stare back at her and know that now I can't say no. For one: she's asked me to go with her. For two: I can tell Thomas has something bad planned.

"I'm gonna go back over to Ace and Roman now," Thomas says. He gives Sally a quick squeeze. "Meet us at the car, but don't take too long."

He wanders back off, and Sally steps back over to me. There's a hugely apologetic look in her gaze. I almost get lost in it; my need to pull her close and let her know that she doesn't need to apologize for anything growing strong.

"Hey," she whispers to me. "I know that was kind of harsh for him to say. I've never once thought badly of you like that though. Okay?" She holds her pinky out to me.

"Okay," I smile. I wrap my pinky around hers.

"Come with me, please?" she says. She doesn't let go of my pinky.

"Okay," I nod my head. Sally grins ear to ear, and we walk off the direction Thomas went, our pinkies still linked together.

Here's to our first party in high school.