Ain't No Mountain High Enough

"You Give Love A Bad Name"

It's safe to say that my jaw hit the floor. I had never seen this guy, let alone heard of him. And now he was standing in the living room in front of me, and Valerie was calling him "boyfriend".

"Ohhh," Veronica said, sending the world's most awkward look in my direction. She knew that I had a history with Valerie, and knew that I still had feelings for her. "How nice to meet you! I'm Veronica," she said. I couldn't stand the plastic smile on her face when she held out her hand.

"Stephen," Valerie's boyfriend replied, shaking her hand. He turned to me. "And you must be Randall. Valerie's told me a lot about you."

Dazed, I shook his hand. "I wish I could say the same about you," I stammered.

Valerie picked up on the awkwardness of the situation pretty quickly. She giggled a little too forcefully. "Ah, Stephen, why don't I introduce you to Keto," she said. She took hold of his arm and pulled him into the kitchen.

"Well, he's kinda hot, I guess," Veronica said. She rubbed the back of her head.

"Why didn't anyone tell me she had a boyfriend?!" I whispered a little more harshly than I meant.

Veronica gave me a sheepish look. "I didn't even know, honestly." She shut the front door, then gave me a look. "Just...don't make things too awkward, 'kay?"

"ME?!" I cried. "How would--"

"Hush!" Veronica huffed a sigh, then scurried into the kitchen.

Well this was just great! I sat back in my wheelchair trying to process what the heck was going on. Why would Valerie keep the fact that she was dating from her circle of friends?

A knock on the door startled me. "I'll get it!" I called. I started wheeling myself towards the door, but Keto beat me there.

"Don't worry man, I'll get it," he said as he pulled the door open. Arjun was standing there with his usual blank expression on his face.

"Hey guys," he said as he stepped inside. He nodded at me. "How you feeling, Rand?"

I wheeled myself backwards to where I had been sitting before he knocked. "Never better," I lied. It was clear I was lying, too, but Arjun didn't comment on it. In turn, I held back the complaint I wanted to give Keto so badly about always running to do things for me at the drop of a hat.

Besides, there were much more pressing matters at hand. "Arjun, did you know Valerie had a boyfriend?"

There was a funny look on his face, then he said, "Yep."

"What?!" Keto cried.

"Hey!" Veronica's whiny tone pulled us out of the conversation. She was standing there with Valerie with a pout on her face. "Why didn't you tell us he was here? We're supposed to jump out and say 'surprise!', duh!"

"Did you not literally hear me say I was going to get the door?" Keto retorted. "Ugh, well he's here now. Surprise!"

Veronica got over the situation pretty quickly. "Surprise!" she squealed as she ran up to pull Arjun into a tight hug.

In unison, Valerie and I gave a half-hearted "surprise". It made me wonder why she bothered having a boyfriend if she was going to feel awkward about it, too. I touched my bottom lip and looked away from her. I could still feel what my first kiss with her felt like back in high school...back when I thought she would date me.

"Thanks guys," Arjun, who definitely wasn't surprised in the least, said. He glanced around at the balloons and steamers. "I figured you guys would do something like this."

Small talk commenced, and my mind wandered. I sat in the corner of the room and observed Stephen come out of the kitchen and introduce himself to Arjun. Arjun might have known Valerie was dating, but he had clearly never met him before. Since when were Arjun and Valerie so tight?

"Randall," Valerie's voice startled me. She perched on the arm of the sofa in front of me and lowered her voice. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you...I just...didn't know how."

"How long has this been going on?"

She shrugged. "Just a couple weeks. I met him while you were in the hospital, actually."

We were both distracted by Veronica raising her voice.

"Tell us about yourself!" she said in a nearly commanding voice. The demand had been directed at Stephen, who was already cracking open a can of cheap beer we had in the kitchen.

He shrugged. "Not much to tell, really," he said before taking a chug from the can.

Valerie shook her head with an amused smile. "Not much to tell? Ugh, Stephen." She laughed. "He's being modest. He runs marathons for charity, actually."

"Really?" Arjun said. He had that fake curiosity written all over his face.

"Yeah," Stephen said. "I travel a lot for those, and I train a lot for them, so I don't get to see Val as much as I'd like. Especially between that, school, and her ballet."

My heart started to ache when I saw a light blush rise to her cheeks.

"Yeah...," Arjun said with complete disinterest. Really, Arjun was a nice guy, he was just...I don't know, cold? Somehow it made him a cool guy to hang out with. He didn't mess around. And he certainly didn't stand for small talk. "Randall, can I talk to you for a minute?" He gestured towards the kitchen.

I paused. Everyone was looking at me, and I felt like I would spontaneously combust under their stares. "Sure?" Keto started to walk over to take hold of the handles on my wheelchair, but I held up my hand. "Please, I can do it myself, haven't you noticed?" Ugh, I hated how harsh I sounded. My tone made Keto back away like a wounded puppy.

I tried to ignore the half chiding, half apologetic look Valerie gave me as I headed into the kitchen with Arjun.

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Check out Bon Jovi's "You Give Love A Bad Name"!

Peace ✌ ~ A.J.