Forever Yours

4: Alina

Rule number 2: It's imperative to know when your best friend is about to have some kind of mental break and then do everything necessary to stop it.

We don't meet up with Kenji and Lola at Stevie's (much to Lola's dismay because now she actually has to eat alone with him when I know for a fact they've been on dates before).

Instead, I drive Isaacs car away from the school and out of the city. He doesn't need to be here right now. He needs to be away from everything that happened.

To other people what happened may not seem like a big deal. He lied to his parents? So what? Teenagers lie to their parents all the time and it wasn't like he was lying about sneaking out...he lied about not getting into an academic program.

But Isaac's family is just different and Isaac is different. He doesn't like confrontation or arguments and he especially hates disappointing people. Especially his father and his grandfather. 

This is a big deal for him. Him wanting to go to UPenn has been the topic of some arguments since our freshman year of high school so he doesn't bring it up. Now it's our senior year and...here we are.

Despite it all, his family is really close. They all went to the same college; Stanford University. Isaac's dads parents died when he was eighteen so he had to take care of his younger sister which means he didn't go to college. But when Isaac got older he did online school at Stanford and got his degree and then continued there for his masters. 

Needless to say this is a big deal, and my best friend doesn't do well with any of what is happening. All of this is enough for him to have some kind of break. 

I am on the mission to prevent that.

Even if that means ignoring texts from Chad all day. Weirdly I don't even feel too bad about it. That date was nice but...I don't know.

Anywho Isaac needs my full attention and it'd be even weirder for me not to give it to him. He's had my full attention since we were infants.

Thirty minutes of driving later, I pull into the parking lot of Steinhart Lake. It's a popular late night hangout for mostly seniors with cars who can make the drive. With it being Saturday afternoon no one is really here.

Without a word yet we both get out of the car and walk out onto the dock. I take off my shoes, my feet dangling over the water. Toes painted a soft yellow. Isaac leaves his shoes on but he sits down next to me as we look out over the lake.

"The lake is so blue today" I muse knocking our shoulders together.

Isaac chuckles for the first time in about two hours. "Very blue" he nods. 

I release a deep breath. "So the date was pretty good. We just went to the diner after the game yesterday"

Isaac is quiet for a while, his body no less stiff than it was when we sat down. 

"Do you think you'll go out with him again?" he finally asks.

"I guess" I shrug. "If I'm being honest, it was kind of weird being out with someone who wasn't you. I'm just so used to you being right next to me. I kept glancing over on instinct"

Isaac looks at me and I shift to meet his eyes. They're a lighter brown whereas mine are darker, more of a poop color than anything.

After a few lingering seconds he shifts his gaze back to the lake. "You should go out with him again" he says. "If you enjoyed it. It's good that you're getting out there"

Why does hearing that kind of sting? Like for some reason I thought he might say not to go out with him again. I don't know why I thought he would say that.