Just Jump

VI. XAVIER

Ring, ring, ring. Come on pick up

Ring, ring, ring. Damn it. I click my phone off and take a look around.

My car wouldn't start and when I popped the hood it was steaming. I decided that it only would get worse if I messed with it. When the truck from the garage came I told them I could get a ride but now Alex isn't answering and I don't have the new number for the diner. I decide to start walking, even if it's forty minutes away in the dry heat.

As I pass neighborhood after neighborhood, I notice someone sitting on their front porch. Normally I would've just kept walking but I was pretty sure it was Brittany and she was sitting absolutely still with her head in her hands, and to be honest it scared me.

I stand in the driveway for a minute trying to decide if I should walk up or not.

Fuck it. I walk up the driveway up to the porch steps as quietly and slowly as I can. Fuck, I'm walking like a creep. Trying to walk normally I finally make my way up to her.

"Hey. Are you okay?" I ask. Her body was already tense but somehow it tensed up even more.

"I'm- I'm fine," She says with her voice breaking. She pushes her hair back so I can see her face. Thank god, it is Brittney.

As her eyes meet mine recognition flickered through them. Her mouth pops open a little in shock.

"Don't worry, I won't say anything." She nods and rests her head in her hands again. I don't know if she expects me to leave but I take a seat next to her.

"Do you want to talk about it?" I ask hesitantly. She lets out a sigh and tilts her head to look at me. She bites her lip and hesitates before nodding her head. I let out a small breath I was holding and look forward.

We sit just like that for a minute.

"My friend an I got in a fight." My head snaps to her.

Like a physical one, I want to ask. She lets out a chuckle, apparently my expression said it all.

"An argument, I should say." I nod, understanding. "He got mad about something that happened in the past, but I told him that it's in the past. He didn't like that so he said something about trust. So I fired it right back at him, about something that he was trying to keep from me. I was so mad that I walked home from where I was with him. But then, when I got to the door, I realized I left my other bag in his car and it has the key to the house."

I don't know what to say. I'm not necessarily good in these situations but I'm still really hung up on the fact that her friend is a dude.

"Your friend," I say clearing my throat," Um- you kept saying him and he-"

"Alex," she cuts me off, "he's my friend."

"Oh." There was a long pause.

Fuck. I bite my lip. Should I tell her?

Fuck it.

"I don't actually hate him." I finally say. Her head snaps toward me. Her eyebrows are drawn together and making the smallest crease between them. It makes me smile a little

"You know how sophomore year we got into a fight and everyone thinks we hate each other," she nods her head, "yeah, well we don't. We're actually pretty good friends."

"Oh," she says with a nod.

We sit there in silence and I don't know if I should break it or just let it be. I look over at her studying her profile. Her hair falls over her face so she has to constantly push it back, her glasses sit low on her nose so every now and then she looks up and sniffles and they'll go up, she's been biting her lip for the last five minutes and I want to reach out and pull out from under her teeth.