Moving on

34. Domino or Dominic Effect?

"It's been months. It's fair for her to move on." Darrin argues. They've been at it with this argument for who knows how long now and it was getting annoying.

"She's probably still sad about half-pipe dude. You can't expect her to just flush her feelings away because it's been months. Let her go at her own pace!" Melanie argues. I flinch at the familiar nickname I gave to my ex-boyfriend, hoping it went unnoticed, but of course, Darrin was alive and paid attention to almost everything. I was okay, but I still had feelings. For the most part, hearing about Jayce didn't bother me, but the little things still made me miss him. Like his nickname.

"We refer to him as the ex, and nothing else. No half-pipe dude, no skater guy, no Rocket boy." Darrin says firmly, shooting Melanie a glare.

"Sorry." She tells me.

"It's not your fault." I say, looking at Kenny who's been silent.

"Mel and I broke up again." He says all of a sudden, not facing anyone. Melanie gasps in horror and Darrin and I open our mouths in shock. WHAT?!

"I can't keep lying. They deserve to know, they're our best friends." He says, glaring at her.

"Why, when, how...W-what?" I ask, emotionally drained all of a sudden. I have no idea why their breakup made me feel bad. This is the what-fifth time? I shouldn't be this surprised.

"It was after the dance. We didn't want to tell you because we figured you were annoyed at keeping up with us." Melanie said, giving Kenny a pointed look.

"We'd never get annoyed of you guys. Right Skye?" he asks.

"Of course. I'm sorry you guys broke up." I say, frowning. I curled up into my knees, too upset to face anyone at this point. The halfpipe wasn't even making me happy right now.

"It's not your fault. We just don't click like couples should so we decided we're better off alone." Melanie says.

"Yeah, she and I just don't want it anymore so at least it's mutual, you know?" Kenny adds and wow is this déjà vu or what?

"We understand." Darrin says, rubbing my shoulder in an attempt to soothe me.

"Yeah." I mumble, still not looking up.

"I'm going to go because this feels awkward right now." Kenny says finally, and I here footsteps crunching away.

"Me too. Stay strong Skye, and don't let Darrin force you into a relationship with someone. Take your time." She says, giving my shoulder a quick pat before I hear her footsteps leaving too.

Honestly, I didn't mind Darrin giving me a push to move on.

"Get your face out here." Darrin demands, sighing and tapping my head.

"Why?" I mumble, complying anyways. It was kind of breezy, for a summer.

"You need fresh air. Breathe this." He says, swatting wind at me with a grin.

"You need a girlfriend." I tell him, rolling my eyes but smiling.

"Just as you need a boyfriend. Hey, maybe we should date." He jokes. I shake my head, not even finding it in myself to smile at the familiar joke. It was too weird to think about now. "Well if that doesn't make you laugh, I don't know what will." He says seriously.

"Ow!" I cry out, turning around to see a basketball. Damn thing hit me right in the head, hard! The blood rushed to that one spot and I groaned, rubbing it.

"You okay?" Darrin asks, checking to see who threw it. A guy around our age by the looks of it, comes over and grabs the basketball. He has a skateboard on him...don't think about Jayce, don't think about Jayce, I repeat, DO NOT THINK ABOUT JAYCE!