Leaves Change

Chapter Fourteen: In This Moment

Vincent sat on the swings until the sun went down.  Gel's words kept ringing in his ears, "If she loved you, she wouldn't make you choose.  I never did."  What did she mean, "I never did."?  Gel's words made Vincent second guess his decision, but he thought better of it.  Of course Penelope loved him, she only asked him to choose because he never really showed her that he loved her.  Penelope was right – he never really treated her as a girlfriend.  No matter what Gel said, even if it haunts him in his dreams, he knew that he made the right decision.

Vincent looked to the sky as its beautiful shade of blue transformed into an orange hue.  He breathed in the cold winter air, and blinked away the frost that was filling his eyes.  Vincent got to his feet and began walking to where he knew his heart truly belonged.

Vincent finally came across a familiar door, and for a moment he hesitated to knock.  He began to think to himself, "Did I make the right choice?  What am I saying, of course I did.  I love Penelope, and Gel...  Someday she'll understand.  Besides...  She has Benji."

Without waiting another second, he knocked on the door.  When it opened, his heart quickly jumped out of his chest.

            "Hello Vincent."

            "Hi Penelope, I wanted to tell you that I've made my decision."

            "You have?"

            "Yes, and I was wondering...  Would you like to get a cup of hot chocolate with me?"

            "Really?!"

            "Really."

Penelope jumped into Vincent's arms, and he spun her around in circles.  This moment he knew that he made the right choice.

Three days passed since Vincent made his decision, and he never regretted it for one second.

Even though his high school was on winter vacation, the baseball team still needed to practice.  As Vincent was practicing with Benji, he felt a slight amount of tension between the two of them.

            "So Benji...  I'm guessing Gel told you."

            "Yup."

            "How is she?"

            "As good as she can be...  What about you?"

            "I don't know...  I'm happy, but still...  I'm sad about what happened."

            "Well, take out your happiness, turn it into sadness, and multiply that by the amount of baseball games you've won in your lifetime.  Maybe you'll feel less than a quarter of what Gel is feeling right now."

            "That bad huh?"

            "What do expect?  You two were best friends.  Inseparable from what I remember..."

            "I know...  But at least she has you."

            "I guess."

            "So...  Will this cause problems between us?"

            "Well...  On one hand, we're teammates.  So I have to put up with you no matter what.  But on the other hand, I had Gel to consider...  But to answer your question, no...  I asked her if she wanted me to close off my friendship with you.  But you know Gel, of course she said no.  She didn't want me to choose between the two of you, it didn't seem fair to her."

            "Oh...  I see.  I'm really sorry man, I didn't want to hurt anyone."

            "Well, I can't tell you if you made the right choice or not...  But I really hope that you did."