Skinny Love

Chapter Five

Chapter Five

          Missing somebody that’s gone isn’t about how long it’s been since you’ve seen them. It’s about what you’re doing and how you wish they were right by your side. I wish Luke was here, with us, going to Dad’s. He loved going to Dad’s for the weekend. I didn’t mind it, but he outright loved it. And he wasn’t with us. It felt weird.

Decklan and I went home and grabbed my stuff.

“I gotta go home and drop off my stuff, and then get my other stuff and I haven’t seen my mom since like Wednesday,” he said, “Do you mind coming in? I’ll hurry, but…”

          “It’s fine,” I smiled, reassuringly.

          He pulled into his driveway and I smiled. I hadn’t been here in a while, not since Annabel got her license. Once she could drive, I no longer had to depend on Decklan or Luke to take me anywhere, therefore cutting out the stop here.

          Decklan’s mom used to babysit us, that’s how Luke and Decklan became best friends. Decklan’s mom was a warm, kind woman with a knack for baking. She was everything you thought of when you thought of a perfect mom. She went to all of her son’s games, baked a lot, and was like a second mom to all of his friends.

          I smiled, walking into the old familiar house. Decklan let us in, and his mother smiled.

          “Violet!” She smiled when she saw me, enveloping me in a hug.

          “Nice to see you, too, Mom,” Decklan said, shoving a whole cookie in his mouth.

          “Of course,” she laughed.

          “I’m spending the weekend with Vi, at her dad’s is that okay?” he asked.

          “Yeah, it’s fine,” she smiled at me.

          “I’m gonna go talk to dad,” he said, walking into his living room.

          “I’m just glad you two stuck together. Without you, who knows what would’ve happened to my boy. He’d probably be drunk off his ass, smoking weed to feel numb,” she smiled at me.

          “I’m glad we did too. It made things easier,” I admitted.

          “C’mon, babe, help me pack my stuff,” Decklan said, and grabbed my hand, intertwining our fingers and leading me upstairs to his room.

          I don’t know what I expected his room to be like. It was clean, and smelled of him, of his intoxicating scent. I laid on his bed, and he grabbed a bag and started packing his clothes. He went into the bathroom out in the hall and came back with some of his bathroom stuff.

          I watched as he moved, his movements fluid and smooth.

          “What?” he half-smiled.

          “Nothing,” I shrugged.

          “I’m starving, do you mind if we stop at Taco Bell after this?” he asks.

          “No, that’s fine.”

          We finished packing, and drove to Taco Bell. He ordered me a strawberry-mango Fruitista Freeze and a cheese roll up after I refused to get anything. He even forced me to eat it. He wouldn’t even let me pay.

          I guess that’s just Decklan, though. He was a gentleman, but a jerk. He loved his parents, and was that all-American kid. The quarterback, and the high school’s hottest boy, even I had to admit.

          We arrived at my dad’s house at midnight. He let us in, but seemed awkwardly surprised to see Decklan with me.

          “You guys are friends now?” he asked.

          “Yeah, it’s kind of a long story, but he’s staying for the weekend, too,” I smiled.

          “Okay, but no sex and Decklan had to stay above the covers,” he said, “Or you’ll have to sleep in separate rooms.”

          “We’re not…together, like that,” I mumbled awkwardly.

          “Oh, well, same rules,” he said.

          Decklan and I walked up to my room, and he carried my stuff, setting it down on the floor.

          “I’m sorry…about that,” I mumbled.

          “It’s fine, he gave me the sex-talk about you my sophomore year. I think that he thinks we’re secretly together,” Decklan shrugged.

          “Oh my god, really? He did that?”

          “Yeah,” Decklan said.

          “Why didn’t you say anything?”

          “Cause I knew it’d make things awkward, and it wasn’t really that big of a deal. Don’t worry about it,” he said, and kissed my forehead.

          I walked into my bathroom and took a shower, feeling icky from the game. I changed into some short shorts and a t-shirt. I walked out, and got into my bed. Decklan lay on top of the comforter, watching TV. He got up and stripped down to his boxer briefs. He slid in the covers beside me, and pulled me against him.

          He kissed my forehead, and I lay awake in his arms. He was really great. Any girl at our school would kill to be in my place right now. I shook the thoughts from my mind. Annabel’s words must be making me think differently about my new best friend.

          “Will you go to homecoming with me?” Decklan’s deep voice asked. I was silent. He wanted to go to homecoming with me. As a romantic date or as a friend date? Why me? Is he thinking about what my mom said this morning? Is that it? A million questions haunted my mind.

          “I know you’re awake, Vi. Please don’t ignore me. If you don’t want to, it’s fine, I just thought that-.”

          “I’d love to,” I said, cutting him off.

          I don’t know what made me do it. Maybe it was the insecure tone in his voice, or maybe it was just the fact that I wanted to go with him too, or possibly because I didn’t want to let my mother down.