pierce the veil

tony

        After my talk with Jaime, I went over to a couch as far away from Vic and Mike as it can get. I hoped that no one would notice, but then Tony came over and sat next to me. He looks at me with a look of confusion on his face and says, "Why are you avoiding everyone? Someone needs to fill me in with the latest gossip."

        "Have you heard anything?" I ask. He shakes his head and I laugh. "Fine, get comfortable, then."

        I lie down over the whole couch so he moves my feet over a little so he can lie back. "Don't forget to keep the juicy details."

        I told him how Vic and I just clicked once we met each other, and how he let me hug him. I even mentioned the argument with the security guard, and he said he knew and was proud of me. I told him about the letter, told him about the idolization and love I had always felt for Vic, and still feel. And as soon as I said, "But then Mike–"

        He cut me off with, "I fucking knew it! Damn you, Mike."

        I laughed and continued with the eye locking and the eye rolling and then the makeout session with Vic. I told him about Jaime's idea about telling Vic we should see other people while seeing each other, and he cut me off right there. "Not going to work."

        "Why not?" I ask angrily.

        "Because he's Vic," he says. "And when Vic–"

        "'likes someone, he's already falling in love with them,'" I fill in the blank mockingly. "I've fucking heard it a billion times from other people, but I'd like to hear it from him."

        He laughs and then notices my seriousness and stops. "What? Are you going to go up to him and say, 'when you like someone, are you already falling in love with them?' Sounds great to me. Just do it somewhere where I can watch, just so I can... See how it goes. As I will be very much entertained."

        "Fuck you, that's not what I mean and you know it," I say. "I can find out by asking him what he thinks of the idea to see other people while we see each other. He'll either freak out, which means you and everyone who fucking said it is right, or he'll be cool with it and I'll be right."

        "Dude," he says, smirking at me like I'm funny. "You don't know Vic more than we do. Not even close. In fact, you barely know him at all. Just because he likes you and you made out with him doesn't mean that you know everything about him and you have the right to fall in love with him. Because you don't."

        "Seriously?" I ask, as if everything he's saying is a joke. Because it sure sounds like it. "He has the right to but I don't? Not that I want to, but he shouldn't!"

        "Vic does this," he says, trying so hard to put the idea into my mind. "It doesn't matter whether he has the right to or not, he'll do it without even noticing. It's like when you accidentally walking out of the store with something you didn't pay for... Committing a crime without even noticing. And when you do notice, you're like, 'oh fuck.' So unless you have the same habit as Vic, you're forbided from falling in love with him any time soon. Why would you even want to when you're thinking about Mike?"

        "I don't want to," I retort. "It was just a question. And wow, I'm sorry for this. I probably sound like some fucking annoying straight white girl who can't decide between two boys I love who love me back because oh God that is my situation, this is pathetic, I–"

        "Maddi!" I ear my best friend yelling from across the room. She runs over to me. "I have been looking for you! I've been hearing the latest gossip."

        "From wh–" it was a dumb question once I realize, "Jaime."

        "Yeah!" she stopped for a second, confused. "How'd you know it was Jaime?"

        "Because he has a cute crush on you," I say, hoping that I'm allowed to tell her that. Well, it's too late now. "He asked me if you were single."

        "Aw, aw, aw! What did you tell him?" she asks, struck by love for a second. Then she realizes. "Oh, duh, you told him I'm taken. Because I am. Anyway, you're going to go out with Vic and Mike at the same time? Damn girl, you're braver and cooler than I thought. Maybe not classier than I thought, like at all, but it's okay because–"

        I cut her off before she could say anymore, "Tessa, I don't even know if Mike likes me. I could just be another girl he wants in his bed, for all I–"

        "You're not." Tony and Tessa strictly say at the same time. They look at each other and smile, then focus their attention back on me. Tessa rolls her eyes and says, "Don't act all innocent and clueless on me, because I'm not buying that shit."

        "I'm not acting innocent or clueless–"

        "Then admit that you're a love interest of Vic Fuentes and Mike Fuentes, without hesitation." Tony says.

        I realize I can't do it. Hesitating is a thing I do a lot, because I always have to think about if what I'm about to say is the dumbest fucking thing. "Vic and Mike like me." is the best I can do.

        "Fucking wrong," Tony yells, and luckily no one else notices except for me and Tessa. "You're a love interest of them."

        I close my eyes for a few seconds and take a deep breath and my eyes are back open. "I am a love interest of Vic Fuentes and Mike Fuentes."