Counting Stars • [Casey x Izzie]

Boyfriend

When I walked through the door I was greeted with the unusual sounds of a regular family conversation. My mom's laugh drifted into the living room which surprised me considering no one in my family has had anything remotely nice to say to her for a while.

I strolled into the dining room and was taken aback, when I saw that across from my mother at the table was Evan. Sam ate quietly next to my mom while dad drank his glass of juice at the head of the table.

My mom was the first to notice me, however, everything seemed to go quiet. As if my presence was an inconvenience to them.

"Hey, honey." My mom greeted. Evan head instinctively snapped up from his place on the table, though he didn't seem to want to look at me.

"Hi..." I dragged out.

"Hey, Case." Evan finally addressed.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

He gaped at me confusedly. "You never texted me back so I came to see you."

"Oh...Sorry, I was out with Izzie."

His eyes squinted at me. "Your mom said you were having dinner with the team."

I tilted my head at my mom who seemed to have found great interest on the table napkins.

I turned my attention back to Evan. "Well, Izzie is in the team."

The look on my boyfriend's face said that he was not impressed with what I was saying. However, before he could get another word out, my mom cut in.

"Case, why don't you have some dessert."

I stood for a bit, not knowing whether I should, but then I decided not to make a scene here. This was the first time that we've all been closest to a regular family dinner and it would be selfish of me to ruin that.

I took the seat next to Evan, and I swore I could feel the want of his body to move away.

I filled a bowl with the fruit salad my mom had made and quietly ate as Sam explained why white wasn't actually the colour of snow.

"Casey, how was school today?" My dad asked.

"It was longest day of my life." I said in between bites of pineapple. "I had this pop quiz that I forgot to study for even though I was up so late--"

"Why were you up late? It was a school night." My mom cut in.

"I uhm..." I froze. I couldn't tell the truth considering Evan and I were literally just fighting about me hanging out with Izzie. Why did it bother him so much anyways? I didn't know why he was so uptight about me hanging out with my best friend. "I just couldn't sleep." I answered vaguely. In my peripheral, I witnessed Evan shift slightly in his seat.

"Why were you talking to yourself?" Sam added on, causing everyone to look at him confusedly. "You were on the roof, talking to yourself. I heard you." Then suddenly all eyes moved to me. I could practically feel Evan breathing down my neck.

"Why were you up that late you weirdo." I said, desperately trying to change the subject.

"I was watching tortoises hatching in the Madagascar. It was being live streamed and Edison and I needed to watch it while it happened."

"You're so lame."

"It's not lame."

"Losing sleep over a turtle is lame."

"Tortoise!" He snapped. "Izzie would understand."

Shit, Sam. I could have facepalmed right there. If you had just called it a tortoise, Casey.

All of a sudden Evan was standing. "Thank you so much for the dinner, Mr and Mrs Gardner. But I have to be home by nine tonight." He excused. My mom eyed both him and I but she didn't push him to stay.

Not that she could even convince him, he practically bolted put of the house and was already in the driveway when I caught up to him.

"Evan, wait!" I called.

Thankfully he stopped. But it took him a second to gain the composure to turn around and face me.

"What, Casey?" He asked with acid in his tone.

"What's wrong with you?"

He laughed with no humour. "Are you serious? Don't you mean what's wrong with you?"

"Okay, I'm sorry I didn't text you about dinner but--"

"You think this is about a dinner?" He was hysterical now. "I haven't received a text back from you in days, I come here to see you and you're out with Izzie." He raged, his hands flying in anger. "And you don't seriously think that I didn't notice you were trying to avoid Sam's question or believe that you were 'talking to yourself'." He shook his head in disbelief.

"What's so wrong with hanging out with my best friend?" I countered, matching his annoyance. I tried to stay calm with him but when he talked about Izzie with such disgust, I had to draw the line. She's done nothing wrong to him and I wasn't going to stand for his attitude when there's no reason to be mad at her.

"Nothing!" He almost screamed. "There's nothing wrong with hanging out with your best friend. It's the fact that you're keeping it from me and everyone else! You don't text me to let me know that you're with her, you lie to your family about who you're with and you avoid talking about her."

I opened my mouth to defend myself but he wouldn't let me speak.

"No, Casey. You're going to listen to me because you seem to not want to talk, so I'm going to say everything here in case you decide to keep avoiding me."

There were so many thoughts in my head. So many words and letters bouncing off of the walls in my mind but none of it formed any meaningful sentences. So I listened. I let him say what he wanted to and I took all the hits because I knew he was right.

"Ever since your birthday party, you've been acting weird. One minute you're mad at me, your mom and Izzie, and the next you seem to have made up with everyone except your boyfriend." He just kept going. The words fell like a lava from a volcano and I didn't dare to stop it.

"The next thing I know is you've forgiven her for all of the shit that she's done to you and I'm still in the dog house for doing what was right and defending your mom. So, I don't know, Casey." His voice faltered, causing his volume to die down from a level that projected to the entire neighbourhood. "I might be crazy but... maybe you don't think of her as just your best friend after all." He didn't even wait for a reaction. He just turned straight around, got into his car and sped into the darkness.

My mind was still in ruin. I didn't know what to think or how to react. All I was certain of was what I was feeling. And feelings don't lie.

I felt almost... relieved? I couldn't pinpoint exactly what it was but it was like Evan took the scattered mess inside my head, aligned them, and forced me to understand my own feelings.

I had to ask myself : could he be right?

But then again... I already knew the answer. I guess I just didn't know how to tell myself yet.

And I didn't know that it would happen this way. That my boyfriend would need to tell me how I felt about my best friend.