That time I got rejected three times on the same day!

Chapter 30

Henry was in his room, getting ready for bed. I wondered what I had done to him. He was sad again. I entered his room quietly, like always. He was sitting on the bed, listening to the radio.

"Have you ever been in love Vicky?"

It was a strange question.

"Of course," I said. "I love Zoe, mother, father, and you. Oh, and also Hannah."

He shook his head.

"I meant, a boy at school."

The boys at school were icky, why would I love any of them?

"No, they are full of boy germs. I don't want to get any of that on me."

He laughed.

"If there was a boy, say, who didn't have boy germs, and you really liked him, would there be any reason to say no to him if he asked you out on a date?"

It was a weird question.

"Um, if he was icky, I would say no. If he was fat, I would say no. If he ate insects, I would say no."

"What else," he said.

Hannah and I had talked about this a few weeks ago. I don't remember how we had got onto the subject, but we were talking about some boys. I told her the same thing I had just told Henry. Boys were disgusting and I was never going to go anywhere with them. She then asked me about my brother and I said 'That's a different situation, besides, he looks like a girl.', she agreed with that, but she still thought Henry was weird. Then she asked me something else, 'What if we found a nice boy and we both liked him? What would we do?'. We decided that if that ever happened we would follow the first-come-first-serve rule. Whoever saw him first gets dibs.

"Well," I said. "If my friend Hannah and I ever liked the same boy—"

I saw something in Henry's eyes. I could only describe it as a light, like the dawning of a new day. He had figured something out. He clutched his head in both hands.

"What is it?" I said. "Are you hurt?"

He was crying.

Tears were streaming down his face.

"I made a big mistake," he said. "Why didn't I figure it out sooner?"

Figure what out? He was making no sense. The tears just kept coming.

"What's wrong Henry?"

He spoke through the sobbing.

"What if... what if the boy you liked, liked Hannah and asked her out, but you saw him first and never got the courage to talk to him? What if Hannah started liking him too?"

Oh... that was a complicated situation. Would the first-come-first-serve rule still apply? I would have to talk it over with Hannah.

"Um, we would let the boy decide who he would rather go out with. That would make everyone happier."

"What if the boy didn't know you liked him," he said. "And he confessed to Hannah, but she kept saying no, so you had a chance to talk to him."

Henry's scenario was starting to get a little ridiculous. That's what happened in books and movies, not in real life.

I sat down next to Henry and put my arms around him.

"Whatever happened, whatever you did, whatever you are sad about, I still love you." I said.

The sobbing stopped. He looked at me with his bloodshot eyes.

"What's worth more? Friendship or love."

I didn't even need to think about that one.

"Aren't they the same thing?" I said.

His face was wrestling with two expressions, a smile and a frown. The smile slowly won and he wiped his eyes with his sleeve. Henry put his arms around me.

"I love you too."