Beauty is a Disease

𝔽𝕆𝕌ℝ𝕋𝔼𝔼ℕ

The entire time at his house was just kind of awkward.

I felt like I always needed to fill the silence, but I never did.

Sam sat on the couch, watching Bailey and I. She missed me alright.

The second I stepped through the door, Bailey was there, panting and jumping onto my legs.

I smiled despite the tension still in the air. Dogs always seemed to put me in a better mood, in any situation. Especially when your crush just friendzoned you into another galaxy. Love that for us.

I guess that's why they call it crush though, huh?

After about an hour hanging out with Bailey, Sam spoke up.

"Do you want to get some food?"

I hesitated, do I? I mean, I'm always up for food, but right now? With Sam of all people? I don't know if I want to do that to myself. But, I'm a stupid girl blinded by feelings of a dumb boy, so I agreed.

We went to McDonald's. Not much, but it was something.

"Haleigh," Sam said after we had sat down with our food. We chose a secluded corner where no one was in ear shoot. Only one other person was in sight.

"Yeah?" I asked without looking up, I was trying to avoid his gaze by taking my food off of the tray.

"Look at me," he said it harsher than he had ever said anything to me. It was almost demanding.

I slowly looked up, scared that he might start yelling at me right in the middle of McDonald's but what I saw wasn't scary. It wasn't even the slightest bit startling. What I saw was not the boy I see walking through the halls of our school, the boy running for touchdowns on the football field. It was a boy who is broken.

Who needed love.

I felt bad for him. I was upset at the world for putting him through what he so obviously had been through, for giving him parents that couldn't even bother to take a mere three hours out of their night to go to their son's football game.

There was a flash of remorse in his eyes as I met them, "I'm sorry."

I shrugged, "it's fine."

"No, about what I said at the park. It was uncalled for."

"It's fine," I repeated. And it was fine. Sure, when he said that it stung a little, but we had kind of blew this whole awkward thing out of proportion.

"But it's not fine. I shouldn't have said that we would be a cute couple."

What?

"What do you mean?"

"It wasn't right of me to say that we do make a nice couple, we're friends, right?"

Of course. He didn't think of me that way.

"Right."

"So are we cool?"

Were we cool?

"Yeah. We're cool."

He grinned and it did feel like we were back to where we had been when Sam picked me up from my house this afternoon. Kind of.

"So, anyway. I found out more about the whole Ben and Brandy thing."

That made me perk up. Brandy hadn't told me anymore about her and Ben since what happened at the party.

"Alright."

"So apparently, they went on a date some time after the party and th--"

"A date?" I cut him off, not meaning to. I had meant to think it.