Falling

14

Carson Hughes

Vinny sat with us at lunch on Tuesday.

It was a bit of a surprise and I stopped in my tracks when I first saw him at the table, Vinny staring angrily down at a meal Logan had made him. I let the shock subside and sat at my usual seat across from Logan and to the left of Isaac, with Vinny on his left and Dana on his right.

"Hey," I greeted, letting my eyes linger on Vinny for just a moment.

He kept his eyes down at his meal.

Hadley made her way to our table after stopping at Darren's for a moment. Everyone at our table, except Vinny, stared at her as she took her seat next to me.

"What?" she asked, placing her bag on the floor.

"Darren's not sitting here?" Logan asked, eyebrows raised.

Hadley shot him a dirty look. "He's not going to sit over here every day. I already told you that."

"And you two are not going to fight about this every day, so stop," Dana interjected

Archie's loud voice sounded through the room before anyone could respond.

"Guys!" Archie exclaimed from across the cafeteria, barreling through a group of freshmen. He rushed over to the table, slamming his hands down on it when he arrived. Vinny flinched at that and sent a glare his way.

"What is your problem?" Dana asked him with an incredulous look.

Archie's excitement was practically dripping off of him as we all looked at him with wide-eyed stares. His smile was taking up his whole face as he took his phone out of his pocket and shoved it into Dana's face. She pulled away to get a better look.

"No fucking way," she said, shaking her head at him.

"What?" Logan asked, leaning closer to Dana to see the phone.

"Crystal and I are going out tonight!" Archie excitedly announced, taking a seat at the table.

"No shit?" Isaac asked with raised eyebrows, taking the phone from Archie to see for himself. "Wow."

"You actually got her to say yes?" Hadley wondered, a look of disbelief on her face.

Archie scoffed. "Yes. Is it that hard to believe? It's hard to resist this."

"Gross," Hadley replied.

I wasn't really all that interested in Archie's dating life, and I found it weird that Crystal would even be interested in dating someone who was still in high school. Archie was already eighteen, older than the rest of us, because he had started school late when we were younger. But still, the situation seemed strange.

"Why are you guys going out on a Tuesday night?" I asked, turning to face him.

"It's the only night she's not working," Archie replied, stuffing his face with his lunch.

Tuesday nights were usually my mom's late nights at the hospital, so it was a night I spent with my friends at Logan's.

"What are you guys doing tonight?" I asked Logan and Dana.

"Dinner with my parents," Dana replied in a bored tone.

I looked over to Hadley as if directing the question at her.