Skinny

Falling Out Of Place

Chapter Twenty-Three:

"What's the deal?"

They both looked a little confused. Mia looked down at her hands. I knew she was hiding something. I had gotten them alone. It was Saturday and they sat in my room on my bed.

"What are you hiding?" She looked up at me and then glanced at Gabe. Then I remembered something, I had gotten a phone call from Mia, but I wasn't so sure I had actually turned it off. The look on Gabe's face said that I had, in fact, answered her call.

"You heard the whole thing?" I didn't have to specify, they both knew what I was talking about. She nodded furiously and looked at the bed sheets. Her cheeks were flush in embarrassment.

"Mia, I-"

"Are you gay?" She cut him off, still not looking up.

"No, I'm just curious, I guess. I still care for you, Mimi," Gabriel confessed quietly. It was like an episode of Dr. Phil. When did I become the mediator?

"Don't 'mimi' me, Gabriel James Wainwright the third," she said, suddenly angrily. She only took the time to use a person's full name, if she was really pissed off. "I know I kissed someone else, but you seemed way too non-chalant about it and I was curious as to why. This wasn't the first time, was it?" She now sounded a little heart broken. I was kind of sad for her, but I couldn't pick a side because I had to remember her and Caleb and then the sadness receded. I was neutral, at this point.

"No, I wanted to tell you, but Jax was just a little embarrassed. I wasn't sure if I was gay or not, but I'm not. I think I'm bisexual." Whoa, that was unexpected. I raised my eyebrows in silence.

"I don't want any part of it. I just can't believe you didn't tell me something, anything, sooner. It's kind of hard to feel guilty when you were keeping such a secret from me." She got up and left in a huff. I didn't go after her. I knew she needed time to cool off, but Gabriel wasn't as intelligent. He made to go after her, but I grabbed him and shook my head.

"She just needs some time. I think you should go and hang out with Jaxon to get your mind away from her. Trust me when I say that Mia will take a while to think this through and you bothering her will only add fuel to the flames. I'll talk to her about it tomorrow and keep you updated," I told him and he nodded, mumbled a thanks before leaving my house. I didn't know what he was going to do, but I had figured that Jaxon could keep him from calling Mia since he really spent a majority his free time with her.

Now that I think about it, how had Mia not noticed him spending less time with her?

~~~~~~~~~

It's been four days and Mia's avoiding me. I had tried to talk to her after school on Monday after giving her the rest of Saturday and all of Sunday to cool off, but she couldn't be found anywhere. I had asked the guys about her, but the only one missing from the group seemed to be Caleb. Go figure.

They had said he was spending time with Mia because he felt responsible for what happened. I guess no one knew the reason was sitting right beside me with his arm resting on the back of my seat. I hadn't corrected them either, it wasn't my place to, but I had asked Jaxon to confess to at least Caleb and put him out of his misery. He hadn't taken it well.

"Why should I? His misery? Have you seen him around Mia? He seems so much happier than when he was pining after you. I don't want to ruin that, do you?" He had told me.

I hadn't responded. I mean, who was I to ruin his happiness? I wasn't a terrible person even though my stomach knotted up at the thought of Caleb being happier with someone else. If he was happy, then I was damn sure going to be happy for him. I wasn't his girlfriend and I mean, I had punched the guy in the face. I guess it was just the thought of losing an admirer, but I needed to get over that because it was just plain selfish.