An Inconvenient Attachment

Chapter 25

AUGUST 

Laney and I have fought. For sure. All the time. 

I mean not all the time but, you know, enough times for it to be healthy. We're not perfect. 

However, right now I can tell that something is off. She's barely talked to me all day and avoided me yesterday at school. It's now eight o'clock at night and as far as I'm aware I've done nothing. I've gone over the possible causes and if I said something but I have come up with nothing. Hence why I'm currently going next door to find out what the hell's going on. 

It's a pretty fashionable walk over, I must say, I have a birk on one foot and one of Mum's heels on the other which I'm starting to regret because it's too small, and as soon as Willy spots me he's bounding out the front door catching site of my fit. 

All I can say is one moment he's standing, and the next he's on the ground clutching his stomach with laughter. I would find it funny too, however, the circumstances have kind of brought down my mood. 

I ignore him and continue my trek inside, I walk into the kitchen where I find Betty and Matt. 

"Hey man," Matt gets up to greet me and I'm surprised to see him because well it's the last day of February and college started back up well over a month ago. The boys typically don't visit during the school semester. 

"Hey, what's up?" 

Cleary the confusion is written on my face because he smiles, "Mum has been helping me pick out a ring for Kaia."

"Aw congrats, Matty," I bring him into a man hug. I look over to Betty who just points upstairs which I take to mean Laney is in her room. 

I head up there and knock gently though the door is slightly ajar. 

"Hey, baby," I take a couple of unsure steps inward. Her bed is messy and unmade, clothes are littered around the floor; rare for Laney. I see her sitting on her window seat that faces the beach. She takes no visible notice of me but I know she knows I'm here. It's the way her shoulders slightly relax at the sound of my voice and how the tips of her ears go a little pink. 

Once I reach her I gently grab her hand and hold it. I don't say anything as I take a seat, slightly adjusting her legs so they drape over me as I sit opposite her. I still don't open my mouth and it stays that way for another twenty minutes. Laney's the first to talk when she notices that I notice the small tears that line her face. 

"Are we ever going to talk about it?"

"Talk about what?" I ask gently in case I'm missing something. 

"The inevitable," I wait for her to go on, "College, life, the future, it's something serious and I just want to know that I'm always going to have you." 

"Oh, Del, come here," I bring her close when she's willing, "You have me wrapped around your little finger, you'll never lose me; not willingly anyways. We'll work this out whether we end up on different sides of the world or not. You don't have to climb back into your shell every time you're scared about something. Please come talk to me because the only way we solve things is through communicating."

"I guess I just have been nervous about the acceptance letters coming out, there's no guarantee that we'll even get within the same vicinity of each other."

"I know but we both applied to similar colleges and just about all of them are willing to take me into their hockey programs, 'cause, you know, I'm just that good," I playfully wink earning a small laugh out of her. Good.