Started as His Tutor

Cold

"If you like him, why don't you just tell him that?"

"Couldn't I ask you the same thing?" I return.

"My situation is different. Vivian clearly doesn't like, but Vincent is totally crazy about you."

"How can you be so sure?"

"He stopped hanging out with us until now. To be honest, we were resentful at first, until we figured out what was going on."

"What do you mean?

"The rumors about you..."

"Oh..."

"We didn't believe them, we just realized that Vincent was hanging out with you cause your friends dropped you."

"They didn't really 'drop' me necessarily. They were understandably upset. I stopped hanging out with them on purpose."

"Really? So you stood at the lunch table waiting for them cause you didn't want to be around them anymore?"

"You saw that?"

"Yeah. We sat there before fall break too, remember?"

"Oh...yeah.."

"How come you're not even a bit mad at your friends?"

"Everything was my fault."

"What? That Vincent likes you? Isn't it his fault then?"

"No, I messed up. I should've stopped being around Vincent the moment I knew Vivian liked him. Even now I'm clinging onto him. No wonder everyone finds me annoying."

"What? Are you going to give up whatever your friends like? Your house, your car, your pet? Are you going to keep letting other people run your life?"

"That's different. That stuff would belong to me first."

"And Vincent didn't? How do you know he didn't like you before Vivian liked him?"

"Of course he didn't."

"He did."

"Yeah right," I scoff.

"Don't you notice how Vincent is so protective of you at school? He even called out anyone who tried to spread rumors about you in the middle of class. He almost beat up Bryan in the locker room too."

"Wait, what? Is he crazy? If he gets anything on his record it will ruin his chances of any scholarships."

"That's not the point, Wendy. The point is, he's crazy about you. Other people might not understand or want to believe it, but he is."

"I'm scared to ruin everything. It's better for us to stay friends. Plus, Vincent will eventually find someone who's better for him."

"That's unfair to Vincent. You might think you know what's best for him, but you don't. And it's unfair to you. You're too considerate of your friends. If they were really your friends, they would try to understand you."

We sink into a silence and I reflect on Carson's words.

After a while, the group finally returned, a large doughnut box in Luke's hand. His other was occupied by a large chocolate doughnut. Logan crams the last bite of a cookies and cream one as he approaches us. Neither Vivian nor Vincent are eating. Vivian walks empty handed while Vincent holds two steaming cups in his hands.

"Why did you guys buy so many?"

"You should've gone with us, Wendy. There was so much stuff we couldn't choose, so we bought a dozen," Luke exclaims excitedly before finishing his doughnut. Logan takes the box from him and goes to grab another one. "Logan! Hand them their doughnuts, first. Jeez."