Page 39 of Falling With a Spin

“That’s cool,” smiling as he returns to his sheet music.

I’m not sure how to really talk to these guys. It feels like they are too scared to look at me. That they’ll say something, and I’ll break down. I sit there picking at my nails, waiting for the food to be finished.

I pick up my slice of bread just as Cole grabs my attention. “Hey, Em. Crap, is it okay if I call you that?” Before I can even say a word, he continues, “Well, I need your opinion on something.”

“Uh yeah, sure, what’s up?” I ask, putting my slice of bread down. I just really want to eat right now.

“Well, you’re a girl,” I give him a weird look because, yes, I clearly know that I’m a female, “and say you meet this guy at a party-”

“Dude, no. Just forget about this.” Matt shakes his head, but Cole ignores him and continues.

“-and you two hooked up, and he really likes you, and you really want to like him back, but you can’t. What do you do?”

Holding up my hand, I stop him. “Why can’t I like him back?” I question, confused about where this is going.

He mumbles something I can’t quite hear, and we all move closer to him.

“What did you say, buddy?” Matt smirks.

“She’s my sister's best friend, and if she finds out what we did, I’ll be dead.” He says it all in one breath.

The room is silent, and then Matt and Justin burst out in laughter; Hunter shakes his head, and Garrett ignores us.

“Oh no.” I start shaking my head, and the look on his face gets worse. “You’re a shit out of luck, buddy.” I pick up my slice and take a bite before Cole asks me any more questions.

Holy fuck.

“Oh my god, Garrett. This garlic bread is the best thing that has ever been in my mouth,” I groan, closing my eyes and savoring the garlic and buttery goodness.

Opening my eyes, I see everyone but Hunter looking at the ceiling. He is staring right at me. “What?” I ask.

“N-nothing.” He reaches for another slice of garlic bread while everyone goes back to what they were doing.

Girls Just Want To Have Fun rings throughout the room, and I stop mid-chew, realizing I forgot to turn my ringer off. It throws everyone into a fit of laughter as Matt starts dancing, and Justin serenades him. I grab it out of my back pocket and see Caleb’s name across the screen.

I anxiously chew on my lower lip, contemplating on answering it or leaving it till I’m alone. It won’t be a great conversation since it’s been weeks since we spoke.

A small part of me knows that Taylor is right, that I should talk to him and give him a reason why I’ve gone MIA. But, the part where my brain is telling me to keep everyone that's associated with Chad at arm's reach is overpowering everything else. Caleb didn't do anything wrong, and he didn’t tell Chad to take me up there. I stare at the screen, and it eventually goes black. I let out a deep breath and pocket my phone back into my jeans.

Hunter grabs my hand, squeezing it. “Hey, we are going to take our food to my room so we can continue to study.” He looks at each of the guys as they all nod. “Can you grab the drinks? I’ll take the plates.” He gives me a small smile and I follow him out of the kitchen.

When we get back to his room, he sits at the desk, diving into his food and opening the textbook to where we left off. I sit on the floor against the bed frame, not wanting to make a mess on his bed. I hand him the notebook with my answers on it before twirling the pasta with my fork. My phone vibrates from my pocket, and I distract myself by continuously swirling the pasta to keep myself from checking it and knowing who it’s actually from. Caleb.

“Okay, so after finishing up the two chapters we went over,” Hunter turns to look at me, “we’ve discovered that there are a few topics from each chapter that you need to work on. I made up a couple more questions based on those that you can use to review and study. On the other hand, you have a good grasp of these topics,” he said, showing me the questions that I got right. “Which is really good since these are the hardest questions on the test.” He hands me back the notebook along with another piece of paper full of problems to work on.

Setting the papers down next to me, I take a bite of pasta. I thought Garrett’s bread was the best thing ever, but no, it’s his Famous Pasta. I devour the entire plate, and I look up, eyes locking with Hunters. I realize how I must have looked while eating, and my face turns red. Mumbling an apology, I open the book to the next chapter and start on the next set of questions.

I finish the last problem Hunter gives me and close the book, placing it next to me. Overall, I only missed a few problems here and there. I’m really, truly proud of myself.

“Thank you so much for today.” I stretch out my legs, and my knee locks up, causing a slight pain to run through me. I quickly cover the pain, hoping Hunter doesn’t notice. “I appreciate it more than you know.”

“Anytime, you are doing really great once you got the hang of it.”

“Wow, how is it already seven pm?” Looking at my phone, I scroll through my notifications and see a few from Taylor and some from my mom, which are just pictures from the trip she’s on right now. One from my dad, who is checking in on me to see how I’m doing with classes, which is odd since he’s never done that before. The last one is from Caleb. Ignore it and swipe left, watching the notification disappear.

“Oh shit. Do you need to get home?” He looks over at me.

“Yeah, I should probably get going.” I press my lips into a thin line and grab my bag from the bed, stuffing my belongings into it. “Should I text you when we can meet up again?” I ask as he walks me down the stairs to the front door.

---