Page 15 of Mr. Broody

The twins had just been born, so Mom and Reed were busy getting them settled for the night. Up until that point, Henry and I were just friends. But I think if my mom hadn’t been going on only a few hours of sleep a night for months, she probably would have stayed up to make sure I went to my bedroom that night.

“Want to watch a movie?” Henry asked after we put the sheets and comforter on the couch. He had grown so much in the few years before then that I wondered how comfortable it would be for him down there.

“Oh… sure.”

Henry was so busy with hockey that our friendship had shifted a little. I’d met Eloise freshman year, and we became instant friends. Henry had found new friends in his teammates, and most of them attended different schools, so he rarely hung out with the kids from our school. Lately, I’d felt him withdrawing even more, and I had no idea where we stood.

“If you have plans…”

I shook my head. “No. I just… can we talk?”

He blew out a breath, facing me with one leg bent up and his back along the arm of the couch. Henry had come into his own. I’d been a witness to him changing from a little boy with blond hair and glasses to a scrawny middle schooler to a muscular and fit teenager. His boyish cuteness had settled into him being handsome, and his body had filled out. He towered over me now. I’d tried to push away those teenage hormones that saw him as the hot guy and not just Henry, my friend, but eventually I had to admit that I had a crush on my best friend.

“What do you want to talk about?” he asked, as if he didn’t feel this space between us.

“Us?”

“Oh.” He looked down and fiddled with the hem of his khakis.

“Things feel different,” I said.

He nodded, but his eyes never rose to meet mine. My gut soured that maybe there was more to the change in our relationship than just finding different interests. Did he not want to be as close with me anymore?

“I know,” he said.

“What is it?”

I pressed like I usually did, never giving Henry the time he always needed to think. He wasn’t like me. I was terribly impatient, and he was the most patient person I’d ever met. I tried to sit back and give him time to consider his response, but the longer the silence stretched between us, the more suffocated I felt by it.

“Henry?” My voice held a note of desperation.

His fingers stopped folding the leg of his pants, and his head lifted. His eyes were sad and apologetic. My stomach twisted with worry.

“What?” I chewed on my bottom lip.

“I’m not sure how to tell you this.”

“What is it? Are you okay? Is it your grandparents?” I feared he’d been going through something, and because we’d been distant lately, he didn’t feel as if he could come to me.

“No…” He shook his head again. “Everyone is fine.”

I glanced at Minnesota that was splashed across the T-shirt. “Do you not want to go?”

“To Minnesota?” he asked as if he didn’t understand my question.

Maybe he had another school he’d wanted to hold out for? He and Reed were always talking about his offers, when or if they’d come. They went on school visits and talked to coaches. I’d assumed Henry hadn’t made his decision to attend there without it being his number one, but maybe I was wrong.

“No. I think it’s a great fit for me,” he said.

“Then what is it?” The anxiety in my body kept building the longer he kept me in the dark. I wasn’t good with guessing games, and I just wanted him to tell me what the problem between us was.

“Just give me a second,” he said, clearly growing annoyed with my constant need for instant gratification while he had the ability to almost always stay centered.

“I’ve given you about five.”

“Jesus, Jade.” He stood from the couch and walked behind it, running his fingers along the felt of the pool table.

“You’re scaring me. I don’t understand what’s wrong.” I followed him because that was just me. I’m still that way now. Act first and think later. I stood on the opposite side of the pool table.

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