The Black Rose Season

29

Spencer is upset. I knew that. Now Brendon is upset, and I have no idea what to do. When I go to the dining room for dinner, I am surprised to see Brendon and Spencer sitting side by side, and my first thought is that they must have talked things through. A second look at them, and I freeze because they definitely aren't smiling.

Brendon gets up when he sees me. He walks over, pecks my cheek and says, "I'm going out tonight, Skydiving Society. See you tomorrow."

I don't even get a word in before he is gone.

A pain cuts straight through me because Brendon isn't letting me in right now. He is pushing me away, and I don't know what's wrong. I go sit next to Spencer, glad that Jon isn't here, and say, "What's going on, Spencer? No one is talking to me!"

Spencer pokes his food with a fork and shrugs. We fall into an awkward silence, which has never happened to us before. I try to think of something to say, when Spencer suddenly smiles at me, almost like he did before he started fighting with Brendon. "Remember that time we went bowling to ruin Brendon's date?"

"Yeah."

Spencer smiles wistfully. "Good times, right?"

I nod. "Yeah... why?"

"Do you love him?"

I am slightly taken aback by the question, but Spencer has always been more than straightforward. "I, um... I think I... I think I might," I mutter.

Spencer cups my cheek and stares at me for a few seconds. "Maybe you should tell him that," he suggests.

And okay, Brendon is upset because I haven't said the three little words yet? He told this to Spencer who is now acting as a messenger? No, that makes absolutely no sense. Why would Spencer be upset over that? Unless it's some sort of messed up drama where Jon hasn't said it to Spencer, which makes Spencer upset, which would explain Brendon's unexplained anger towards Spencer... how?

My brain is hurting me now.

"I know you're not gonna tell me," I tell Spencer and give him an actual glare, "and I'm not happy with it."

I begin to stuff the dinner into my mouth, and I hear Spencer mutter, "No one is," before he finishes his dinner and leaves.

It's not much to go on, but maybe Brendon is acting weird because of what Spencer said. Maybe he just isn't sure where we stand, and I need to tell him that I am serious about us. I need to do what Jon did, bring him a flower. Metaphorically speaking, of course, because if I gave Brendon a flower he'd laugh me into next week. I need to figure out what Brendon's flower is. Maybe I should write him a poem.

I have an exact week until the deadline of my Creative Writing assignment, that goddamn short story I need to write. They told us about it way back in September, and I still haven't done it. Not to mention Professor Jones has been on my back about it too. Brendon is out, I should use this time to finally force myself to write it, but instead I try to write him a poem. Or is it totally lame? A poem, would he appreciate that?