"It's just crazy to think, isn't it? He's never gone with someone outside of me. He's always gone solo otherwise."
Perhaps it's times like these that I should consider retrieving help from a real therapist. Not my boyfriend, who is putting his entire upper body weight on my squishmallow. His face gives off several expressions here and there, and it's often that his eyebrows are the first to change. One lifts, another sinks. Both rise and they both fall. They tense together, forcing lines to create against the center of them. They relax, showing he's content.
He's expressive even when he doesn't want to be.
"Are you jealous that you can't go with my brother, or something? Should I become concerned?"
I shake my head in retaliation. My hands land on my hips in a scolding manner, eyes annoyed. I know talking about other guys that I'm close to in front of Garroth can bother him sometimes, but I like to think we're in a place in our relationship where our trust can override that jealousy.
We all know Ivy is a thing.
"Of course not, don't be ridiculous."
"Then are you saying it's bad that Vylad had found a date? Are you really upset that he didn't want to be alone and wanted to go with someone instead?"
"Yes, wait, no. Wait, shut up." I stumble over my own words, confused on what they mean. What the correct word is to how I'm feeling over this entire situation. "I'm not upset about Vylad. I'm happy for him. . . just not who he chose to go with."
He stands. My eyes divert to the poor plush on my bed that is now half its size. My lip fakes a quiver, looking at him accusingly. If this wasn't a serious case of me having a mental breakdown, I'd tell him he's a bully to a stuffed animal.
"Lily is nice. Sometimes I just think you and Kandi overreact with this kind of stuff."
He attempts to wrap his arms around me, and I take a step back to avoid him. "And Ivy is a little ray of sunshine, Garroth. No, she's a bitch. She would've been the one to drop me during cheer if she had the chance," I comment. "But it's all because I didn't take that stupid Shakespeare class. 'She's my partner.' Shut the fuck up, Vylad, you're sixteen."
"You hate Shakespeare."
"Exactly."
Silence falls between us until he reaches a hand out for me. He does this when he wants me to come to him for a hug. It's always during the time I need it most, but it's common when he just wants a hug. In this case, I need it.
His arms are quick to wrap around me the moment my cheek lays against his chest. I release a shaky exhale and close my eyes. "Do you think he's mad at me, so he asked her?"
"My brother is smart. I'll give him that," Garroth admits. I can feel him gently rubbing circles into my back. "But he's also the biggest idiot I have ever met. Bigger than Dante, and Dante is an idiot. He's quite blind. But, he's not spiteful. He wouldn't ask her to prom to get back at you for something. He probably did it to be nice, knowing him. I wouldn't worry about it."
He breaks up apart for a moment, his hands firm on my shoulders as he looks down at me. "The only thing you should be worrying about at this moment is the color of your dress. I want to know what tie I should be rocking."
I can't help but laugh at this. He always knows what to do to get me back into a better mood. He wraps his arms around me once more before my nose crinkles. "Gar, I love you, but you stink. Please go home and shower."
"You smell too, but I didn't want to tell you."
The squishmellow hit the door just as he shut it.
°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°
"Mother is beginning to make prom plans. She's even including her."
It didn't take Zianna very long to begin to make plans. I expected this from her. The moment she learned of most of her children getting dates to the dance, she began to plan everything out. Then, when Kandi picked out her dress, it was go-time.
"She's just trying to be nice," I sigh, shaking my head. I've already sent a picture of my dress to Zianna, and Kandi has a picture of it on her phone. I'm in the middle of cropping a square out of it on my phone, but I'm trying to do so to get the color but not the dress. I like the idea of keeping my dress a secret. "She's happy that Vylad found a date. Especially with. . . what happened before. Maybe he's moved on."
"Doubt it."
There's Kandi. She's always willing to look at the glass half full. If it wasn't for Garroth's scoldings, I'd be looking at it the same exact way.
"Do you think your brother would wear a bowtie if I asked him to? I'm sure there are a bunch of cute pink ones online."
She hums, "Suspenders too. That'd be cute. A guy with a bowtie and suspenders. I'd want that."
