Dizzy

Chapter 22

~ Ziah ~

I hit send and it cuts straight to Dylan's voicemail. My legs collapse beneath me, and I'm suddenly sitting on the sofa.

"Ziah!" James yells. "I need help in here!"

"Quiet for a sec!" I rest my head in my hands. I hit send again. Voicemail. My heart drops.

Why do I feel like something just went really, really wrong? Dylan's voice sounded so... hollow. What happened? It's not like him to call and be so desperate to come over. At all. And if he was "trying" like he said he would, he'd have made a joke about his awesome boyfriend powers or something, not sounded so weird.

And why, why did he have to call when we were studying? Why did he hang up and not let me explain? Something happened. Dylan likes a good banter, the fun back and forth. But maybe now that we both want more, things have changed.

My hands go to my stomach. "Oh, God," I whisper. "I never even told him James and I were talking again."

"Told who what?" James asks as he steps into the living room. The rest of our study group isn't here, and now I wonder if he even invited them.

"Dylan." I let my eyes find James's. "I didn't tell him we were speaking."

"Who's Dylan?" he asks, folding his arms.

"He's..." How do I describe Dylan? "I really don't want to talk about this with you, and I think I just completely let him down." My phone is still clutched in my hand.

"So is that why we can't be together anymore?" James's voice is filled with irritation.

I don't have time for this. "James? Get over yourself. We were friends who turned into something more because we have so much in common. But we're done. We were done before Dylan and I started, and we wouldn't have lasted anyway, not after Alyssa."

"Didn't take you long to find a replacement." He sounds all sulky.

"You didn't even wait 'til we were split to find a replacement!" I shriek. "I think I might have somehow just really screwed up something I care about! It's not about you!" Wow. I'm completely freaked out.

He stands way too still for a moment. "We're really, totally over."

"Yes."

My insides feel all antsy. Something's wrong, and it's part me and part something that happened before Dylan called me. I run my hands over my head, my phone still clutched in one of them.

"What do I do?" The words just come out.

"Go find him." James' arms drop to his sides.

I throw my arms briefly around James and run out the door, leaving him alone in my house.

***

I pull into Dylan's driveway as a BMW pulls out. My eyes catch the woman's face. Dylan's blue eyes look back at me. His aunt or something? I'm not sure. Lora said some of their family was coming to town.

His driveway is practically a parking lot in front of his house, and coming here in Mom's beat-up Subaru makes me feel like sort of an outsider in the life of Dylan. His dad jogs down the front steps.

"Mr. Gibson?" I can't believe he didn't notice me right away.

"Hey, Ziah. Bad timing." He glances around so nervously making me feel even more panicky.

"I got a weird phone call from Dylan, and—"

"When?" He takes a few jogging steps toward me and rests his hand on my arm.