The Perfect Balance

Chapter Twenty

Hey guys, here's another update. Enjoy :)

On Friday, my plans to hang out with Diana fall through because she gets called into work. So I stay home and hang out with Nate and Benji, who have picked out a movie for us to watch. As I'm making popcorn in the kitchen, my phone rings and when I see that it's Sage, I contemplate not answering it. I give in at the last second and swipe to accept.

"Hello?" I greet her as I rest my back against the counter.

"Hi, you're on speaker and everyone is in the car," she informs me in a warning tone. I furrow my eyebrows before opening my mouth again.

"Okay," I say slowly. "Hello, everyone."

I hear a chorus of greetings back before Sage hushes them to speak. "We were wondering if you wanted to go see 50 Fallen Trees with us. Diego says you like romance books."

"I, uh, already saw it," I admit as I stare at the bright microwave. I hear hushed conversation and try my best to listen in but I can't make out what they're saying.

"W-With who?" Sage interrogates in a hesitant tone.

"Roman," I answer before listening to the silence that fills the car. I feel the awkwardness emanating through the phone so I decide to keep talking. "It was good." I put my forehead in my hand as I cringe. Why'd I say that? "The movie, not the...hangout." I cringe even harder. "I mean, the hangout was fun, too." I press my forefinger and thumb to my nose and sigh. "I'm going to stop talking."

"We can do something after if you want..." Sage trails, trying to lighten up the conversation.

"No, it's cool. I'm hanging out with my brothers. We can do something tomorrow," I counter in a quiet voice.

Silence ensues.

"Yeah, that works. I'll find something," she replies in an attempt to be upbeat.

"Okay, enjoy the movie," I tell them. We hang up and I stare at the microwave, which stopped halfway through the conversation. I dump the popcorn into the bowl while shaking my head. I'm an idiot.

I return to the living room to find Ben and Nate looking at me. "Are you and Diego still dating?" Nate blurts and I squint at him as I shove a piece of popcorn into my mouth.

"We were never dating," I inform my brother as I pass him the popcorn.

"You know what I mean..." he corrects as he takes a handful of his own.

"No..." I answer as I look at the paused movie on the screen.

"What happened?" Benji queries after analyzing my blank expression.

"His dad got into his head," I reply with a dismissive head shake. "So now he's insecure and doesn't feel like he's good enough for me."

They wait for me to say more and when I don't, Nate speaks up. "And that was that?" he replies with a confused expression scribbled across his face.

"Yeah," I confirm with a weak nod.

"You just let him leave?" Nate asks in an even more confused sate.

"What am I supposed to do? Stand outside of his window with a radio?" I retort as I glare back at Nate. "If he wanted to stay with me, he could've. He didn't have to listen to his dad."

"Maybe you should do a grand gesture," Nate replies with a raise of his hands.

"It'll go viral, I bet," Ben mumbles with his eyes locked on the television screen.