Boys and Girls, Part I

Chapter 15 - Do the Right Thing

“What are you going to do, Jase?” Ryan asked slowly, looking out the window to catch Lani’s departure.

“I’m…I’m just gonna let this go, Ry.”

Ryan hit the window and spun around, his jaw tightening. “What’s going on Jason? Look, man, I’ve known you for three almost three years, and I don’t understand this. You can do everything, but you don’t think you can handle football and a female?” Jason didn’t say anything, but instead, stared at the ground. Ryan continued. “Look, Jason, I want to win just as much as you, but I’m not willing to let you self-destruct in the process, so maybe you should take some time to think about how you feel about Del –

“I’m in love with her.”

Ryan stopped mid-sentence, stunned. “What?”

Jason’s mint green eyes shot up, and Ryan saw a whirlwind of emotions swirling around.

“I love her.”

Ryan gulped. Okay, this was getting too real for him. “Are you sure, man?”

Jason nodded his head slowly. “I’m almost certain.”

Ryan opened his mouth to speak, but no words would come out. He tried again – this time, more successfully. “When did you –

“I don’t know exactly. It could have been that day at the beach when I got jealous every time another guy approached her. Or maybe when we’d talked over Chinese food at her apartment. Hell, it could’ve even been the night I returned the wallet to her. All I know is that it’s a fact now, Ryan.”

Ryan remained silent, trying to digest Jason’s confession. He shook his head, unable to believe that his best friend was in this state but even more that his best friend was going to let things in this state die on their own. “And you’re just going to stay put and let this go?”

“I have to. It’s for the best.”

“That’s bullshit, Jason,” Ryan retorted more hotly than before. “Best for who? Not for Delaney, obviously. You’ve effectively broken that girl’s heart with your pussyfooting. And not for you either, Jase. You’re a fucking mess right now!”

“It’ll be fine!” Jason snapped. “It sucks right now – yes – for both of us, but we’ll both be thankful in the long run. She’ll be happy that I stepped out of her life for good, and I’ll –

“Be miserable playing pro ball, and always thinking about the one that got away,” Ryan interrupted. “The one that you loved, man.” Ryan looked scolding with that last comment and turned back around in disgust to look out the window. Neither one said anything for the longest time…or maybe it just seemed like a long time because silence was such an awkward concept between the two.

“Sometimes I really hate you, Jason,” Ryan said in a low voice, still staring out the window. “I hate how put-together you are.” Ryan gripped the ledge with his strong hands. “I hate that your family is rich, and that you’ve got all of them to love and support you through your successes. I hate that you’re this talented son-of-a-bitch who gets to be on the Dean’s List every semester with your straight A’s.” Then, Ryan slowly turned and leaned back against the ledge, gazing at Jason all-too-seriously. “But you know what I’ve always hated the most about you, Jase?” Jason shifted a bit uncomfortably before Ryan continued. “I’ve hated the way that you always do the right thing. You returned a forgotten wallet to this girl, and look where that got you,” Ryan uttered, with a laugh that wasn’t meant to make the statement funny. But then, Ryan’s expression grew serious. “Doing the right thing tends to screw you over, at times, but…” he paused and sighed, “I think this is one time where doing the right thing will change your life for the better, Jason.”

Jason leveled his mint green gaze over at his best friend of three years. A pair of gray eyes stared back with understanding and hope, rather than with judgment and scrutiny. Jason knew what it took for Ryan to admit everything that he just did, so he wasn’t angry or upset by Ryan’s confession. But as the silence grew between the two, Jason knew that Ryan’s words hadn’t been meaningless dribble. Ryan’s words had meant to spark initiative in Jason; they had meant to urge Jason…to do the right thing.

Jason straightened himself and grabbed his apartment keys from the kitchen counter.

“What are you doing?” Ryan asked.

Jason moved toward the front door, and threw it open. He turned around and winked at his best friend. “The right thing.” With that, he left, closing the door behind him.

Ryan’s straight mouth suddenly turned up at the corners. Fucking golden boy, he thought, with a smile.

****

“Fortunate accidental discovery, eleven letters – fourth letter ‘e,’ eighth letter ‘p’ –

“Serendipity,” Jacy answered unenthusiastically, flipping through a copy of Newsweek.

“Righteous,” Stephanie chimed, filling in her Big Book of Crossword Puzzles. She was lying on her stomach on Delaney and Lani’s living room carpet – her feet crossed and swinging in the air like the little imp that she was. “Okay,” she continued. “Capital of Vermont –

“Montpelier,” Jacy answered again.

“Of course,” Stephanie answered. “Crosswords are always more fun when you’re around, Jacy. I don’t even have to look in the back of the book.”

Jacy rolled her eyes. Delaney smiled at her friends’ inanity. That’s what made them her friends, though, and she loved them regardless. Her friends had been a constant form of entertainment that, at times, made her effectively forget about what happened between Jason and herself almost three weeks ago. Of course, more often than not, Delaney couldn’t help but think about Jason and how they had shared the most intimate moment of her life on that fateful Saturday evening, three weeks past. After the sheer ferocity of their lovemaking, she had felt so at ease as he hugged her close and fell asleep with her. His abrupt departure had confused the hell out of her, but more importantly, it had broken her already fragile heart.

Stephanie’s eyebrows furrowed in concentration as she attempted the remainder of the puzzle. She occasionally called the clues out loud – all of which Jacy answered without much thought. Jacy continued to thumb through Newsweek, prompting Delaney to wonder where the hell Jacy had found the magazine. Delaney surmised that Jacy had probably brought the thing from her own apartment.

“Anything interesting going on?” Delaney ventured to ask Jacy.

“The economy sucks, we’re running out of oil, and we’re gonna have much warmer winters thanks to global warming,” Jacy answered with mock cheer

“Oh, how…interesting?” Delaney responded uncertainly.

Stephanie closed the book closed and sat up by folding her legs under her. She stretched her arms above her head. “I’m bored,” she uttered through a yawn. “Let’s do something.”

“We’ll do something when Lani gets back,” Delaney answered, like a patient parent.

Stephanie groaned. “Well, why is she taking so long?”

Jacy looked up from her magazine. “Yeah. She should’ve been home a while ago.”

“You know how Lani is about her workouts,” Delaney responded.

Jacy snorted. “Yeah, she probably discovered a way to burn twice the calories in half the time.”

“How?” Stephanie asked in all sincerity.

“I-I don’t know,” Jacy answered. “Maybe like…” Jacy got up and started to jog, except every subsequent step result in a high kick. Jacy, who almost never exercised, made the gesture look like vaudeville schtick.

Delaney burst out laughing, while Stephanie arched her eyebrows questioningly. “You are so weird, Jacy.”

Jacy stopped, pulling down on the shirt that had ridden up slightly during her demonstration. She sat back down on the couch, picking up her copy of Newsweek. “I does what I can.”

Delaney’s laughter eventually died, but she had to wipe some tears of happiness from her eyes. “You guys kill me.”

Stephanie and Jacy exchanged smiles. Delaney’s laughter meant so much to them at this critical time, so they took every laugh, chuckle, giggle, and smile from her as a golden blessing.

Just then, the front door opened, and Lani slowly walked in.

“Finally!” Stephanie cried out, throwing her hands up in the air. “Where have you been? Eh, it doesn’t matter. Go take a shower, and get changed, and…

Stephanie paused when she noticed Lani staring intensely at Delaney. Delaney looked confused to be on receiving end of such scrutiny from her best friend. “Lani, are you okay?”

Jacy finally realized that something was up, and she too, looked up from the magazine.

“I need to talk to you?”

“What’s going –

“Come on, Steph. Let’s go grab something to eat,” Jacy interrupted Stephanie as she rose from the sofa.

“Sit,” Lani ordered. “I mean I need to talk to all of you. After all…we don’t keep things from each other, right?”

Jacy slowly sat back down, while Stephanie backed up uncomfortably against the wall. This was scary Lani in action.

“What do you need to know?” Delaney asked warily.

“I already know everything, Delaney.”

“About what?”

“About you and Jason.”

Stephanie gasped, while Jacy remained silent.

“Then what’s with the inquisition?” Delaney asked.

“I want to know why you kept it from me.”

“I didn’t want to trouble you with my problems,” Delaney answered pathetically.

“Are you kidding me?” Lani asked incredulously.

“Steph and Jacy helped me out. They help me too.”

“I’m not chastising you for seeking support from Stephanie and Jacy,” Lani began. “I’m pissed off because you didn’t also seek support from me! When you’re hurting – and I know you were hurting and still probably are – I need to know that you’re going to come to me, so that I can do everything in my power to make it hurt less. But you didn’t – not this time! Why? Why didn’t you?”

“Because it’s embarrassing!” Delaney snapped back, shooting up from her seat. Jacy shifted in on her sofa cushion, while Stephanie took to chewing her nails.

Lani looked confused. “Why would it matter?”

“Because something like that would never happen to you, Lani! I-I’m not saying that it would happen to Steph and Jacy, but I’m saying it would never happen to you. A guy’d never stand you up after he slept with you. He’d want to stick around with someone like you.” Delaney began getting choked up, breaking her friends’ hearts. “Obviously, something was lacking with me, and that’s why he left. Maybe, he’d had his fun and decided that he should get on with the rest of his life. Maybe –

“He got scared,” Lani finished quietly.

Delaney leveled her teary cerulean blue eyes up at her best friend.

“What?”

Lani didn’t say anything else. She walked over to the door and slowly opened it, her eyes still on the ground. Stephanie gasped again, and Jacy’s eyes widened. Delaney’s sobs began to subside as the shock struck her head on.

Carrying a bouquet of pink roses, a weary Jason Kent stood on the other side of the door.

****

A/N: Awww...what's going to happen next? Stick around. And, keep those reviews coming!