Free The Girl in My Dreams by Logan Byrne Page B

you don’t spend any time with him anymore,” Tanya said.
    “Is that true?” I asked.
    “I wouldn’t say I’m mad, but it wouldn’t hurt to see my best friend sometime,” he said, obviously upset.
    “What about Friday?” I asked.
    “No date with Belle?” he asked.
    “She has to cheer for a game,” I said.
    “Oh, I see how it is. She’s busy and then I get called up,” he said.
    “Oh, shut up. You know it’s not like that. There’s nowhere else I’d rather be than at your house eating pizza and playing video games,” I said.
    “Well, when you put it like that it does sound kind of nice,” he said, smiling and stroking his chin.
    “You can spend the night if you want. That way we can hang out all night,” Tanya said, gripping my arm.
    “Child, please, leave the boy alone,” Pauline said as she grabbed Tanya’s shirt collar and pulled her back.
    “ Anyway , we’re on for Friday. Text me later,” Martin said before they walked away to pay, and my mother and I started our shopping.
    “Hard, isn’t it?” my mother asked, picking up an avocado.
    “What?” I asked.
    “Juggling friendships and a relationship. You want to spend all of your time with your girlfriend, but at the same time you can’t neglect the people who were there long before that relationship ever happened,” she said.
    “Yeah, and I only really have one friend. I can’t imagine what it’s like for Belle,” I said as I picked up an onion.
    •••
    I was finishing up dinner as I noticed Belle’s car pull into the driveway. A few minutes later, she texted me to say she was home but that she was going to eat before she could meet up with me to talk. I said okay, still wondering about what she needed to talk about, before I did the worst possible thing I could ever do.
    On my phone, I brought up Google and typed in “what does it mean when a girl wants to talk.” The results all pointed to one thing, and it wasn’t good. What if I was just dreaming about how good things were going? What if, to her, things were just mediocre and she felt like she made a mistake? It would make sense that I wouldn’t catch the warning signs. It wasn’t like I’d ever done this before.
    Panicked, I tried to calm down and tell myself I was just being paranoid about the situation. She just wanted to talk about the school or the weather or anything else that wasn’t about breaking up. Yeah, that’s it, Theo. It’ll all be okay.
    After twenty minutes, she said she was outside. I put on my shoes and jacket before taking a deep breath and walking out the back door and toward our spot. She was there, on the ground, sitting on a flannel blanket. Intrigued, I walked closer, seeing her perk up from behind her phone screen and pat the spot next to her.
    “What’s up?” I asked with a crack in my voice.
    “Not much, just got back from practice. It went horribly, of course,” she said.
    “How come?” I asked, sitting down next to her.
    “I think my coach wants to replace me or something. I don’t know. I’m probably just being irrational,” she said.
    “I’m sure you’re being perfectly rational,” I said, still nervous.
    “Anyway, enough about that before I get heated. Want to lie down? That’s why I brought the blanket,” she said.
    “Yeah, that sounds great,” I said, more confused than I’d been in a while.
    I lay back, and she rested against me, her right arm around me, as I looked up at the stars and wondered what in the hell was going on.
    “Aren’t the stars beautiful?” she asked.
    “Yeah, they’re amazing,” I said, starting to run my fingers through her hair.
    “Oh, don’t stop. I love when my hair is played with,” she said as she closed her eyes and nuzzled her face against my chest.
    I thought about mustering up the courage to ask her why she wanted to talk. Did I dare attempt it? What if I reminded her about it and she dumped me? On the other hand, things were going pretty well right now, and I couldn’t