Four Broken Pieces ✓

Fourteen

"Would you care to spill the beans or do I have to force it out of you?"

I lay on my bed, wrapped up in my favorite quilt with my head buried in my pillow to avoid Violet's question. I'd known she'd want to talk about the boys the moment she'd seen them in the hospital but I had no clue how to answer her. If I told her the truth, that I barely knew them and that we were just acquaintances, she'd refuse to believe me. Even I could hardly believe that statement. The four of us had only known each other for a few days and yet I was going to dinner with them tonight. Something had worked between us, something had fallen into place and although I couldn't decipher what it was, I knew it made us something more special.

"They're these boys I met at school V. I'm going out to dinner with them tonight," I said and Violet looked like I'd just electrocuted her. I was genuinely worried for a second before I realized she was merely being overdramatic as always.

"You're going on a date tonight and you're telling me now," she asked, her eyes bugging out. She was honestly terrifying at times and usually she had a reason. At the moment however I was clueless as to why she looked like she was having a seizure. Was it because I was going out with three boys, and not one?

"V it's not a date, or at least I don't think it is," I said, my voice trailing off. Did I want this to be a date? It couldn't be, could it? There was after all three boys there, not one. I couldn't go on a date with all three of them.

Violet must have realized how confused I was as she immediately turned off her hyperactive self and took my hand in her own, ready to give me advice. Neither of us had much experience with romance, but she understood boys well, most likely because she had 3 brothers at home to take care of. More importantly, she understood me well and knew exactly what dreaded question she needed to ask.

"Roe do you want this to be a date," she asked softly and I tore my hand out of hers to pace the room. Would she judge me, if a part of me wanted this to be a date despite the fact that there were three boys there? What did it make me, to want to go on a date with three boys?

"I just want to get to know them V," I said, and that was the truth, or at least a part of it. I liked them on first impression and I wanted to build something more between us. Whether that was friendship or not was what I couldn't puzzle out.

"Roe."

I couldn't look at her. I'd sounded so desperate before, so desperate for love. It was bad enough to feel it, but to express it out in the open was humiliating to the core.

"Roe look at me."

I looked up then, but I didn't meet her eyes.

"Don't over think it. Take it slow Roe, and see where it goes," she said and I nodded. Just one step at a time, the first being this dinner. It wouldn't be a date, just a casual meeting with friends and nothing else.

But why was my heart racing so fast at the prospect of it being the start of something more?

The doorbell rang just an hour before dinner with the boys, and for a split second I thought they'd come to pick me up. However, instead, I was greeted with the sight of my weary grandfather as he leaned against my door with a solemn expression on my face. I didn't need to question him to know that his visit was concerning my mother.

"What's wrong?"

He said nothing for a split second before handing me a note. I unfolded it with shaking hands before silently scanning it. I couldn't believe I'd been obsessing over three boys' just minutes before when I had so many more important things to worry about, my mother being on top of the list. How had I not devoted myself to finding her help?