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As if he hadn't already said enough to render me speechless and utterly flabbergasted, Phineas went on. "Ever since that day when I broke the school weightlifting record and you spotted me…..I've had feelings for you. I tried to ignore them and pretend that I didn't feel anything, but……" He sighed and looked down at the floor. "I thought I would forget about it if I started getting interested in a girl. But when I went out with Peach, all I could think about was you." He looked back at me. "I just couldn't keep it all to myself anymore."
In all the time I had known him, I had never seen him so serious. He had lain his heart out in front of me, as hapless as you please. His eyes were watering, and his hands were shaking and his nose was red. So I did the most mature and thought-out thing I could do.
I laughed in his face. Not briefly either. I laughed for at least a good minute. I stopped when I looked at his face. A little, hurt tear had fallen down his cheek.
"I'm sorry," I began.
He sighed and stood up from the bed. "I should have known you wouldn't show any sensitivity," he said, turning away from me.
"No, no!" I argued, standing up beside him. I tried to get him to look at me. "You just caught me off guard, that's all." I put my hand on his shoulder. "I'm really glad you told me, because—" The door opening cut me off.
Finny and I looked to the doorway to see Leper, Brinker and Ollie standing there somberly. They stared at us with an expression of intensity across all their faces.
I waved, trying to lighten the mood. "Uh, hey guys," I said. "How was the arcade?"
Brinker stepped forward. "Never mind that," he snapped. "We all need to put something to rest."
Phineas, who had lost his serious mood, raised his eyebrow and wondered, "Okay, what's with the creepy, we-three-have-lost-our-minds thing?"
"Sit down," Brinker ordered both of us.
I was getting worried, but sat down on the bed anyway. Finny sat down next to me, but just to humor Brinker.
Brinker closed the door and then began to pace the room. Ollie and Leper stood quietly just inside the door.
When Brinker came to a stop next to the bed, he placed a hand thoughtfully on his face and said, "We are all aware of what happened three months ago at the skating rink." He paused and looked directly at Phineas and myself. "But there is some confusion as to how it happened." He nodded to Leper, who came to stand next to him.
My heart was pounding in my ears. I refused to believe that this was happening. Even though I had been too wrapped up in my emotions to realize it, the fact was that it was still my fault that Finny's leg had been broken. Wasn't it? I guess I thought that since it had healed, we could move on and forget about it. My breathing was audible. I knew that Finny and probably Brinker could hear it.
"Leper," Brinker calmly asked, "did you see what happened that night? Were you there?"
"I did and I was," Leper replied simply.
Ollie remained silent by the door, as if guarding it.
"What happened?" Brinker prompted.
Leper looked at the ceiling, in deep thought. "I was sitting in the food court. I was waiting for Finny because he said he was going to induct me into his club. There was a little boy sitting at the table across from me eating a plate of nachos. 'Someday' by Nickelback was playing in the rink—"
"Leper, we don't need to know every detail," Brinker interrupted, exasperated. "Just tell us about Finny. What happened that made him break his leg?"
"Well—" Leper began.
"Did he slip?" Brinker prompted.
"Not exactly," Leper replied.
"Then, what?"
"Phineas was skating…..and Gene was a little behind him," Leper recalled. "Brinker, you were up ahead of them a little. Then, Finny slowed down so that he was even with Gene. He looked away and they bumped together."
"By accident?" Brinker demanded.
"No," Leper admitted. "No, one of them shifted and ran into the other one."
Phineas lost his cocky smile. He stared at me, down into my soul.
"Who ran into whom?" Brinker pressed.
Leper, having noticed the betrayal Phineas felt, whispered, "I….I don't know." He looked down at the floor.
Finny, who looked at me as though I had committed treason, stood up and started to leave the room.
Brinker, seeing this, made an attempt to stop him by saying, "Finny, wait! You have to stay so we can get all the facts!"
Finny turned around and stared at Brinker. Then, with the most articulate and emotional voice I have ever heard, he said, "Brinker, you get your facts. You get every single fact in the world. I don't care. This crap isn't worth it."
He turned around, sidestepped Ollie and left, slamming the door shut behind him.
Brinker looked at me and coldly said, "Look what you've done. He's been limping, you know. He won't let us see it, but he's been limping."
I felt tears stinging my eyes. Before I knew what I was doing, I jumped up from the bed and ran after my best friend. My best friend and my soul mate. I didn't care if he hated me. I still wanted to be with him and make things better.
I caught up to him in front of the motel. He was cranking up his car and rolling the top back.
I reached his side before he could shift into reverse. "Finny, wait!" I pleaded.
"For what, Gene?" he demanded. "So you can hide the truth from me some more?"
"I wanted to tell you," I tried to explain.
"Then, why didn't you?" he yelled.
"I…..don't know," I weakly replied.
"Then I don't know why we're friends," was the last thing he said before peeling out of the parking lot.
I watched him as he drove away. The sun was high in the sky with only a few perfect, fluffy clouds. I watched his little red car speed off toward the horizon. Just as I was about to turn away, the unthinkable happened. As Finny was about to go past the second street over from the hotel, a junky, dark blue car came out of nowhere. Phineas swerved to avoid it, but lost control of his car. He veered into a ditch, where his car flipped over. I didn't know it, but I was running toward the accident.
I reached Phineas' upended car just as smoke began to rise from the engine. "Finny!" I yelled. I stooped next to the driver's side to see what had become of him. My eyes widened and I gasped in horror when I saw him.
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NoV: AHHHH! CLIFFY!