Chapter 20: Reconciliation

“Val, I want to plan your sweet sixteen party. Besides Abel, who should be invited?”

“No, not Abel. There’s Fernanda and a few girls at school. I’ll give you their names.”

“You don’t want Abel to come? Why?”

“You wouldn’t understand. Leah, you never had a boyfriend.”

“Hey, don’t insult me just because you’re mad at Abel. You two have been friends for years. Tell me what happened.”

“Abel was complaining. He said, quote, ‘I never had a girlfriend. I just have a friend who is a girl,’ unquote.’”

“But, Val, you aren’t having sex with Abel...”

“LEAH!”

“Sorry, Val. You aren’t even kissing him, correct?”

“That’s not the point. Even if I was thinking about it, now the thought of kissing him is a total turn-off. I feel, I don’t know, rejected.”

“I understand, Val, I do. Let me ask you one thing. Do you think he regrets what he said?”

“Maybe. I don’t know. He doesn’t talk about his feelings.”

“Yeah, Val. He’s got testosterone poisoning, like all males. It makes them talk about everything BUT their feelings. And he’s fifteen like you are, and like I was just recently.

“Be honest, have you blurted out something you wanted to immediately retract? It’s a rhetorical question. Val, you and I lots of times have said the wrong things. That’s how people are. With enough bad experiences, they learn to filter.

Even so, Google’s mail system gives you five seconds to cancel an email before it is actually sent, so you have a brief chance to stop yourself. You can’t do that with spoken words, they go out and can’t be called back.”

Leah was leaning forward while engaged with Val. Now, she settled back.

“Before you cancel Abel, you could at least let him apologize. Three years you’ve been running together; three years you’ve been his friend. Give him just five minutes more and see what he does. Will you do that?”

“I guess so. He really hurt my feelings.”

“You can just tell him that. I promise, together, you two can work yourselves out of this mess. I’ll arrange it with Carolina.”

Later, Val walked down the street to Carolina’s (and Abel’s) house.

“Abel, Leah asked me to come see you for a few minutes, in case you had anything you wanted to say to me.”

“I don’t know what to say.”

He was instantly upset when he unexpectedly saw Val in his living room. He couldn’t look her in the eye and was obviously both sad and embarrassed.

“That’s too bad, Abel. I’ll do my running at the high school track since we aren’t friends anymore.”

“Oh, NO! Val, I’m sorry. I say stupid things all the time. I never want to upset you.”

“Are you sure? I mean, you said that I’m only a ‘friend who is a girl.’ Maybe you should find another girl to spend time with—someone who will be special to you. Someone else, Abel, that you could consider your girlfriend.”

“Val, I don’t want someone else. I want you. I don’t know why I said that. It’s not true. You ARE my girlfriend. I’ve been miserable since you walked away from me. Don’t go!”

Val turned to Carolina, standing a few paces away.

“He’s been visibly sad, yes. I didn’t know why at first. Then I realized you two weren’t running together anymore for some reason. I hope you haven’t broken up with him, Val. I miss you.”

This last part with a hopeful smile. Val turned back to face Abel.

“I’ve never seen you this upset. Abel, do you want to be my boyfriend?”

“I do. I do! Forgive me, please.”

His obvious sincerity broke down her reservations. She put her arms around him and plastered a kiss on his surprised lips.

“Feel better now?”

“Yeah. But maybe we should kiss again to be sure.”