I Can't See

Vince sat on the couch, his limbs twitching nervously. He couldn’t sit still. The reason for this was pacing back and forth in front of him. Layla finally stopped, her arms folded across her chest. A classic defense mechanism. Sam had taught him that.

“Layla, I’m sorry. I mean, what else do you want me to say?” Vince was trying to be apologetic, but he knew he was coming off as irate. Everything had been so crazy in the last few days, and he was having a hard time dealing with it. Of course, he couldn’t imagine what Layla was going through. Or Sam.

“You know what I find amusing?” Layla’s voice was low and uneven. She was trying to stay calm, but Vince could tell that she wanted to scream at him. “I find it very amusing that you are the one apologizing to me.”

Vince blinked a few times. “Wh-what? What do you mean?”

“Sam is the one who started all this bullshit. Telling me that she had feelings for you and she couldn’t hide them anymore.” It was here that Layla rolled her eyes, and Vince felt his fists clench. “I mean, I trusted her. And now she’s trying to take you away from me.”

Layla stared off into the distance, pretending to space out. What she was really doing was waiting for Vince to explain himself.

“Look,” Vince finally began, “she’s already apologized to me for what she’s done. I don’t think she’s going to try anything. I think she just needed to say it.” Vince remembered her apology from the night before, what his gut reaction had been, and tried to hide the redness creeping into his face.

“Well then, Vince.” Layla’s words were dripping with spite. “How do you feel about this? I haven’t heard your opinion yet.”

He was getting tired of this. Vince almost wanted to leave town that very instant, forget about Layla, forget about Sam. But he couldn’t. He just couldn’t.

“You want to know what my opinion is, Layla? I don’t have an opinion. In fact, I’m really confused at this point.” Layla looked like she wanted to interject, but Vince held up his hand so she would let him finish. “I do love you, Layla. I do. But I don’t want to lose Sam. I honestly don’t know how I feel about her, and I think I need to figure that out before I go declaring anything else.”

“Wait, are you saying you’re leaving me for her?” Layla was screechy now.

“Did I say that? No. I didn’t.” Vince shook his head in frustration. “I’m going out for a couple of hours. I’ll talk to you when I get back.”

He left before she could say anything else.

(460 words)