Andrew was in an upstairs room with Madison, in the house where Mater Dei's victory party was taking place. Outside, you could hear laughter, music, the clinking of glasses, and the distant echo of "To the finals!" But inside, the atmosphere was different.
He had already said everything. Quick, clear, and without beating around the bush. It wasn't a breakup because it had never been a relationship. He explained that he wasn't ready for anything serious, that he wanted to focus on other things, on the final, on school, it all sounded reasonable.
Even if it wasn't the whole truth.
Yes, after everything with Pippa he didn't feel like getting into something serious, but the real problem with Madison was something else: there was simply no connection. She was fun, sure, but in a shallow way. Quick jokes, provocative looks, a kind of energy that worked at first, until it didn't. And especially now, with certain signs that were starting to get a bit too intense.
Madison took a deep breath and looked at him squarely. "So you're not ready for a relationship. Classic…" she said with a bitter half-smile. "My mother always says men run away from commitment."
She muttered the last part almost to herself, and Andrew decided not to respond.
She looked away, took off the gray hoodie he had lent her, and tossed it at him. "Here, take it back. And don't worry, I'm not going to cry or make a scene. Just leave me alone, okay?"
Andrew nodded. There wasn't much more to say. He gave her a small gesture of goodbye, walked out of the room, and headed down the hallway. He threw the hoodie over his shoulders like an improvised cape as he descended the stairs through flashing colored lights and blasting music.
He didn't feel bad. Not sad, not relieved.
After all, his relationship with Pippa had ended on October 5th, and Madison had started getting close right around that time. It had been, what? A month? How much could he possibly feel for something that wasn't even a relationship?
He felt calm, knowing he hadn't used her or tried to fill any void. He'd met her, tried, and it hadn't worked.
Sometimes, that was all.
He reached the main room, where the music surged again with full force. Colored lights flickered to the beat, and dozens of teenagers were dancing.
Andrew adjusted his cap, pulling it a little lower over his eyes, and began walking through the crowd. Until he saw him.
In a corner, completely motionless, stood Leonard. Upright, holding a red cup, staring into nothing as if contemplating the mysteries of the universe. Every so often he took a sip and went right back to staring at no particular point.
Andrew couldn't help but smile as he approached. "Hey, you having fun?" he asked teasingly.
Leonard gave a little jump, startled at first because he didn't recognize him under the cap and low lighting. "Andrew? You actually came?!" he said, relieved. Having him there was almost like finding an emergency exit.
"Yeah," Andrew replied, giving him a handshake. "Came to end things with Madison."
Leonard nodded immediately. He already knew how that story was going. "I guess tonight is a great for relationships to end badly," he commented, taking another sip.
"What happened with Olivia?" Andrew asked, raising a brow.
Leonard sighed but smiled with resignation. "She said it was better if we stopped seeing each other because I'm a bad influence. Apparently, not believing in God makes you the main villain of a Catholic school."
He lifted his cup as if toasting to himself. "For the first time in my life, I actually feel like the cool bad guy."
Andrew laughed and patted him on the shoulder. "That's the attitude. And what about Howard and Steve?"
"Howard's probably with Alison in some dark corner, and Steve disappeared half an hour ago saying he was going to charm Catholic girls to forget his ex. He hasn't come back," Leonard said, looking around. "So basically, I've been abandoned by everyone. No girl and no friends."
Andrew smiled, amused. "Relax, I get you. I also came out of moral obligation, not enthusiasm."
"Wanna go home and play video games?" he added, and Leonard agreed immediately.
They started heading toward the exit. Howard had a car and could go back with Steve, so they could manage on their own, they were big boys already.
But as soon as they reached the front yard, right before crossing the street, they stopped. They saw Alison there, talking with another girl.
Andrew and Leonard exchanged a quick glance and walked over.
"Alison?" Leonard called, raising a hand.
She turned around, surprised, visibly uncomfortable to see them, especially Andrew. He had a reputation, too much of one. Mater Dei's star quarterback, the guy who showed up on ESPN, the one 99% of campus idolized.
"Oh… hi," she said with a tense smile.
"Isn't Howard with you?" Leonard asked.
"Howard is… well, he's not with me anymore. We broke up a little while ago," she said at last, fiddling with the edge of her cup.
Leonard and Andrew exchanged a look. They didn't need words. Both knew exactly what that meant.
Howard, sixteen years old, his first girlfriend, an ego inflated yet fragile… that could end either in a telenovela scene or a call to 911, suicide hotline.
"Great," Leonard muttered under his breath. "Exactly what we needed today."
They said goodbye to Alison and headed back into the house to look for Howard and support him.
The noise swallowed them again as soon as they stepped inside. They began searching, but there was no sign of Howard. Instead, they ran into Steve, leaning against the wall beside the fridge, cup in hand and a funeral-level expression.
He greeted them in a flat, theatrical tone, "Total failure, guys. Three attempts, three rejections. Do you know what it feels like when no one knows you're Notre Dame's starting wide receiver? It hurts."
Andrew laughed. "Maybe try starting with normal conversation instead of yelling: 'Did you know I'm ranked top 12 in the country?'"
Steve smirked and brushed it off, he wasn't genuinely bothered. When they told him about Howard, he joined the search without hesitation.
But after ten minutes wandering around the house, there was still no trace of Howard.
"Where the hell is he?" Steve asked, crossing his arms.
"Maybe he went back to his house?" Leonard suggested.
They all exchanged looks and headed toward Howard's car to check if it was still there. The red, second-hand sedan was parked in its usual spot, headlights off, innocuous-looking. But before they could say anything, they saw him: Howard, in the driver's seat, head resting against the steering wheel.
They approached slowly. Steve pressed his face against the window and shouted, "Hey, Wolowitz! Open the door!"
Howard lifted his head slowly. His eyes were red, his hair a mess, nose runny.
"This is worse than I imagined…" Leonard murmured, and Andrew nodded.
"Go away. I want to be alone," Howard muttered, and let his face fall back onto the wheel.
Steve, impatient, tapped the glass with his finger. "Come on, open up! Or I'm breaking the window of your new car!" he threatened, more joking than serious, but with just enough edge to make Howard react.
In the end, Howard had no choice, he unlocked the doors. Steve climbed quickly into the passenger seat. Andrew and Leonard got in the back, forming an improvised emotional containment squad.
At first, silence ruled. Howard kept his head resting against the steering wheel, breathing loudly through his nose, saying nothing.
"Ahem… we heard you broke up with Alison…" Andrew finally said, with the awkward tone of someone unsure whether to comfort or run away. "What happened?"
Howard took a few seconds to answer.
"She broke up with me," he muttered, and then after a pause he added, "Her parents don't accept our relationship after, you know."
The three of them exchanged glances. They knew exactly what he meant.
The infamous incident.
The one where Alison's father, ex-military, ultra-Catholic, and with a face like he'd survived three wars, caught them mid, sexual act in her bedroom.
Ever since then, Howard had gone from "odd boyfriend, but okay" to "agent of the devil" in that household. The fact that the relationship lasted a few more days had already been considered a miracle.
Steve and Leonard looked at Andrew, silently telling him to say something.
'Why me?' Andrew thought with a grimace.
"That sucks, man," Andrew said, tone serious.
Leonard and Steve nodded exaggeratedly, chiming in with murmurs like "yeah, yeah, terrible, absolutely unfair."
"Tonight's a bad night for relationships, right Leonard?" Andrew added, trying to shift the focus.
"Totally. Olivia dumped me too. And Steve…" Leonard said, "was rejected by three girls and, also, his girlfriend broke up with him last week."
Steve shot him a look, half offended, half resigned. 'Was that level of detail necessary?' he thought, but he only smiled and turned toward Howard.
"He's right, man. We all suck tonight. We're failures in love, united by tragedy."
Howard lifted his head, his eyes swollen, but with a spark of comfort. "All of us?" he asked, looking at Andrew with suspicion.
Andrew thought for a second and answered quickly, "Yeah, of course. Me too. Things with Madison ended badly. I'm… devastated," he said, overacting a sad face.
Howard narrowed his eyes. "Did she break up with you?" he asked, skeptical.
Andrew fell silent. Then sighed. "No… I broke up with her."
"Then we're NOT all the same! That doesn't count!" Howard protested, "It's different when you get dumped versus when you do the dumping."
Leonard shrugged. "He kind of has a point."
"Hey, but we all ended badly in romance tonight," Andrew said with a huff. "The result is the same."
Howard whipped his head around, his expression shifting abruptly, "No, it's not the same!" he exclaimed, slamming the steering wheel. "The one who ends things is in control, thinking they're the mature, responsible person making decisions! But when you get dumped, you feel like garbage!"
Andrew raised a brow. "Being the one who ends things isn't exactly great either," he replied. "You always have that sting of guilt, wondering if you were too cold or if you should've tried harder. And having that uncomfortable conversation isn't exactly fun."
Howard glared at him, face flushed. "Yeah, sure, easy for you to say," he snapped. "You're the number one quarterback in the country. You break up with girls and before you even blink you have another one waiting. You walk through the hallway and they swarm you. Your biggest problem is deciding who to kiss first."
Andrew stared at him, unblinking. "Trust me, it's not as great as it looks," he said dryly. "When girls approach you because of your achievements and fame and not because of who you are, everything feels empty. Meanwhile, if a girl comes up to you…" he pointed at Howard, "it's because she actually likes you as a person."
Howard stared at him for a few seconds, unsure if that was a compliment or an insult. "Oh, poor thing," he finally said, dripping sarcasm. "The handsome, famous guy, with every girl in the country wanting to sleep with him, but he suffers because nobody understands him emotionally. What a Hollywood tragedy."
Andrew clenched his jaw. "And what do you know?" he shot back firmly. "Your relationship with Alison was a joke from the start. All you cared about was showing off that you had a girlfriend and having sex. So stop crying like you lost your soulmate."
"What did you just say?!" Howard yelled, whipping around from the front seat, eyes bulging, trying to lunge backward.
Steve reacted instantly. He grabbed Howard's shoulder and shoved him back into the seat. "Hey, hey! Enough, both of you!" he shouted. "We're not fighting over girls! We're friends, for God's sake!"
Leonard straightened up in the backseat, ready to intervene if Howard managed to wriggle free. He watched him with that mix of nerves and resignation people have when a house cat tries to attack a lion.
"He started it," Andrew muttered, crossing his arms and staring out the window, completely unfazed.
"Alright, everyone calm down," said Steve, taking a breath like he was mediating a peace treaty. "I propose we have a guys' night at my place. No drama, no girls, just… chill and forget about all this. What do you say?"
Leonard was the first to nod. "Yeah, that sounds good to me."
Andrew followed with a simple nod.
Howard, still red-eyed and nasal-voiced, huffed but eventually muttered, "Fine."
Steve let out a relieved sigh, leaning back in his seat. This wasn't exactly his usual role.
In fact, it was the complete opposite. If there was ever a fight, it was usually because Steve had said something inappropriate.
If there was a rule, he was the first to test what happened when he broke it.
And if the group ever ended up punished, nine times out of ten, he was the reason.
For a moment, it seemed like everything was settling, until Steve added with an exaggeratedly serious expression, "Alright, let's go to my place to watch porn. I heard it strengthens friendship."
Leonard and Andrew stared at him, incredulous.
"What?" Andrew said. "Where did you get that from?"
"Meme pages," Steve answered without blinking.
Leonard blinked back. "What kind of weird pages are you following?"
Steve kept a straight face for two more seconds before bursting into laughter. "I'm kidding! Let's go before someone loses their temper again."
In the end, Steve ended up driving Howard's car. He took the keys without hesitation, saying Howard was "not in an emotional state to drive and he didn't want to die in an accident caused by heartbreak."
Andrew and Leonard followed behind in Andrew's car, trailing the red sedan through the empty streets.
At Steve's house, they spent the night with soda, video games, and drama-free jokes. Howard, though quiet at first, eventually ended up laughing with the others, though he kept a bit of distance from Andrew.
Around two in the morning, Andrew said goodbye and headed back home. The semifinal day had come to an end.
The countdown to the big game, Mater Dei vs. Long Beach Poly, had begun.
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