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Daniel noticed. “After this is all over—once Mom’s in rehab, and the kids are with my grandparents—I thought I’d ask people over to have a bonfire night. Will you come? I don’t know if you like that kind of thing.”
A weird bubble rose inside me and burst. Relief. Everything had changed. I’d dumped Adam, and I’d promised Daniel to be his friend above all else. “Of course. Who doesn’t like bonfires?”
“People who are afraid of fire?”
I laughed and ran my hand up his arm. His bicep was strong beneath my touch. “I’ll be there. Duh.”
Daniel smiled, and I took a few photos of of him with the sunlight in his hair, reflecting off the scruff of his unshaven face. I took one final snapshot of him looking simultaneously amused and sad, and then I let my camera drop. It was time to go.
“I’ll be there,” I called back to him as I headed toward my car. “I wouldn’t miss it.”
I meant that in more ways than one. I was going to be there for Daniel. I wasn’t going to miss this opportunity to be his friend again.
In my rearview mirror, Daniel stood barefoot with his hands in his pockets. The hope in my heart came out of hiding and glowed like the late afternoon sun.
Bright and warm. Like him.
***
Forty minutes later,I was home, and the house was deserted. There was a note on the kitchen counter in my mother’s handwriting.
Adam called three times. I told him if he called again, I’d have him charged with assault for what he did to you. That scared him good. Don’t answer the phone for a few days. Let the machine get it. He’ll move on. Your father and I are going out to dinner. We’ll be back by nine or so.
I wadded up the note and threw it in the trash. I didn’t want to ruin the glow of a possible new beginning with Daniel by calling Adam. I wanted to take my camera out and snap photos of beautiful things. But I knew Adam well enough to be certain he wasn’t going to move on that easily. Unless I told him again, in no uncertain terms, that I was done, unless I added a threat to the mix, he’d just keep calling or coming around.
I steeled myself to dial his dorm room number. Pressing the receiver to my ear, I slid down the kitchen wall to sit on the floor. I wrapped my arms around my middle to hold in my quivering, nervous guts, hoping to get the machine. I didn’t ever want to hear his voice again.
“Hello?”
“It’s me,” I said.
“Peter! Thank you for calling me. Thank you, thank,thank you,” he babbled, a wet edge to his voice, like he’d been crying. Had he ever stopped? “Please just hear me out, okay? We can—”
I squeezed myself tighter, interrupting him. “No. Stop calling me.” I swallowed thickly. “Never call me again.”
Adam plowed on like I hadn’t said anything. “We can make this work, Eater. I know we can. Just listen to me. Please.Please. I love you, and—”
“Stop talking,” I bit out. “We’re done. Got it?”
He went silent, even his breath cutting off. I was torn between hanging up and asking if he was still there when he whispered, “How can we work this out if you won’t listen to me?”
I closed my eyes, leaning my head against the kitchen wall. “Youlisten tome. I need you to understand this, Adam. We aren’t working anything out. It’s over.”
“I’m going to change, Peter.” Adam’s voice broke, and he started to cry. “I’m going to be a better person for you. I swear. I just need a little more time, another year, and I promise to make this right between us.”
I rubbed my forehead with shaking fingers. I had to stay strong. I couldn’t let him get under my skin.
“Please, Peter,please!” Adam begged. The desperation in his voice embedded in my heart like a shard of glass. “I need you.”
I remembered him grabbing and twisting my wrist at Fusion, Leslie’s troubled blue eyes, and the sheer misery of the last time we’d been together. I hardened myself. “No. The thing isIdon’t needyou. I’m happier without you. Understand?”
My throat felt tight, and my eyes burned. I’d been so in love with him once. I’d let him convince me to listen to and believe in him so many times before. It’d all come to this anyway. It’d all come to shit.
I forced myself to make it as final as possible. “I learned this summer I’m happier when I’m not with you. You make memiserable. You ruin things. You take love and make it ugly. I don’t want you anymore.”
“What does that mean? This summer you learned…” He whispered, “You fucked around on me?”
I gripped the phone. “Yeah, I did.”
