AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Well, he had it harder growing up because of us.”
He inhaled deeply. “I know what I’ll do, then. I’ll have a man-to-man with him. Apologize.”
“You’d do that?”
He shrugged. “Yeah, I mean, if I really affected the guy that badly, it’s only the right thing to do. Not that it’ll probably change anything, but I owe it to him. Can’t think of anything else to do besides that.”
“And you’d do that to win over Ashlee?”
“It might help with Ash, but it’s not just that. I mean, we were really fucktards. We probably went a little too far, so yeah, I’ll talk to him. What about you? You were the worst. Man, I remember the day you made him cry in front of the whole cafeteria. That was bad. And when you—”
“Evan, shut up.”
Shit. I’d tried to convince myself it hadn’t been that bad, but he was right. I’d been the worst bully to the boy I’d loved. And now my reason didn’t seem as valid as it had been to my eighteen-year-old brain.
“I screwed up.” I pulled out a chair and sat down heavily. “I fucking screwed everything up with him.”
“We all did, but we can make it right. Can’t we? I mean, he’s here. We’re here. Our ten-year reunion is next week. Perfect time, don’t you think?”
I propped my elbows on the table and ran my fingers through my hair. Wearing my hair down wasn’t something I often did. I always kept it in a bun or a ponytail, but since Troy returned, I’d gone back to keeping it loose because it reminded me of him. Of the way he’d tugged on it when he fucked me. But also the way he would run his fingers through the strands when we were done.
“He and I…were a thing.”
“Huh?”
“We dated back in senior year. I wasn’t out yet, so we hid it.”
“Are you fucking serious right now? Fuck, you are! What the—”
“I know. Trust me, I know.”
“So all that time you were bullying him, you were fucking around in quiet?”
“Nah, it stopped then. The day I shoved him against the lockers and broke his glasses, he stopped answering my calls, wouldn’t see me.”
“And you kept bullying him?”
“It was either do it myself so I could do just enough but not really hurt him or let you assholes do it, which would have been worse.”
“Or you could have told us he was your man, and we would have left him alone.”
“It’s easy to say that now. Perspectives change when you grow up. A lot of the shit we did back then, we would never have done now.”
“Have you talked to him since he’s been back?”
“Not in a way that counts. I really want to, but I’m not sure if he’ll listen.”
“That’s tough. I’d probably not want to talk to you either.”
When I left his place ten minutes later, Evan’s words followed me home. He was determined to meet with Troy and have a talk with him. As much as I wanted to do the same, I dreaded seeing him.
At home, I went straight into the kitchen and searched for my emergency box of cigarettes. I’d mostly quit, but on bad days, the nicotine worked like a charm. At least it used to, but this time each drag made me want to throw up, so I stubbed it out. Maybe some food would be a better idea.
Except my refrigerator was bare. The half-frozen box of pizza in the freezer didn’t look too appetizing, but I didn’t want to go back out.
Pizza it was.
I placed the box on the counter and popped a beer. Now this was the good kind.
