“A boyfriend? You never told me about a boyfriend, Theo.” Robbie complains.
“It was nothing.” Teddy frowns, eyes turning cold again as he picks up his beer.
I stare daggers into the side of his head, but he avoids meeting my eye.
It was notnothing.
Is this my punishment? Him announcing to everyone that I had been such an insignificant part of his life? Maybe I deserve it. I threw him away first—told him I’d never loved him.
Except I was lying when I said all those things. I'm not sure I can say the same for him.
“Excuse me.” The table falls silent as Teddy stands up before making his way to the bathroom.
THEO
All weekit’s been eating away at me that there’s something not right about Bailey. How he acted at the harbour reminded me of when I first met him. The way tears glistened in his eyes as he struggled to talk;that’sthe Bailey I’d forgotten. The Bailey I’d cleaned up in the woods when no one else gave a shit. The Bailey I wanted to protect from his shitty mum. The Bailey I swore would never hurt me.
I want to know why he’s acting like he doesn’t remember the night I left. That’s why I came here. But being that close to him was like sitting next to an open fire. Warm and familiar at first, then gradually getting hotter until it felt like the flames would consume me. I don’t know why I thought I’d be able to get through tonight.
I turn the cold tap on and splash my face to cool down just as the bathroom door flies open, banging against the wall.
“What the hell was that?” Bailey demands.
Nope. I was definitely wrong to think I could talk to him. I freeze at the sound of his raised voice, staring at my reflection in the mirror. I see my eighteen-year-old self, wide-eyed and scared looking back.
“Teddy, we need to talk about this, because I don’t know what’s wrong. This is more than just the break up.”
Of course it’s more than the fucking break up.
“I didn’t mean to end things between us, I swear. It was Shane?—”
I turn to face him. “What was Shane?” I snap, feeling like I’m vibrating out of my skin.
“Everything! He said I didn’t deserve—” He cuts himself off, then grabs my arm, stepping into me, backing me into the corner. “Just tell me what I did,please.”
I put my hand on his chest to stop him getting closer, unable to think or look at him. He’s messing with my head, like he did all those years ago.
“Come on Teddy, youknowme. I wouldn’t have said those things to you if I had no other choice. I loved you?—”
“No. You don't do that to someone you love, Bailey. We were kids. Neither of us knew what love was, but that wasn’t fucking it.” I push his chest again but he doesn’t move. “I wish I’d never met you,” I rasp. A sharp pain shoots through my chest as the lie leaves my lips. However much I hate him now, IknowI loved him once. I must have, or else it wouldn’t hurt so bad. I’ve never felt anything close to it since.
Bailey’s mouth goes slack, and he puts his hands on the wall either side of my head. “You’re a liar … you don’t get to say the time we had together meant nothing to you, Teddy. I was there too. It was everything.”
I’m shaking my head before he’s even finished. My breath hitches as I meet his gaze. Tears threaten to spill from his eyes, light bouncing off rings of gold. Memories of that night try topush through, but I close my mind to them and try to focus on breathing.
His chest rises and falls quickly as he draws short breaths. He looks terrified, and so much like the sixteen-year-old Bailey I remember that I find it hard to piece the two versions of him together. Fractured moments slip through: the first time he spoke to me, the first time I kissed him … the first time I told him I loved him.
Bailey rests his forehead against mine, and I freeze at the contact, trying to swallow around the lump in my throat.
Tears stream down his face as he holds the knife to my throat. “You made me do this!”
“Move,” I say hoarsely.
Ignoring me, he leans closer, breath puffing against my lips. “No.”
“Move!” I shout over the high-pitched wailing in my ears.
Bailey growls in frustration. Tearing himself away from me, he punches the mirror, glass shatters everywhere, and I collapse to the floor with my arms over my head, a whimper falling from my lips.
