“Bullshit, bro.” My chest rose rapidly, as if I’d just been forced to run laps in high school. “Don’t… C’mon, man. You know that’s bullshit.”
He wouldn’t look at his sister or me. “It’s not. There’s nothing to tell.”
Their parents had been exchanging quiet words. Mrs. Beckett said, “Miles, we love you. We would do anything for you, but we cannot support this wedding. Your father and I are asking you to reconsider. If you can’t, or won’t, or feel scared, or in danger, that’s okay. We will still pay for the venue and everything else. But we will not be attending and are going to tell our families not to go either.”
Miles’s eyes opened as wide as his mouth in a silent scream. His chair flew back, digging a divot into the grass where it landed.
“You can’t fucking do that! Do you know how bad that will look? To our friends? Or her family? Or her followers?! She’s about to sign a huge sponsorship deal! What if… what if someone guesses… or, or, or… finds out why you’re not there!” He was close to hyperventilating.
“Calm down, buddy.” Mr. Beckett’s tone was even, and his voice deep. “We love you, and that’s why we can’t go. If we didn’t care—”
“She was right! Bree was FUCKING right!” Miles said.
“Please sit down,” his mom said.
But Lena said, “What was she right about, Mi? She’s a liar and manipulator. She hasn’t been right about anything a day in her life.”
“She always said,always, since the first time she met all of you, that you didn’t love me. I’m not a girl, or gay, and that’s all that matters to you people.”
“Dude, c’mon,” I said, shaking my head. “Do youhearyourself right now?”
“Miles, you know that’s not true,” his mom said.
“It is!” He was sobbing. “She was right about everything! No one else will love me like she does. She’ssofar outta my league… I’mluckyto have her! You’llalwayschoose Lena and Ryder over me. Always!”
Miles was losing steam, and I fetched his chair from the lawn, afraid he’d collapse. My heart broke for him, and my stomach retched. He was under so much pressure, I was afraid he’d pop. I hated it, all of it. Seeing him that way, hearing the pain in his voice, but most of all, I hated her.
While I did, Mrs. Beckett said, “Honey, those are lies meant to isolate you from anyone who’d help you see it.”
I put the chair behind him just in time for him to fall into it. “No they’re not. It’s all true. If you don’t go, that justprovesit. She said some mean things about Ryder—so what! And now you’re not going. She wasright! You’ll always choose him over me. Even at mywedding!”
Nails ran up my back like Bree’s hand on my arm. I shivered. “They weren’t just some mean things. She was disgusting. Shameful.Hateful, bro. Can’t you see what she’s done? What she’sdoing?”
His face was destroyed, and he looked at me as if he’d never seen me before.
Lena said, “It isn’t about him anyway, Mi. It’s about you. I never liked her, but if she was good to you, I’d have learned to deal. But she’s…”
The Becketts stared at each other, concern turning to fear on their mom’s face. “Miles, what would it take to show you that isn’t true?”
“Nothing! She’s right! Always was. Now my own family won’t come to mywedding!” His body shook as if he were sobbing, but no tears fell.
I tried to catch his eye but couldn’t. I’d never been so scared for him. He had to hear us, hehadto understand.
His dad said, “It makes me sick to my stomach to think my son, my little buddy, is being treated the way you’ve just told us. But,” he looked at his wife, who nodded, “If it takes us being there to prove to you she’s lying, then we will be.”
My stomach dropped, and the backyard turned cold. I must’ve missed something or misheard. Mr. Beckett didn’t mean that. Of course, he didn’t.
“You’ll come? Even after… for real?” Miles’s chin quivered.
“If that’s what it’ll take, yes,” Mrs. Beckett said. “We love you, Miles. We choose you. And we will be there for you when you can’t take any more, with open arms.” Her face set the hardest it’d been that night. “But we can’t in good conscience let our families go. It’s not right, and we won’t do it.”
“That’s fine.” Miles sniffled. “I understand. She won’t, but I do.”
I couldn’t believe my ears. How could they fold like that? Give her exactly what she wanted? Bree’s voice, slurring and slimy, hissedpicture-perfectin my memory. My stomach raged. Maybe a parent’s love is different, but I couldn’t stand it.
“I’m out, dude,” I said, breathing heavily. “I can’t be a part of that. If you’re too far gone to hear what your parentsare saying, then, then…” My heart raced, and my head swam. “I don’t know, but I can’t and won’t be part of it.”
They stared at me. I think I caught some admiration in Mr. Beckett’s eye, but it didn’t last long enough to tell.
