AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Um …” He gulped, and started backing away toward the elevator. “You guys have to leave. Library’s closed.”
“So it is,” Pierre responded, zipping up his pants.
With that, the kid hurried back into the elevator, and the doors closed as soon as he entered.
Once we were alone again, Pierre turned to face me.
“Now Felix knows how it feels,” he muttered, reaching up with his arm wipe the tears from his eyes. “How I feel.”
Shaking my head, I slipped my pants back over my legs, and tugged my coat tight around me. Then I crossed my arms over my chest. In the dim lighting, I had to step close enough to him so that the toes of our shoes met in order to see him. For a moment, I just stood there, face to face with my best friend, my partner in crime, my other half in so many ways.
I couldn’t worry about Felix. Not now.
I did what I did for one reason, and one reason only. It had nothing to do with me, and everything to do with Pierre.
“Are you happy now?” I asked, my voice coming out cold.
I stared into him, unblinking. The ball was in his court, and the question was genuine.
He wasn’t going to answer me. Not now, not ever. I could feel it.
He was ashamed of what he did. Like punching Tommy, it was a spur of the moment thing, an instinctual act, something his body did, not him. Without speaking, that’s what he was saying to me. That was his defense.
But I knew it was much deeper than that.
“Yeah,” I said before walking past him. “You should feel ashamed
“Wait.”
Pierre grabbed my arm, pulling me back to him. The action was aggressive, and I snapped my arm away from him, pulling it tight to my chest.
“Don’t fucking touch me,” I growled, and started to turn away from him again. But then, at the last moment, I whipped back around to face him. “I can’t keep going through life making choices based on what you want. Being your friend is like walking on fucking eggshells, everywhere I go, you know that, right?”
I was shouting at him now, jabbing my finger toward him. I was pissed, and I wanted him to know it.
“You knew I was involved with Felix, and the others,” I continued, trying and failing to calm my tone of voice. “If anything, it was them I was cheating on, not you. I’m allowed to fuck around with whoever I want. And you can’t decide that for me.”
Pierre stood still, so silent that if I didn’t know he was right in front of me, I wouldn’t have realized he was there at all. He stepped back, and his silhouette blended into the shadows.
Taking in a deep breath, I tried to look at the situation from his point of view. Considering his overall mental state, of course it’d make him upset to literally see me with someone else.
But just because we both had beef with the same group of people didn’t mean he had to act out in the way he did.
“Look,” I said, lowering my voice as I let out a heavy sigh. “Here’s the thing. I want to be with you, Pierre. I do.” I paused, wondering if I was telling the truth. For now, it might as well have been. “But if you want me, you’re going to have to accept Elliot. And Leo. And Felix.”
“I’m sorry,” he replied, his voice gravelly, choked up. I felt him stepping past me. “I don’t know if I can do that.”
This time, it was my turn to hold him back.
“Then you at least have to start being honest with me,” I said. “I’ve been honest with you. I’ve told you about Felix, about the others. About what happened to me.” I could feel his arm relaxing in my grip. “Now you have to tell me about where the hell you’ve been, and why you were here.”
“You could tell me the same thing,” he retorted, and stepped closer to me. “Why you were both here.”
“I’ll show you why,” I muttered, reaching into my pocket for my phone. After a moment of scrounging around, I still couldn’t find the damn thing. “Fuck. I must’ve dropped it somewhere around here.”
“Hm.”
I looked at Pierre. “I got a text from some number I didn’t recognize. Whoever sent it told me to come here at this time.”
