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Then, before they can start yelling at me or bite out a mean reply, I step outside and join Leah in the cold and snowy air, closing the door behind me.
Leah runs a hand through her long brown hair. Her teeth are chattering from the cold. At least, Ithinkfrom the cold.
“I-I am so sorry. I don’t know why I came here. That was stupid of me.”
I motion for us to step away from my front porch. It’s better if we talk somewhere where cameramen aren’t lingering nearby. As we begin walking, I realize I should’ve remembered my jacket.
“No, I’m glad you came,” I tell her. “I’m sorry about my parents. Clearly, they’re not on my side about the whole thing.”
She nods her head, her hands in her pockets as we stroll down the sidewalk. The sun is about to finish setting, and we’re walking in the direction of the last bits of its glow.
Leah doesn’t immediately have a reply. There is definitely tension hanging in the air between us, words left unsaid, so I’m relieved when she finally speaks.
“I’m sorry for how I acted outside of Henderson’s.” She lets her hair fall in front of her. It strikes me as slightly odd because Leah was always such a confident, popular girl back in high school.
“Oh, yeah?” I ask her. “Why the change of heart?”
“I have the local news app on my phone. I saw a headline notification this morning about how you and your brother got into a fistfight outside of his house yesterday.”
I wince. I should’ve paid more attention to the mysterious black car parked outside of the gate at Derek’s place. I should have known that it was the paparazzi. But at the same time, I don’t feel that bad about it—I’m glad that the world seems to know where I stand on the whole situation. I’m glad I’m doing what’s right.
“Oh. That.” I pull a hand out of the pocket of my jeans to inspect my scabbed-up knuckles. The cold air outside seems dangerous enough to split them back open.
Leah sneaks a look over at my hand as well. “You got him good,” she says. “At least from what I could see in the picture, anyway.”
“Thank you,” I say awkwardly, my heart skipping a beat. Maybe I’m just glad to find out that she doesn’t hate me after all.
“Yeah.”
We turn the corner of my street and continue walking in silence for a little bit.
I wait as long as I can to see if she’s going to say something else, but when I’ve had enough, I speak again. “So, uh, Leah,” I start. “What else brings you to my house today? Was it just so you could apologize?”
Leah keeps her head down as we walk. I get the feeling that whatever she’s about to tell me isn’t something she likes to talk about.
“Um… I guess I just wanted to tell you that it’s true.”
The pitiful ham and cheese sandwich I had whipped up in the kitchen before heading to the computer upstairs after work revolts in my stomach.
“It’s true?” I ask.
“Yes. About Derek. It wasn’t me who made that anonymous post, and I still have yet to make one, but everything that all those other girls are saying. It’s true. I-I know firsthand.”
I stop walking, the news shaking me to my core. Derek had been abusive to her when they were together. Has he ever been good toanyone?
Leah doesn’t stop walking with me, though. I get a feeling that maybe it’s because it’s easier for her to keep going than it is to stay still and have to look at me.
So, I jog a little to catch up to her, my entire body feeling like it’s about to shut down from the cold outside. I really don’t want to walk too much further without something warmer to wear.
“Are you okay?” I ask her, not really knowing what else to say.
She sighs and kicks a pile of frozen leaves into the snow. “I am now. It was a long time ago. But it definitely messed me up. He was a monster, Brennan. But he was solikedby everybody that no one else seemed to be able to see it. He had a way of making me feel powerless, like nobody would ever be on my side. So, I stayed silent. And I let it pretty much ruin me.”
How the hell am I supposed to make up for that?
“I don’t even really know what to say to you right now,” I decide to tell her honestly. “If I’d had any idea…”
Finally, she sneaks a peek up at me. “It’s not your fault. It’s not my fault, either. It’s no one but Derek’s. Took me a long time to realize that. But thank you.”
