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“I’m inviting myself over for dinner, and I brought it along. I don’t get the impression that you’re someone who cooks. Even ifyou are, this is easier. Everything’s done and ready. What do you say, Olson?”
“You want to have dinner with me?” Elena asks slowly, as if she can’t believe the idea.
“Sure, why not? Come on, it’s getting cold.”
“Okay.” Reluctantly she lets me in. That’s one of the reasons I wanted to spend some time with her. This weird aversion thing she’s got going on has got to stop. Good thing I brought a bottle of wine too.
“Nice place, Elena.” I glance around it. “Show me the kitchen, if you know where it is.”
“I’ll have you know I can cook just fine. It’s this way.” She gives me a slightly mistrustful glance as we walk. “Do you always show up unannounced at someone’s place bearing dinner?”
“No, but we’re neighbors. Nothing wrong hanging out.” I ask as she gets some plates out. “Everything good with you? Did your meeting go well?”
“Yes,” she says. “All good.”
I can’t help but notice her awkwardness. “If you don’t want me here, Olson, I can leave. Just say the word. Dinner’s yours and yours alone.”
“It’s not that. Not exactly,” she says. “I’m mostly wondering why you’re here.”
“Not exactly? Ouch.” I clutch at my chest. “I came over because I wanted to spend some time with you.”
Her brow crinkles in an endearingly cute way. “Yes, but why? It’s not like we’re friends.”
“We used to be. High school wasn’t that long ago, Elena. Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten that.”
“We were friends. Were, as in past tense. Then we weren’t, and I haven’t forgotten what you did.”
“What I did?” I echo. “What’s that?”
Her mouth hardens. “Don’t pretend like you don’t remember.”
I genuinely don’t know what she’s talking about. I spread my arms wide. “I really don’t know what you mean, Elena. Let’s discuss it over dinner.”
“Fine,” she says grudgingly. “Since we have to be neighbors now, maybe we should get to where we can be civil to each other.”
I’m about to comment that I have no problem with that, but stop myself in time. She’s actually upset about something.
“What’s up,” I prod her after we start eating and she still hasn’t said a word. I didn’t come over here to have dinner in silence. I could do that by myself if I wanted to.
Elena sets her fork down and picks it up again, turning it between in her fingers. “I don’t forgive you. You made my senior year hell. Now you’re saying you don’t remember what you did? That’s cold, Logan.”
“Elena,” I begin. “I honestly don’t. If you tell me, we can clear the air.”
She snorts. “So ruining my life meant nothing to you? Good to know. Maybe you should leave now.”
“I don’t want to leave. I want to know what’s going on. How can I make things right when I don’t know what I did? All I remember is us being friends and then drifting apart.”
“Drifting apart? That’s not even close to what happened.” Her eyes are blistering. “What happened was you made a fool out of me. You told everyone I had a crush on you. I got teased about it for months and months. It was awful. Relentless. Every day someone tacked photos of you up on my locker. I got texts from guys who I barely even knew taunting me. No one would let up on it.”
“Those were just jokes. No one meant anything by them,” I say. “Beside, I didn’t spread that rumor around. It wasn’t me.”
“You told the biggest gossip in the school that you heard I thought you were hot. He ran with that and it spread to everyone.”
“Who, Zep?” I might’ve done that. I don’t remember. He and I weren’t exactly friends, but we knew each other from around.
“Of course it was Zep. Who else? I thought he and I were friends too but he’d sell anyone out as long as he kept his reputation of being the guy who’s the first to know about everything going on. That was his whole deal, don’t you remember? Zep made being a gossip his entire personality. It was the only thing he could do to be remotely popular since he was such a creep. The rumors never died down. I couldn’t date because of it. Every single guy that I liked thought I was into you. I mean, it was bad enough that you weren’t interested in me. All of that on top of it was awful.”
“I had no idea all that happened. No wonder you always act like you hate me. But I did like you, Elena.” More than you ever knew.
