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When I glance at Bianca, it’s obvious how comfortable she is with this life. Looking at her now in her designer clothes and diamond jewelry, it’s almost comical that I believed her when she told me her family was barely getting by. I can see now that her father was right about everything. She sold me a story, and even if she hadn’t, the writing’s on the wall. Adam can give her the money, clothes, and cars. All I ever had to offer her was me.
The weight of that reality hangs over me as I shift the car into drive, and Bianca plugs in her address on the GPS. Silence consumes us, and I think it’s for the best. We’ve barely spoken over the past few weeks since the news of Ada’s death broke, and the aftermath has left everybody shaken.
When Ada’s parents found out their daughter had been partying at our house before she died, they laid the blame on Mom and Stefan for allowing it in the first place. They threatened to go to the media and tried to get the local police involved, unaware that Stefan already had them in his pocket. When the toxicology report came back, Ada’s mother was adamant that something was wrong. She swore her daughter wouldn’t have taken the drugs they found in her body, and it didn’t make sense for her to drive her car into a lake. But when Stefan spun things the way he usually does, informing her the public wouldn’t see it that way, he inevitably negotiated them into silence with a settlement, offering to preserve her reputation.
Adam quietly distanced himself from the whole thing, and Bianca’s parents kept her at home while Mom and Stefan handled the situation. Everything has been put on hold, including a discussion about what happened between Bianca and me that night. But I can feel it looming over us, and Bianca confirms it when she finally speaks.
“Did you come today because you had feelings for her?”
“I came because it felt like the right thing to do,” I tell her. “I barely knew her, but I shouldn’t have disrespected her the way I did.”
Bianca dips her head, trying to get control of her emotions.
“The last words I spoke to her were in anger,” she confesses.
“I’m sorry.” I grip the wheel harder as guilt settles into my gut. “I shouldn’t have come between you two. I was an asshole.”
“It wasn’t about you,” she says. “I was angry with her for talking behind my back to Adam, but I never thought there wouldn’t be a chance to fix it. One day she was there, and then she just… wasn’t.”
She doesn’t elaborate, and I don’t push her to. We’re almost at her house, and I don’t know what else to say. I’m not good at this shit. I never have been. It feels like we have a thousand unspoken truths between us, but unleashing them now won’t change anything.
“You can just pull up to the curb here,” Bianca tells me before we enter the gated community.
She doesn’t say it’s because her parents would freak the fuck out if they knew I drove her home, and I don’t mention it either. Beyond the gates, the houses are behemoth displays of wealth, like I figured they would be.
I shut off the engine, and Bianca turns to face me. She’s on the verge of crying again, and it’s only now I’m noticing how gaunt her face looks. She’s lost weight since the last time I saw her, and it bothers me. It bothers me that I can’t make her feel better and that there’s way too much fucking tension between us from shit we still haven’t dealt with. I want things to be different than they are, but I know that isn’t realistic. I just want her to be honest with me.
“Don’t you think it’s weird?” She wipes the moisture from the edges of her eyes. “She didn’t do drugs. Never in the entire time I’ve known her.”
“It is a little weird,” I admit. “But sometimes people hide those things. We only ever know what someone wants us to know, regardless of how close we might be.”
Bianca frowns and shakes her head like I don’t get it. I probably didn’t say the right thing, and at this point, I don’t even know what that might be. Admittedly, I have wondered where Ada got the drugs because I know it wasn’t at the party. Or at least, not that I saw.
“There’s a rumor going around that she was talking to you that night.” Bianca’s eyes move over my face in question.
An uneasy feeling settles over me. This is the first I’m hearing of any rumor, but of course, I don’t talk to most of the people Adam hangs out with.
“I stopped to talk to her for two minutes on my way back to the cottage,” I say. “I apologized for being an asshole, and I left her there. That was all that happened.”
