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“You really think that.”
“I can’t believe you don’t.”
Mel looked past him, around him, and Nick wondered what she was searching for. Someone she used to know, maybe.
“Vicki left you because she was in California and you were here,” she said finally. “She left because sometimes people leave, Nick. And you can keep trying to replace her with whoever you find in that bar, but those girls are never going to want you. Not really.”
“Because I’m a cripple.”
“Because the girls you bring home for the night don’t want to find out who you are. And you’re trying to show them someone else.”
Nick was too angry to back down, but there wasn’t anything to attack in what she said.
“Hayley sees what I see,” Mel continued softly. “But if you truly believe I’m wrong, maybe you should leave.”
So he did.
Nick could hear them talking in the hallway as he made his way down the front steps.
“You’re not going out with him,” Mel said. “Not after that.”
“I’m going to sit with him in the driveway,” Gavin said, “and then he’s going home.”
“Did you know about this?”
“No, Mel. But I do know he’s still our friend.”
For a while, Nick and Gavin just sipped their beers.
Eventually Nick said, “These lawn chairs are so much nicer than the ones your parents had.”
“It’s true,” Gavin said. “I’ve really made something of myself.”
The neighborhood was quiet, and they were running out of daylight. The view wasn’t exactly scenic—just the cars in other people’s driveways, really—but sitting like this felt like it had in high school, when they were surveying the world of possibilities before them.
“I should go back in there.”
“No,” Gavin said.
“I really pissed her off this time. That’s not me.”
“Actually, you hurt her. You made her feel like you spend time with her out of pity.” Gavin idly tapped his bottle against his knee. “Go back in there now and you’ll just make it worse.”
Nick studied his friend, who appeared to be tracking a cyclist returning home across the street.
“How are you not furious with me?” he asked.
Gavin thought about it. “I’m not exactly happy,” he said, “but I think most of that needed to be said. By both of you.”
Nick didn’t have a reply.
“You know what’s funny?” Gavin continued. “You both get each other really well. Better than you realize, I think. This would’ve happened sooner, except you both thought you were being nice by not pushing each other’s buttons.”
“So she really thinks I’m horrible?”
“Of course not. She just thinks you’re an idiot.”
“And what do you think?”
