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“Mack.”
She glares a questioning look at me.
“Mackenzie. I didn’t sleep with Owen.”
She narrows her eyes, then slowly turns and continues walking, turning onto Maple Street.
“This is Owen we’re talking about,” she says. “I had to ask.”
“It was never like that,” I say, hoping the tinge of disappointment in my voice isn’t apparent to anyone but me. “But we became friends.”
“When?” Mack asks.
“High school,” I say. “You know the pond out back?”
“The dock? Your spot, right?”
“Yes,” I say. “One day, I went down there, and he was there.”
She frowns. “Doing what?”
I shrug. “He had a journal with him. Maybe he was thinking too?”
“So, what, you guys sat around thinking together?”
I shoot her a look.
“Well, Owen doesn’t talk, so I can’t picture you doing anything else.”
I smile, remembering that first day at the dock. “No. He doesn’t. Didn’t, I mean. Not at first,” I say. “But eventually. . .he did. Took some food to loosen him up, but yeah.”
She softly chuckles. “Classic Owen”
“Turns out he’s a really good listener.”
“He’s what?”
“You really should give him a chance,” I say. “I don’t get why you’re so hard on him all the time.”
“Emmy, even though he made my parents’ lives a living hell all through high school, he was a good person, you know? Despite always getting in trouble. I saw this great person who was basically choosing to be a failure. He treated people like trash. Didn’t care about other people’s feelings or having any kind of responsibility. You know what it’s like to watch someone throw their life away?”
I never looked at it like that.
She stops walking for a moment. “He’s my brother. I love him. I want him to succeed. But man, did he make some idiotic choices in life. Enter, Lindsay.”
I look down. I hope I’m not one of those idiotic choices.
“I still looked up to him. Like, a lot. And when he left, I don’t know. I guess I took it personally.”
“So, talk to him about it,” I say. “It doesn’t do you any good to hold a grudge. Especially when you’ve both grown up.”
She starts walking again, and I fall into step beside her.
“Emmy, be honest,” she says, not looking at me. “Did you guys hook up?”
“No, Mack, I swear,” I say.
“It’s weird for Owen to be friends with a girl and not hook up with her.”
