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I couldn’t say the words out loud, and they died on my tongue. I was overcome with grief, fear, panic, and anger. I was about to let loose Niagara’s Falls right there at the table.Trevor, I need you. The strange thing was, I had this feeling he was close to me. The news about my mom was making me crazy. Not only was it making me wish Trevor was there to support me, it was making me think he actuallywasthere.
I jumped up, banging my knee on the table. “Going to the bathroom,” I managed to choke out, before covering my mouth and rushing toward the back of the diner.
“Bye, wait,” My mom called behind me. I kept going. I just needed a second to gather myself, so that I wouldn’t fall apart.
I had gotten myself mostly under control in the short walk toward the back, pushed all the tears down, and was within fifteen feet of the bathroom doors when I heard it.
“It’s you, Long Neck.” Suddenly, my feet wouldn’t move, not one more step. It couldn’t be. A thrill ran down my spine. My inner giraffe was gleeful about my mate being so near. At the same time, my annoyance and defensiveness instinctively rose up, too. He’d given me that name because of the baby dinosaur in the old cartoon movie. He used to constantly make fun of my height, which was one of the reasons I couldn’t stand him back in the old days. He hadn’t changed.
I turned around very, very slowly, my shoes sticking on the coarse carpet. There he was, in the flesh. Trevor looked almost exactly the same, just with a hundred-dollar haircut and perfectly manicured nails. He was dressed casually, probably trying to blend in. He still stood out though, because of his smooth, cheeky grin and the biceps bunched up in his shirt sleeves, all with the grace and power of a leopard.
Oh yeah, now I remembered. No matter how much I hated him, he always turned me on.
My voice was flat when I answered. “It’s you, Short Body.” Depending on the day, he was also Short Dick. He always sneered at that one, though. I could insult him publicly all I wanted, but I’d seen him in his tight slacks at a networking function back in college. I knew he was packing heat.
He tilted his head and a strand of his perfect hair shook loose, making him look like a Calvin Klein model. “Awww, still mad that I pulled a Mark Zuckerburg and got rich while you had to live the cube life?” Actually, yes. It would never stop vexing me that Trevor, of all people in the universe, struck it crazy, stupid rich. In that moment, it was hard not to hate him. Not only was he an obnoxious bastard, he also had unlimited money, which I needed so desperately, or I was going to lose my mother. Tears tried to well up in my eyes again, but I willed myself to turn cold.
“Couldn’t have happened to a less-deserving person,” I said in my most bored voice. “This has been fun and all, but I have more important things to do. If you’ll excuse me.”
“Wait, Byron,” he grabbed my arm and pulled me back, an urgency I didn’t expect in his voice. It was almost like he didn’t want me to leave because he just wanted to talk to me.Don’t be delusional, Byron. He probably just wants to do more bragging about how rich he is. It’s not because helikesyou.
“How have you been, though?” He asked.
Don’t fall for it.“Is that a serious question?”
“Why can’t it be?”
“Because you don’t care about anything but yourself.”
“Awww, that’s not true, Bye. I care about who won the Preakness.” I huffed and turned around again. Again, he caught me.Stop it, Byron. Don’t let yourself get excited that he won’t let you walk away. It’s just his ego needing the attention.“I’m just kidding. You always did take everything too seriously.”
“You never took things seriously enough.”
“Valid point.” He took a long sip of his strawberry milkshake, making obnoxious slurping noises with the straw.
Guess I should give him a few minutes, let him enjoy being in my presence again.“What are you doing in a place like this?” He took an obnoxiously large bite of his burger, gnawing on it with his mouth open. No, it wasnotweirdly endearing, like he was a big, adorable kid. It was gross and just plain rude.
“Whaddya mean, what am I doing here? I love this diner, too. They make great chili.” He held his burger out toward me, showing my the beef and red chili dripping down his fingers. “I’m not too good for a greasy spoon just because I have lots of money now.”
Mom.I scowled, torn between asking and not asking. Did I want to make a fool of myself?Trevor, I need your help. Trevor, I need you. I can’t do this by myself.
He waggled his head at me, making fun of me. “Got something on that sky-high brain of yours?”
Nope, not today. “Just how much I’m ready to end this conversation.”
Trevor scowled back. “What’s wrong with you?” So, he noticed something was wrong, but only in the context of giving me a hard time.
“I’m leaving now.” I took a couple of steps, but had to stop because of the hand on my bicep, holding me in place. Damn, he was strong. I should not be turned on at a time like this, especially not by him.
“Wait.” The look on his face was earnest, open, like he cared about letting me leave without getting some type of closure. What for, though? “Are you on like, Facebook, or something?”
“Are you asking if I’m on your stupid platform?”
“Can’t be that stupid, we’ve got a few hundred million accounts.” That was how he made his riches. A social media platform that was purely for professional networking events. It organized them not just in the US, but internationally. It was truly impressive, but I’d never tell him that.
“I’m on there, alright? You happy? Are you gonna ask to look me up sometime?” His eyes darted back and forth. Impossible. He couldn’t want to see me again. For what, to hurl insults?What if you were just honest with him, Byron? Let him know what was happening, asked him to support you?No way was that going to happen. Not with the way we were at each other’s throats in college. I let the notion that maybe, just maybe, my worst enemy might actually want to talk to me fall by the wayside.
For some reason, though, I just couldn’t shut the door on the possibility of us seeing each other again, and it really didn’t have to do with money, although if he wanted to just randomly hand me a million dollars I wasn’t going to fight him on it.
