Page 47 of The Summer of ’98

Part of me wondered, just for a short second, if Cass was on some sort of revenge mission. Was she going to get even for all the screwing around Noah had been doing? She must have noticed the tension radiating from the front seat, because she scoffed.

“I’m not going to hang out with Tony. I just know Noah will be there. I need to talk to that scrub.”

No one else said anything for the rest of the ten-minute ride. The entire time, I was growing increasingly nervous over the fact that I’d told Cass what Noah had done. It worried me to think that Leroy might be pissed off at the fact that I’d snitched on his little brother. Then again, he wasn’t a fan of the way that Noah treated Cass either.

We stopped in front of a white brick home with tall pine trees on the front lawn and a tire swing hanging from a thick branch. Turning in my seat, I saw Cass inhale a deep breath and nod with determination. She didn’t thank Leroy for the ride or tell us goodbye when she stepped out and shut the door behind her. I concluded that it was probably because she was gearing herself up for a showdown with Noah, and part of me wanted to stand beside her for that. The other part of me knew that she’d be just fine on her own.

Leroy looked over at me as he shifted the car into first. “What was that about?”

“Please don’t be upset with me.” His brows pulled as I worried on my lip. “I told her about Nadia and Noah. About the whole thing that went down. She was sort of upset.”

“Why would I be mad about that?”

“I snitched on your little brother.”

He chuckled and settled lower into his seat, one hand on the wheel, the other on the stick. “What you choose to tell Cass is none of my business. No, I wouldn’t have told her. But there’s no issue if you choose to.”

Something about his words bothered me. “Why, though? Why wouldn’t you tell her?”

“It’s just . . . it’s complicated. You don’t have a sibling, so you might not understand the dynamic, but the truth is, no matter how much he pisses me off or dicks around, he’s my brother.”

That wasn’t good enough as far as I was concerned. But how could I tell him that he was wrong? He was the one with a sibling. He knew how these things worked; I didn’t. But I couldn’t fathom that he would be so blindly loyal when Noah was hurting Cass. She didn’t deserve that, and he was fine with just . . . keeping quiet?

“Cass knows,” Leroy said as if sensing my conflict. His attention moved between me and the road. “She knows what he’s like. She’s been warned a ton. Her choices are her own.”

“I still don’t get it, though; you should tell her when you see him doing that sort of stuff. Don’t cover for him. You said yourself that he shouldn’t take advantage of her.”

“I do think that, but I’m not going to snitch on him. That’s . . . not how it works.”

My breathing grew labored. I was pissed off and it startled me to feel like this toward him. I hated it.

“Ellie—”

“I know I don’t understand,” I mumbled. “You don’t have to protect him when it comes to stuff like this. You’re enabling his crusty behavior. Maybe calling him out and getting him into trouble when it comes to stuff like this will help him recognize that he’s acting like a fool.”

He didn’t respond for a while and then when he did, it surprised me. “You’re right,” he said, I looked at him. “You are. I can have his back without letting him act like an asshole.”

“What? I mean, yes, you can.”

He leaned over, picked up my hand, and kissed the tips of my fingers. “You’re so good, baby,” he murmured, watching the road. “You’re just good. Good heart, kind heart.”

Speaking of my heart, I was a little worried about it at that moment. It was beating fast and hard, and it wasn’t just because we’d been on the brink of an argument, but because we’d made it to the other side of one. And the love that he expressed despite my brutal honesty, reminded me of how right we were for each other.

Later that evening, Leroy and I were on the couch watching a DVD. His parents had an event of some sort that would give us the house free until around eight p.m. I sat tucked into his side and he used his free hand to create soft circles on my shoulder.

“This is sort of gross,” I mentioned, watching Mike Myers on the television screen.

“Austin Powers is hilarious,” Leroy chuckled, his fingers running through my hair. “We can change it if you want?”

“It’s fine. Some parts are funny. It’s just super—”

“Crude?” He finished the sentence and I peered up to find him grinning. “You’re cute.”

I attempted to concentrate but his hands were far too distracting. His firm chest underneath me was arousing on its own accord and I was about to suggest that we make better use of the alone time when the front door slammed and Noah appeared, his eyes scanning the room until they fell on me and pulled me into a harsh stare.

“You had no fucking right,” he stormed toward us. “You had no right to tell her!”

Leroy stood up so fast that I fell back into the couch and watched him give Noah a shove, putting distance between us. “Step off, Noah. Cass had the right to know.”

---