Page 95 of Flipping the Script

“Yeah. He’s the biggest grump I’ve ever known. What about when he gets an idea in his head and won’t let it go until you admit he’s right?”

Carl shook his head.

“I bet you never saw that look that makes you feel two feet tall and like you’re about to get a lecture from the school principal when you’ve disappointed him.”

“No.” He wrinkled his nose. “I never saw any of that.”

“It sounds like you only got to see the best parts of him and never actually sawhim.”

Carl narrowed his eyes, but I couldn’t tell if he was angry or hurt. “He lied to me?”

“No!” I said quickly. The last thing I needed was to piss Carl off before he was ready to admit the version of Jesse he knew wasn’t the real him. “Jesse isn’t a liar. He’s just good at compartmentalizing things.”

Carl’s expression relaxed.

“But I don’t think things were the way you thought they were,” I continued, metaphorically crossing my fingers that I wasn’t about to undo all the progress we’d made. “He’s been single for as long as I’ve known him. He’s not the relationship type.”

“You’ve known him a long time?”

“Since we were kids.”

“And you’re not together?”

I shook my head.

He sighed and wrapped his arms around his middle, his shoulders stooping in defeat. “Why are you being nice to me?”

“Because I don’t think you want to hurt him.”

He looked away.

“Am I wrong?” I asked softly.

He shook his head. “No. I never wanted to hurt him. I just thought…”

“You thought?”

“I thought what I felt was real,” he mumbled. “But maybe it wasn’t. He didn’t lie to me. He told me it was just a job. But he was so nice and perfect I got confused.”

“It happens.” Hopefully that was the right thing to say since I wasn’t exactly sure what he was talking about.

“I feel so stupid.”

“You can still fix it.”

“How?” he asked.

“By letting him go.”

He nodded slowly, his expression falling. “Yeah. I can do that. Can you tell him I’m sorry?”

“I will.” I paused. “Are you going to tell anyone about me?”

He shook his head. “No. I don’t want to hurt anyone. I was just confused.”

We stood in silence for a moment.

“I’m going to…” He took a few sliding steps, then hurried over to his car when I didn’t try to stop him.

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