Page 39 of The Significance of Moving On

“She came with me.” I intercept, leading her toward the mass of dancers, but more importantly away from my brother.

“Your brother seems nice.” She speaks against my ear, while my hands graze down her waist to rest lightly on her hips.

“He’s anything but. Daniel only cares about Daniel and he’ll do whatever it takes to get what he wants. He doesn’t care who he hurts in the process.”

“Sounds like there’s a story there.”

“Nothing you’d be interested in.”

“When are you going to pull your head out of your ass?” Tally drops her hands from around my neck storming off toward Kelsey.

I grit my teeth and squeeze my hands into fists to calm down so I don’t go after her and cause a scene. Demetrius looks to have his hands full setting out more snacks. I walk over grabbing the Cheetos bag, refilling the bowl while he lays out a platter of mini bagel pizzas.

“Why didn’t you tell me he’d be here?”

“Because I knew you wouldn’t come. He’s our brother, man. Shit happened. Really bad shit, but shit nonetheless. Supposedly he’s clean now.”

“Well great for him. Why don’t you tell it to Luke—oh wait. Youcan’t.”

“Man, Case. You got to let this go. Being mad at the world isn’t going to bring him back.”

“What the fuck do you know about it?”

“I’m not doing this now. Go dance with that beautiful girl you brought here tonight. She deserves it. You deserve it.” He shoves me away and no matter how pissed I want to be at D for not telling me Daniel would be here, or Daniel for showing up, or even at Tally for switching out the nun, she really does look beautiful tonight and I haven’t even told her yet. Maybe telling her will help melt her cold shoulder to a lukewarm one. I knew it would happen when I opened up about my brother, but I’d like us to still be able to be friendly.

When Kelsey walks away, I sweep in next to her with my hand held out to shake. “Hi. I’m Casey Davenport, ready to pull my head out of my ass.”

She smiles, her shoulders slumping, thawing out the icy air between us.

“Hi. I’m Chantal Bradley.” She slides her hand in mine. “Ready to accept the head pulled from said ass and to quit being such an over reactionary drama queen.”

“Dance with me?” I ask.

Our arms move to hold each other as we begin to sway.

“You look beautiful tonight. I should’ve told you that first off.”

“Well, Jack Sparrow is a good look on you, too.”

I take her completely off guard by spinning and dipping her. “There’s a story I owe you,” I say while she’s still bent back, foot lifted off the ground.

“I had no right—”

“But you did. I know all about you. It’s only fair.”

I right her and thankfully another slow song comes through the speakers. No matter how hard I’ll forever try to resist, no matter what Jesse thinks. Rejection from Tally would kill. If friends are as much as we can ever be now, so be it. We’ll make it work until she goes off to college.

Clearing my throat, I dive right in. “So, uh… I guess you want to know about Daniel.”

“If you’re ready to tell me.”

“Daniel has had an on and off again relationship with getting high for years. Me and Luke and D had a history of bailing him out of trouble.”

“Ah… I see.”

“No, Tal, there’s more. You know Luke got real depressed when the assholes banned him from swim team.”

She nods.

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