Page 13 of This Memory
“Hey, what in the hell was that all about?”
When she looked at me, she had tears in her eyes. My knees about buckled out from under me. I cupped her face and leaned toward her. My six feet to her five feet and change made it hard to look her in the eyes.
“Bry, what’s wrong?”
Her lips pressed into a tight line, and I knew she was trying to hold back the tears.
“The baby?”
She closed her eyes. “I don’t know yet. It’ll be another week before they can do the blood test.”
“Okay, then, what was that in the coffee shop?”
The sadness in her eyes made me want to do something to fix it, to bring that fire back to her baby blues.
“You really have no idea why I can’t stand you, do you?”
Drawing back, I dropped my hand and took a step away. “No, I really don’t, Brystol. And I got tired of asking you.”
She turned and looked down the street. “Did you ever show up for the movie?”
“What?” I asked.
When she looked at me this time, her sadness had been replaced with anger. “The movie we were supposed to meet at, that night in high school.”
“Roman Holiday.” Her eyes widened in surprise. Did she really think I’d forgotten about that? I’ve watched that damn movie at least fifty times over the years. “Yeah, I was there, but you didn’t show up.”
Her brows slammed down in confusion. “Did you not talk to Aurora?”
“When?”
Brystol let out a growl. “That night, when we were supposed to meet, Gavin. Did you talk to Aurora?”
“Oh, um, no. I thought she’d gone out of town. Wasn’t that why you were going alone?”
Looking confused, she shook her head. “Wait…she was supposed to be there, to tell you why I wasn’t coming.”
“Did shetellyou she talked to me?”
Looking down the street for a second, she slowly shook her head. “She…she tried to tell me something that night. But I wouldn’t let her. I told her I didn’t ever want to talk about you again. I was being ridiculous, but I couldn’t help it at the time.”
“Yikes.” I laughed. “What happened between sixth period and seven o’clock?”
The anger was back. “I heard you and your friends talking about me. The things that they said…and you laughing about some of it.”
A feeling of sickness rolled through me as the faded memories of that day came back to me.
“I liked you, Gavin. Ireallyliked you, and I was on cloud nine when you offered to go to that stupid movie with me. I should have known it was too good to be true. After all, I wasn’t a cheerleader or a popular girl, not the type you normally hooked up with.”
I shook my head. “Brystol, I liked you too. A lot.”
A bitter laugh slipped free. “Oh, sure. That’s why you told your friends you’d never go out with me. You let them talk about me like I was a piece of meat. You told them if you wanted to get into my pants you could! Don’t lie to me, Gavin. You were never interested in going out with me. It was just like they said—a charity date for the class nerd. Just another hormonal teenage boy hoping to get laid.”
I closed my eyes. “I’m sorry for saying that. I didn’t mean it, I just…I have no excuse for saying I could get into your pants if I wanted to. I’m sorry. And yes, Iwasinterested in going out with you. I was upset you never showed up for the movie. And when I tried to talk to you the next week at school, and you told me to leave you alone and you never wanted to talk to me again, I felt sick about it.”
“You feltsick? Is that why you were caught with Suzie Moore behind the bleachers that same weekend?”
I wanted to shake her until she started making sense. “What are you talking about?”
