Page 14 of This Memory
“Lucas told me all about it. How you and Suzie were doing the deed, and you got caught. He laughed like it was the funniest thing ever.”
Confused, I shook my head. “Brystol, Lucas lied to you. I never slept with Suzie Moore. Ever.”
“Why would he lie to me?” she asked.
“How in the hell would I know. Maybe he liked you?”
Brystol let out a bitter laugh then sighed. “It’s in the past. We were eighteen, and it was a long time ago. Just stop acting like you didn’t do anything.”
“I’m not, Bry. I just told you I was sorry. You’ll never know how much I regretted saying those things, and it was before I knew you overheard it. If it’sin the past, why didn’t you just talk to me yourself at the time, Brystol? Why send your friend?”
She reached out and pushed me with all her might. “You hurt me, Gavin! Youlaughed. You let them talk about me like I was nothing. You told them you could fuck me anytime you wanted to!Youmade me feel like nothing. You made me believe that a guy like you could actually like a girl like me, and you broke my heart in two with that betrayal.”
“Is everything okay?” Aurora asked, and Brystol spun on her.
“Why didn’t you tell him?”
“Tell who what?”
“You were supposed to meet Gavin at the movies that night and tell him why I didn’t show up.”
Aurora’s eyes bounced from me, then back to Brystol. “I tried telling you what happened, Brystol, but you were beyond listening to anything at that point. My car got a flat, and I had to wait for my uncle to come andchange it. When I got to the movies it was after seven, and I didn’t see Gavin anywhere. You told me you never wanted to discuss him again. I actually tried afewtimes to tell you before I finally just gave up.”
Brystol closed her eyes. “I’m being stupid. This is all sostupid. Let’s just forget all of this. I need to get to the store, anyway. None of this matters anymore.”
Turning on her heels, Brystol marched down the street.
I let out a humorless laugh. “Clearly, it does still matter.”
I gave Aurora a look. “Imagine what she’ll be like when the hormones kick in.”
She rolled her eyes and punched me on the arm. “It’s not funny, Gavin. You really hurt her.”
“Why didn’t you ever tell me that’s why she was so angry with me?”
Aurora faced me. “That next week at school, I asked if you had talked to Brystol. You said yes, but that she was mad at you.”
I shook my head. “I didn’t knowwhyshe was mad at me, Aurora!”
She exhaled. “I guess none of us were communicating very well, were we?”
I huffed. “No kidding.”
“Well, for what it’s worth, you were a real dick that day. The hurt on her face is something I’ll never forget.”
Looking down the street after Brystol, I sighed. “All these years, she never said a word to me. Why?”
Aurora shrugged. “I think it was because she’d allowed herself to believe you might’ve actually liked her. She had a terrible crush on you. Then she felt humiliated.”
I turned to Aurora. “I did like her, Aurora.”
“Why didn’t you ever ask her out, then? And why did you let your friends talk about her that way?”
That, I didn’t have an answer to. I was young, stupid, immature.
“Anyway, now that the truth is out there…maybe you two can kiss and make up?”
I let out a disbelieving laugh. “Did you not see how she wanted to rip my head off?”
