Page 53 of Hale Yes
One of my eyebrows arcs up. “That was your family acting like jerks, so I stepped in with a solution.”
“But…” Nicolette shakes her head in apparent confusion. “It’s not your job to deal with my family issues.”
“I made it my job,” I tell her calmly, spooning a bite of mango gelato into my mouth.
She stares at me like I’ve lost my ever-loving mind. “What’s going to happen when I show up by myself next weekend andhave to tell them you were just joking around? I’m going to look stupid.”
“You’re not going to look stupid because I’m actually going to go with you.” I point at her bulging eyes with my spoon. “Stop doing that with your eyes. You’re freaking me out.”
“I’m freakingyouout?” Nicolette questions. Then she closes her lids and dips her head, voice barely audible. “I don’t understand why in the world you would want to pretend to be my boyfriend, Helix.”
I hate seeing the pain on her face, and her vulnerability drives a stake straight through my chest. Placing my spoon inside my cup and setting it on the bench beside me, I gently lift her chin with my fingers until she’s looking at me. I have the strangest urge to lay my lips against hers and breathe in her pain, take it all away. But that would be weird, right?
Yeah, definitely.
Instead, I go with the truth. “Nicolette, your family was bullying you. I don’t put up with that shit. What kind of man would I be if I didn’t stand up for someone…” I pause before I say my true thought—someone I care about—and finish with, “Someone who’s my friend?”
She opens her mouth and then closes it almost all the way, blowing out a stream of air. “I don’t know.”
“I wouldn’t be able to respect myself if I didn’t step in. If you truly don’t want me to go, I won’t, but I promise you, I don’t mind.”
Nicolette runs her bottom lip through her teeth. “I don’t know what I want.”
I release her chin and nod at her cup. “Eat your gelato and tell me why your mother and sister talk to you like that.”
When she doesn’t move, I nudge her hand until she takes a small bite. Then I pick up my own cup, cross an ankle over my knee, and gaze out at the pond, sensing she needs the mentalspace to open up to me. From my peripheral vision, I see her do the same.
After a minute of silence, she finally speaks. “My family prefers my sister. It’s kind of a golden child type situation.”
I’m shocked to my shoes. “With all your brains and accomplishments,your sisteris the golden child of your family? Good god, what the fuck has she done? Found a cure for cancer? Brokered a peace deal in the Middle East?”
Nicolette lets out a bitter laugh. “Angelica is on her sixth career change right now, still lives with our parents, and has a substance abuse problem.”
I’m genuinely confused, my mind spinning to try and process why. “Do you think it’s because she’s… troubled or whatever? So they think she needs more attention?”
“No, I learned she was the favorite when I was five and she was seven. Long before any drug problems.”
My heart physically hurts, but I can’t stop myself from asking, “What happened when you were five?”
She releases a sad laugh. “Christmas happened. All I asked for was a Barbie Dreamhouse. I’d seen it on TV and wanted one so bad. Angelica said it was stupid and asked for a bike and a bunch of craft stuff. She was into bracelet making.” Nicolette takes another bite, her eyes going hazy with the memory as she swallows. “So Christmas morning, there were several presents beneath the tree, but I instantly spotted a big, wrapped gift. I was so excited.”
“You thought it was the Barbie house?”
Her shoulders lift and fall in a shrug. “It was the Dreamhouse, but the tag had Angelica’s name on it.”
“But she didn’t even want it,” I very helpfully point out.
“She did once she realized she got something I wanted. Played with it all the time after that and wouldn’t let me touch it.” Nicolette’s voice should sound bitter, but it simplysounds defeated, as if this kind of thing was commonplace in her life. “My dad seemed surprised when Angelica opened it on Christmas morning, and then he and Ma went into the kitchen for a while. I could hear them arguing, but I couldn’t make out what they were saying.”
I lean into her, nudging her softly with my upper arm. “I’m sorry, Nicolette. That wasn’t fair and must have been really hard for a little kid to deal with.”
She nods. “Now that I’m older, I think I know what happened. I think my dad bought me the Dreamhouse, and my mother put Angelica’s name on it instead of mine.”
“On purpose?” I’m just in shock over this. How could anyone knowingly hurt a child like that? If they couldn’t afford the gift their kid wanted, I could understand that. But this story? It’s all kinds of fucked up.
“Yes, definitely on purpose. It’s like Ma was jealous of me or something. My dad always tried to give me attention because Ma didn’t, but it only made her mad.” I want to ask why but she answers before I can say it out loud. “Angelica was a planned pregnancy, and I was the surprise baby she didn’t actually want.”
My anger is at a fever pitch, and I want to fucking destroy that bitch of a mother. No, she doesn’t even deserve the title of mother. That bitch of a bitch.
