Page 91 of Ours
“He had something to do with spreading the rumors about me and Cory around school. He hadeverythingto do with it, actually.” Nic ran back through the events in his head to make sure he was getting everything right. “I was in the locker room at school, cleaning out my stuff with Taylor, when Steve McMillan walks in.”
“Did you get in another fight?”
“Wasn’t much of a fight.” Nic could help but smirk when he thought about how he cold-cocked Steve to the floor. “But yeah, he came in, acting like the same asshole he always is. Started talking shit about me and Cory and what he saw go down at the party.”
“So hedidsee you guys?” Derek was confused.
“Sort of. Steve said that when he was at the party, Jackson came up to him and told him where he could find me.” Nic was still putting some of this together himself as he talked through what happened. “Told him that I was up to something he’d want to see. I don’t know if he saw the actual blowjob, but he saw me and Cory leaving afterward.”
“Wow. That’s—”
“Really fucked up. Why would he do that?” Nic was at a total loss. “Did I do something to piss him off at some point? What would he have to gain?”
“I mean, it sounds kinda weird but … Cory?” Derek answered though Nic was putting it together himself.
“I guess that makes sense, but that’s so fucked up.” Nic still couldn’t quite wrap his head around it.
“I know, man, but that’s really what it seems like. It’s the only thing that makes sense.” Derek thought back to how quickly Jackson seemed to move in on Cory. Like, literally the next day was when he first saw them together.
“We gotta tell Cory.” Nic stood up.
“No.” Derek remained seated.
“What?” Nic was aghast. “But we have to let him know that’s the only reason this shit happened in the first place!”
“No, it’s not,” Derek said flatly. “Alotof other shit led to this. A lot of shit we’re responsible for.”
“But … D,” Nic tried to reason, “we can’t just let Cory keep hanging out with that guy after what he did to get to him.”
“Because what we did to get to him was so much better?” Derek challenged.
“That was different.” Nic shook his head.
“Yeah,wegot him drunk before we started fucking him.” Derek wanted to be as blunt as possible.
Nic was silent for a moment, not expecting Derek’s response to be … this. “So, what are we supposed to do then?”
“Nothing.” Derek sighed. “We need to leave Cory alone, like he asked. Everything he’s pissed at us for… He’s right about all of it. We completely used and took advantage of him.”
“Shit, man,” Nic said softly. “This was not how I expected you to respond.”
“Yeah, well, I’m trying to figure some shit out so I don’t keep doing stupid shit like … this.” Derek motioned between the two of them.
“I just don’t feel good leaving Cory with that dick.” Nic stewed in his anger. “We have to dosomething. He needs to know.”
“And how exactly do we do that? ‘Hey Cor, I know you want nothing to do with us and have absolutely no reason to trust us, but that guy you’re hanging out with created an elaborate conspiracy to break the three of us up.’ That seems like a totally normal thing to tell someone,” Derek poked at the holes in Nic’s plan. “I don’t like it either but … he’s happy. We need to just let him live his life.” Derek shared what Stephanie had told him earlier.
“But … D… He’s… He’s supposed to…We’resupposed to…” Nic could barely put his feelings to words.
“I know, man, but … we fucked everything up. And we kept fucking it up. Cory has every right to hate us. Maybe even forever.” Derek wanted to make sure he and Nic were on the same level. “So, are we gonna talk about the other stuff too?” Derek was ready to move onto another topic that had been on his mind lately.
“What other stuff?” Nic wasn’t playing dumb—yet.
“The stuff where something happened between you and Cory, and that’s part of the reason he wishes we were both dead at the moment,” Derek answered flatly.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”NowNic was playing dumb.
“Dude.” Derek was firm.
