Page 7 of Rematch
Her brows twitched as my words put a crack in the wall she was trying to hide behind. Still, she dodged my hand, stepping backwards. “Yeah, well you could’ve fooled me.”
“Look, if this is about how I acted when…” I couldn’t even say his name, the syllables dragging up my throat like knives. “I know there aren’t enough apologies in the world to make up for it, but I am truly sorry. I was grieving and upset and angry-” `
“So was I,” she said, her firm voice contrasting with the tears forming in her eyes. “He was my friend, too!”
I frowned at the pain trickling over her face. If I could wipe every inch of it away, I would. But, I couldn’t. All I could do right now was let her get it out and pray there was still a place for me underneath it all.
Sighing, she continued. “And I know we weren’t in a good place, but I tried…I tried to be there for you, and you just…” She shook her head, pausing to catch the crack in her voice before it could appear. “Now, look at us. We let all this time pass, and you…you’re so different. Like someone I know, but also someone I don’t.”
“I’m still the same where it matters.” I grabbed her hand, pried it out from underneath her arm and held it against my chest - directly above my heart. “I’m still yours.”
Audrey opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. Her watery eyes flicked between mine, searching for the remnants of the boy I used to be and figuring out where he fits in the man I am now.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
“Baby girl,” Rashad’s voice called. “Are you alright in there? I thought I heard you yelling.”
“Yeah, Papa!” She replied. “I’m just on the phone!”
We were quiet for a moment, listening to her father’s footsteps pad back down the hall.
At the sound of the closing door down the hall, I smirked and said, “I see your cover stories haven’t changed.”
She rolled her eyes. “You need to go.” She lay her other palm on my chest and started pushing me back towards the window. “Next time he comes back, he might not knock and hecannotsee you in here.”
“Why? It won’t be the first time he’s caught us.”
“I know, but it’s just… You have to go.”
I planted my feet against the floor. “Why?” I repeated. After all the years I spent hanging around in here, I didn’t understand why she was trying to push me out.
She hopelessly pushed at my chest, leaning all her weight into me as if I was a huge boulder. “Max, please, for once in your life, can you just listen?”
“No,” I said. “Is this about your new boyfriend? Is that why you’re trying to get rid of me?”
“He’s not my boyfriend,” she quickly retorted. “It’s just been a busy day, and I’m tired.”
I only half-believed her words, but decided to give up the battle. I loosened my stance and let her shoo me towards the window.
“He’s not good enough for you,” I told her as I perched on the windowsill, half of my body still wedged in her room. “You know that, right?”
“That’s what you’ve said about every boy who tries to come around.”
“Because there isn’t a man alive worthy of you.”
Her brows twitched, struggling not to stitch together. Her lips parted for a moment, as if to retort, but no words came out. She shook her head, erasing the expression. “Goodbye, Max.”
I dragged my legs out through the window and put my feet back on the ladder. “Not goodbye,” I corrected. “Just goodnight.”
Her lips pressed together in a tight line. “Goodnight, Max,” she said.
Satisfied with her answer, I finally left her window and climbed down the ladder. From below, I watched the glass come back down and the curtains squeeze shut. I waited for a few moments, hoping she might poke her head back out and invite me to stay.
But, the light went out, and the darkness added to the silence still standing between us.
Chapter 5
Audrey
