Page 99 of My Debacle with De Lorenzo

“If you’re really feeling generous, you can take us to watchEndgameas well,” I say. “That movie is going to be epic.”

“It can’t beatInfinity War,” Tommy adds. “I swear when Thor yelled:Bring me Thanos, I creamed myself.” He looks up at Scott. “Will you take me, too?”

Scott’s face wrinkles with confusion. “Uh...I don’t...know you.”

Cat must sense his discomfort because she intervenes to save him from answering. “Um...well, I’m going to go up and take a shower. You’ll...pick me up later? I’m still so nervous about going.”

He grins, both of them awkwardly trying tonotflirt with each other. “It’s gonna be fine,” he assures her. “I’ll pick you up in two hours.”

“Okay.”

Cat disappears inside and I raise questioning eyebrows at Scott. “You think you’re still going to be around next year, Dipshit?”

“Oh, I’m here for the long haul.”

I groan. “I was afraid you’d say that.”

“Aren’t you going to formally introduce us?” Tommy asks.

“Oh, yeah. Scott, this is Tommy.”

Scott reaches down to shake his hand. “Hi, Tommy.”

“Well, beat me up, Scotty.” Tom uses the extended hand as leverage and hops up to stand next to him.

“It’sbeamme up,” Scott corrects.

“No, he meansbeatme up,” I reply with a laugh. “He’s into some rough shit.”

Scott gets slightly uncomfortable for a second, but it turns into confusion when Tom places his forearm on Scott’s shoulder and leans against him. Scott’s a few inches taller, so it looks incredibly awkward.

“So, Scotty...You don’t mind if I call you Scotty, do you?”

“I do.”

“You’ll get over it. So, listen, we’re trying to decrypt your friend. Izzy thinks his behavior is weird. He disappears for a few days, then comes back and is all secretive. She thinks he must be hiding something. Do you have any idea what it could be? Because it’s driving her insane.”

Scott shrugs and stuffs his hands in his pockets. “I don’t know. Pete and I have just learned to accept that that’s how he is because you can’t talk to him. I think he’s going through some stuff. When he first came to Loughlin, he was a mess, just aggressive and picking fights all the time.” His focus shifts to me. “I don’t know if you remember that day when Audrey dumped all your clothes on the football field, and you came out in a towel to get it? Dylan lost his mind in the locker room after that and almost punched Kyle for talking shit about you. He came close to hitting me too because I wasn’t nice about it either. I don’t even know if you guys were friends then.”

I shake my head. “We weren’t. That was the first day I met him.”

“See? There was no reason for him to get so aggressive for a girl he didn’t even know. His parents were called in, they spoke to the principal, and ever since then, Dylan gets preferential treatment. He can skip school and not get into trouble. He misses practice, and Coach Callahan doesnothingabout it. Even last week with Simon. I got kicked off the football team and had to come here to do...community service because of bullying and Dylan getsdetention. And yeah, Pete and I talked to Simon, so he didn’t make a big deal about it, and...I don’t know, Dyl said after he explained his side, Principal Jenkins agreed it was sexual harassment, so maybe that’s why he got off easy, but detention still seems a little...too easy. Something must be up for everybody to keep giving him that kind of leeway.” He shrugs again. “So, yeah, something happened before he moved here that he doesn’t want to talk about. Honestly, I don’t need to know what it is. I just need to be there whenever he needs me. Pete does the same.”

Scott hasn’t helped me much. While I feel flattered that Dylan shared his past with me and not Scott, the fact is, I already know about the incident that happened at the grocery store before he moved here. I want to know what’s going on with himnow.

“Your blind loyalty is admirable,” I say.

He chuckles. “It’s not by choice. If you want to maintain a relationship with Dylan, that’s what you need to do. He’s calmed down a lot, but he’s still...aloof. He doesn’t like to open up and we accept that. Most of the time, he’s chilled, so I don’t think he’s going through anything too hectic. I’m sorry to say this, but the only time he gets aggressive nowadays is...because of you.”

Generally, words don’t affect me, but those words hit me hard. I keep telling Dylan that he’s too good for me, and now Scott just confirmed that I bring out the worst in him. Peter insinuated the same thing last week.

Scott leaves shortly after that, but Tom senses the dip in my mood and stays for another half hour. He tells me not to do anything irrational before he leaves. I head upstairs to shower and the more I think about it, the clearer it becomes. I should just end it. This is an arrangement, not a relationship, and he’s going to end it soon, anyway. This is supposed to be a physical thing, and the guy doesn’t even want to have sex with me. Maybe Charlotte is right, and he thinks he might...catch something. At least if I end it, I can save some of my dignity.

I’m defeated after my shower, stretched out on my bed in an oversized sweatshirt when Cat walks into my room looking for something to wear.

“I want to look girly tonight and I only have sweatpants in my cupboard,” she explains. “Please, can you help me?”

I smile then pick out a short, black backless dress (naturally) with a deep V in the front and hand it to her.

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