Page 62 of The Other Half

“Yeah, you kind of were,” I agree.

“But you lied to me, Oakley.” He finally meets my gaze. “I had a right to be upset.”

I look away, intimidated by his honesty. “I’m sorry for that,” I say.

“Why didn’t you just tell me? You know I don’t give a shit who your parents are. I think we established that a while ago.”

“I just–I don’t know. I didn’t want to say anything about it in the beginning, because I felt so bad about your parents losing their jobs, I thought I’d lose you as a friend if you knew. There was never really a good time to bring it up.” I’m embarrassed, I wish I had never kept it a secret, but I felt like it would change his entire perception of me somehow. I was already a spoiled rich girl in his eyes, I didn’t want to be the spoiled rich girl whose father worked for the evil corporation that ruined his life.

“I don’t know why you’d think it would change anything.”

“Maybe because in the beginning you were a total dick to me about where I come from. I didn’t know how you’d react.”

He sighs. “I wish we could fix this. Somehow.” He reaches for my hand and laces his fingers through mine.

“Why?” I ask. “I thought you had already moved on anyway.”

“What? Why the hell would you think that?” His voice is tinged with anger and his jaw tenses. He looks angry, which makes me angry. Why is he mad at me for what HE did?

“Maybe because you were sleeping with someone else the same day we broke up?” I drop his hand.

He shakes his head, his brows furrowed together. “That never happened. I haven’t slept with anyone else since you. I made out with that chick for about thirty seconds, until-”, he stops talking mid sentence.

“Until what?”

“Until Amber made me realize that I was being a drunk idiot,” he spits.

Amber made him realize that? I mull that over. I guess she interrupted them. “So in other words, if it weren’t for Amber saying something, you would’ve fucked her?” I deadpan.

I flick my eyes to the other side of the park, it hurts to look at his face right now. I shouldn’t have come here. If he really loved me at all, how could he touch another woman like that just days after he took my virginity? “And then I saw you with another girl at that other party. For all I know there could’ve been dozens of girls you’ve hooked up with by now.”

He combs both of his hands through his hair and I can see his muscles flexing angrily beneath his shirt. His eyes scan the empty park like he’s physically looking for something to say that will fix our broken relationship. But there’s nothing. There’s nothing either one of us can do to fix it. “I haven’t slept with anyone since you, Oakley. I swear.”

I scoff and shake my head. “I don’t believe you.”

“That’s fine, you don’t have to. I know you have no reason to believe me, but it’s the truth. I can hardly even look at another girl since I’ve been with you. Any time I try to talk to someone else, I compare them to you. Your voice, your smile, your laugh, your body. No one else measures up.” His eyes bore into mine intensely, his gaze unwavering. “No one even comes close.”

I wonder if that’s true. That’s how I feel, like no one could ever compare to him, but after the way he’s treated me it’s hard to believe he feels the same way.

“Well, what about everything else you’ve said? Like that my dad was right? That I don’t ‘belong’ with you and your friends?” I ask shakily.

He looks around nervously, like he’s afraid that someone could be listening to our conversation. “I had to say it. Your dad practically threatened me, he told me to stay away from you. If he found out we were still together he could’ve fucked up my whole family’s life by firing Nate. What other choice did I have, Oakley?”

My anger towards my father swells once again, I figured he wasn’t kind to Oliver, but I didn’t know he had threatened him like that. “I didn’t realize,” I say weakly. “So, we can’t be together regardless, because of that.” It hurts to say it out loud, even though I already knew it deep down.

He walks over to the bench and sits down, and I sit beside him, leaving too much space between us. “I don’t know,” he says, shoving his hands into his pockets.

“What do you mean?” My brows pull together.

“We talked to a lawyer. If we win the lawsuit against the mill it wouldn’t be a problem anymore. We could just leave Poplar Valley.”

Do they really think they’re going to win the lawsuit? Maybe he knows more about it than I do. “I’m so sorry about your dad, Oliver.”

He nods, looking down at the ground. “It’s okay. We can talk about that another time.”

I watch as my mom pulls back into the parking spot she was in before she left. I was hoping she’d give me more time. He bites his lip nervously when he looks up and sees the car sitting there. “I guess it’s time for you to go?”

“I guess so,” I reply. I don’t know what I expected, but it wasn’t this. I was hoping for more, just like I always do. I stand up and sling my bag around my shoulder.

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