Page 39 of Tear of Destiny

We turn into the next street and look out for Alex’s house. She’s invited us and Chrissy to her place today. We haven’t seen each other in weeks, and so much has happened since then. I know they’ll want to talk about Ayden and Max because so far, I’ve only given them the basic facts about the breakup. Even now that some time has passed, it’s still painful, and I don’t really want to dredge it all up again. I still can’t get Ayden out of my head. I’d be lying if I said I don’t miss him. But it’s over. I have to live with that, and I’m still trying to figure out how. Maybespending the day with my friends will help me move forward.

Alex lives in a small house in Western Addition, which at first glance looks as if it’s being squeezed by the neighboring ones. But it has a certain charm with its bright facade and the two bay windows on the second and third stories.

We ascend the steep steps to the front door and ring the bell. Before long, the door is flung open.

“You’re here!” Alex exclaims cheerfully, stepping aside to let us in.

The hallway is narrow. I can make out a small kitchen and beyond that a living room. A staircase leads up to the next floor.

“My parents are at work, so we have the whole house to ourselves,” she says with a grin, headed for the stairs. “Chrissy’s already here.”

Alex’s room is just to the right of the stairs. Chrissy has made herself comfortable on Alex’s bed and is inspecting some vinyl records.

“I can’t understand why you don’t just stream. The record player is so inconvenient, and it takes up so much space.”

“Stream,” Alex echoes, sounding repulsed and crinkling her nose. “Next, you’re going to say I should buy my sushi from the supermarket chiller. No thanks.”

“Since when do you eat sushi?” Chrissy teases, but Alex doesn’t respond, instead sitting down on the bed and looking expectantly at me and Kate.

“Well, what do you think?”

I glance around the room. It’s not very big, but I can tell that Alex has put a lot of effort into decorating it. Posters of bands such as Metallica and the Ramones hang on the wall beside a number of tickets to concerts she went to. The wall behind the bed is painted black, which looks kind of harsh at first. But it’s broken up by shelves holding mementos: dried flowers, autograph cards, and several pairs of sunglasses in 1950s styles.Around them, she’s arranged lots of photos of friends and family. There’s also a closet covered in stickers bearing slogans. Her desk is barely visible under the piles of paper and clothes that she’s thrown on top of it.

“I think it’s great,” I say. “Suits you.” I join the other two on the bed, and Kate pulls up a chair.

“It’s unbelievable how many concerts you’ve been to,” she says, checking out the tickets.

“I love music,” says Alex. “And some of the after- parties are legendary.” She leans in a little and looks at me expectantly. “But first, you gotta tell us – what exactly did Max do to wreck things between you and Ayden? I mean, I could tell as soon as I met her that she had a screw loose, but to be that vindictive…” She shakes her head. “What a poisonous snake, and she calls herself your friend.”

Chrissy elbows Alex reproachfully. “Alex, give her a break. Tess will tell us if she wants to, and if not, then you need to leave it alone.” Turning to me she says. “It’s totally okay if you don’t want to talk about it.”

“Even if that means we have to keep chewing off our nails in suspense,” Alex chimes in again. “We’ve been totally wrecking our heads over this.”

Chrissy gives her an admonishing look.

“It’s okay,” I say. I know they’ve been worried about me. And that’s kind of nice because it shows that they care. So I tell them all about what Max did.

“What a bitch!” Alex hisses furiously. “I found it unbelievably shameless the way she dragged Ayden’s ex along to the café that time. But to do something like this! I mean, that’s psycho!”

“In the end, it worked,” I admit, and the memories flood back. “And I can’t blame anyone but myself. I should have talked to him right after it happened instead of hiding out at my mom’s.” Another lie. I hate this! But I can’t tell them about Noah, andespecially not the Odyss.

“No way,” said Alex, putting a comforting arm around me. “You needed time to get your head straight. That’s totally understandable.”

“And he doesn’t want to give you another chance?” Chrissy asks.

I shake my head and feel the pain deep inside me immediately catching up with me again. My hands tremble, and my heart races. For a second, I’m afraid the flames might appear again, and the alluring voice promising to take all my pain away, but I manage to fight back the emotions.

Fortunately, they both notice that they’ve touched a nerve that’s still pretty raw, and they don’t pursue it further.

“It’s pretty hardcore what Max did to you guys. I hope you gave her a piece of your mind,” says Alex.

“I did. I honestly never figured she could be so scheming. But when I talked to her, she made it pretty clear how much our supposed friendship was worth to her.”

Chrissy shakes her head. “And she figured Ayden would forgive her for that? I mean, how stupid can you be?”

“Or overconfident,” Kate suggests. “I guess Max figures she can manipulate him and boss him around.”

“What a creep,” Alex hisses in disgust. “So what are you going to do? How will you deal with her? I can help you come up with a few ways to make her life miserable.” She grins diabolically. “I’m an endless source of inspiration.”

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