Page 76 of Shane

“You don’t know?” he says.

“Um, no. That’s why I’m asking.”

“Sullivan ordered me to stay away from you.”

“Shane did?”

“He even punched me in the jaw to make sure I understood the directive.”

“Wait, what?”

How did I miss that?

“To be fair, I might have said a few things to goad him into the fight. He may be pretty and shit but that’s a crazy motherfucker. I didn’t think he’d actually swing on me.”

Huh.

“Okay, thanks for telling me.”

“No problem. Are we good?”

“Yeah, we’re good.”

“You won’t tell him I told you?” He runs a hand over the top of his freshly shorn hair. “I’m not trying to reignite any old feuds between the teams.”

“I won’t say a thing,” I promise.

A small inkling of doubt creeps into my consciousness as I finish my walk home.

Did I get it wrong?

Did I just push away the best friend I’ve ever had?

kennedy

JUNIOR YEAR

“That must have been a difficult time,”Dr. Torres says with an empathetic look on her face.

“It was a really emotional and embarrassing situation but I got over it.”

“You did?”

“Just because I decided to stop sleeping with Shane didn’t mean that I could avoid him altogether. I had to get past it if I was going to live a normal life. We went to the same school, and of course…our parents were still a thing. I didn’t talk to him at all for a few weeks but then I brushed myself off and got my act together.”

“Meaning?”

“I will never give Shane or anyone else at VCU the idea that anything they say can break me. I won’t give them the satisfaction. Giving him the silent treatment would have given everyone the impression that I gave a damn.”

“I see.”

“Shane and I still associate with each other, albeit it’s different now. Each interaction is fueled by a bet, a dare, or something in between the two. That’s how I usually end up at the games or the ice house parties.”

“So you’re more like frenemies?”

“That’s probably a fair description, but I’d say we’re seventy percent enemies and maybe thirty percent friends.”

“That’s a very specific ratio.”