Page 14 of Getting It Twisted
“In that case, what’s the issue? If he wants to be your friend again, why not try it? You’re both older now. More mature. Maybe he made a mistake when he left. Maybe he regrets it and wants to make it up to you.”
“That’s . . . not what he said,” I mutter, recalling our conversation outside Sidney’s. The self-confidence in his tone . . . So familiar. So infuriating.
Admit it—you want me. You want me back.
Nothing about the mishaps of our past. No remorse for how he broke my heart, abandoned me, and sent me into a depressive spiral Istillhaven’t fucking recovered from.
“You weren’t there, honey,” George tells April. “The issue is he’s a raging, narcissistic asshole. Did I tell you he broke my nose?” He points to the bump on his nose bridge.
“Unprovoked?” April asks.
I hide a smile with the back of my hand. “No, it definitely wasn’t unprovoked.”
“Oh, come on! He was totally off base with that shit.”
“He beat you at pool, and you accused him of cheating.”
“And you stepped in to defend him as per fucking usual,” George says, rolling his eyes.
“And you said something about how he should stop ‘trying to corrupt me’ and how he ‘doesn’t own me.’”
“Then he just did it. Bam! Fist to my face. He doesn’t look like it, but the guy can pack a punch.”
“Well, you kind of had it coming, honey,” April says dryly.
“And then he had the gall to finish off with saying, ‘Back off, Daniel’s mine.’ Anyway, that’s my point, the guy’s a jerk. Remember how you couldn’t have girlfriends in high school?”
“That’s not true,” I say.
“Oh yeah? Are you saying he didn’t get all jealous and passive-aggressive? You saying he didn’t hate all the chicks you ever tried to date?”
“I’m saying you’re exaggerating.”
“You have to admit the dude’s a red flag.”
“I fucking know that, okay?”
“Do you? Then why did you ask for our advice?”
“I didn’t, but you’re giving it to me anyway.”
“Not to mention, he’s a criminal, and he madeyouinto one.” George jabs his fork at me. “A bad seed is what he is.”
My mouth tilts in a bitter smile. “You sound like my mom. And Wayne.”
“Well, maybe my dad’s right about a thing or two. He did arrest him, remember?”
“Yeah. For shoplifting a Milky Way.”
“It was more than that.”
“I was there, and it wasn’t.” The memory of my uncle wrestling Nathan to the ground outside the local supermarket might as well be burned onto my retinas, with how easy it comes to me.
The one time Nathan and I were ever caught shoplifting, my uncle happened to stop by on patrol. He ran Nathan down, tackled him to the ground with a knee to the back, and handcuffed him. Nathan’s murderous glare and scrubbed-raw cheek still make me see red. Wayne conveniently ignored the fact thatIhad nicked stuff from the store too. But no, of course he couldn’t put his nephew under arrest. Nathan Antler, however, the kid from Wayward Road? Yeah, with him, he could be as rough as he liked.
When I came home that day, my father slapped me so hard my face whipped to the side. “Don’t think we’ll let that awful boy drag you down with him,” he said, and grounded me for the rest of the summer.
So I ran.