Page 35 of Lonely Hearts Day

“Yep, you’re right, I’m weak and pathetic and have never stood up to anyone until now.”

I blinked, staring at him.

“It’s been a year, Scarlett. Get over it.”

“You don’t understand because you wouldn’t care if your parents got a divorce. Their marriage sucks.” My mean-spirited words hit their mark. I could see it on his face. But I didn’t care, because his words had sliced right through my heart.

We must’ve gotten loud because suddenly Troy was next to us. Micah as well. “Mommy and Daddy need a time out in the closet,” Troy said. “Micah help me.”

“Not right now, Troy,” I said as Micah practically carried me to the closet.

Next to me, Troy was doing the same to Jack, who was struggling and protesting, saying things like, “This isn’t funny,” and, “Knock it off.”

The closet door was pulled open, and just as Micah carried me inside, Jack must’ve gotten himself freed, because he pushed the door shut without him in it.

“Are you an idiot?” I heard Troy say from the outside.

Micah still had his arms tight around my waist, my toes barely touching the floor. My hands were holding a shelf in front of me so that it didn’t hit my face.

“You can put me down now,” I said.

He did and I readjusted myself as far away from him as possible. I pushed my palms into my eyes, not caring about my mascara, but hoping the act would stop the inevitable tears.

“Should we make out?” Micah asked.

“Please don’t touch me,” I said.

“What’s wrong with you?” he asked.

“Everything,” I said to the darkness. I wiped beneath my eyes, not sure if that was going to fix the racoon makeup that I was sure I’d created, but it was the best I could do. I stared up at the dark ceiling, barely keeping the tears at bay.

“The fact that Jack’s a douche?” he asked.

“No,” I said. “He’s not. I mean, tonight he kind of is, but, I don’t know...”

“He’s just jealous you were sitting next to me.”

Was that the reason he was acting like this? Had jealousy caused his outburst? Had jealousy made him shove me in a closet with our enemy? Made him kiss the girl next to me during spin the bottle? “If we’re going to talk about douches, Micah, add yourself to the list. You were so mean to him in elementary school.”

“He hasn’t let that go?”

“He has.Ihaven’t.”

“He obviously hasn’t if this is how he reacted to me being here. To you talking to me.”

“Either way, you should still apologize to him.”

“Yeah, maybe,” he said. “But in the meantime, do you want to pretend to kiss to make him jealous? You can put your back to the shelves.” He stepped in front of me, his back to the door and sure enough, mine pressed against the shelves. “I can put my hands here.” His hands were on either side of my head, where I assumed they were holding onto the wood or pressed against a couple games or something.

“No, Micah, I don’t. Please stop.”

The sound of the handle turning had me attempting to back up farther, but I couldn’t. Instead, like I was becoming used to, light made me temporarily unable to see. I waited to hear who had opened the door because I knew what seven minutes felt like by now and that wasn’t it.

The voice that spoke wasn’t one I was expecting. “Micah! What are you doing?”

He wasn’t expecting it either because he whirled around. “Cassidy?”

Her eyes narrowed in on me. “How dare you!”