Page 23 of All the Ugly Things
He grinned and nodded once, seemingly deciding something. “Next time, maybe.”
Like hell. I stood still, waited until he jogged down the sidewalk and jumped into the front passenger seat of the car. It peeled off, smoke and thunder sounding like they left their muffler behind.
7
Lilly
It was a gorgeous day where the Iowa sun couldn’t decide if it wanted to be summer or fall. In the sun, I was sweating in minutes but as soon as I stepped into the shade, the crisp air made me shiver. Classes were almost done for the day. I just had to go to my dreaded accounting class, spend a few hours studying, take a quick nap, and then head to Judith’s.
Which meant I was focused on my destination and not the world around me, so Angie took me by surprise when she caught up to me, huffing and puffing.
“I’m out of advice.” I didn’t need this girl who loved her brother so much she wanted to save him to get any closer to me. I lengthened my stride.
“I’m sorry.”
She hurried her shorter legs and stood in front of me, hands up, palms facing me. My feet might have stopped moving. Or working. She was apologizing to me? I couldn’t remember if anyone hadeverapologized to me.
“I’m sorry,” she said again, andyep,that was what I thought I heard. “I don’t know you and I don’t know what you’ve been through. What I asked was probably horrible. And you probably don’t want to talk about it at all, and I just, well, I wanted you to know that. I love my brother and I feel desperate. But I shouldn’t have done that to you.”
I blinked at her, stunned. Her doe-like eyes were wide and she pushed her lips to the side of her mouth like she was trying to stop herself from saying more. But it was her earnestness in her gaze that made my pulse flutter.
Shemeantit.
She felt bad.For me.
Something stuck in my throat. Felt like a clump of a stale, dried roll I used to force down at prison mealtimes. I choked it down and nodded. “It’s okay. No worries.”
“It’s just, you’re so beautiful and well, I thought he’d think you’re hot. And to see you, to have heard…”
Beautiful. Please. I might have been, at one time, in another lifetime. Now I just looked old. Much older than twenty-five and Ifeltold.
“Don’t really like talking about it or thinking it.”
“Right. Right.” Her braids bobbed at her chest as she nodded.
Curious, I asked her, “So what, you thought some hot chick talking to your brother would set his head straight?”
Her lip curled and she shrugged before gripping the straps of her backpack. “Better than Mom and me.”
“You’re something else, Angie, and besides, I’m way too old for him to think that about.”
“You’re what, twenty-one, twenty-two? That’s not that much older and besides, we started school late so we’ll be twenty in a few months, anyway.”
Twenty. She probably wasn’t all that different than how I would have been had I been able to go to college. A bit naïve, definitely perkier. It was moments like this when what was taken from me was so glaringly obvious to how it made me different.
I started walking again. This time, I didn’t mind so much when she stayed close. “Older. Twenty-five.”
“Wow. You really are pretty.”
I glanced at her. “And you’re usually quieter.”
That shut her up and made her look at her feet. Damn. I hadn’t meant to sound so short with her. I opened my mouth to apologize when Angie gripped my arm and yanked us both to a stop.
“Holy cow. What’shedoing here?”
I froze. It wasn’t from her words, but her touch. It was warm, but chilly. Nice but unwanted. I shook off her touch and pulled back. “Who?”
“Hudson Valentine,” she whispered.
