Page 57 of Trick Play
“How would you even know?” I ask. “You’ve been gone.”
“And look what happened at the first taste of freedom you got!” he shouts, throwing his arms wide. “You almost torpedoed your college career before it began. Because you were fucking some guy! Some asshole who couldn’t treat you right, and when you didn’t get justice through official channels, you decided to take it into your own hands, getting yourself in trouble in the process, forcing Mom and Dad to come riding to your rescue. Ofcoursethey’re worried about you. Of courseI’mworried about you. I came back here so I could look out for you, make sure this didn’t happen again, and it’s like you’re determined to fuck your life up before you even have a chance to get started. What the fuck, Piper? What are you doing?”
My arms are still crossed, but my chin has dropped. I take another step back, swallowing hard, fighting down tears, finally understanding my family’s view of me. “Right,” I say. “Of course. You’re right.” I sniff, hating that I need to, but I can’t help it. My voice is all watery, my throat tight from the tears fighting to get out. But I won’t let them. “I’m the screwup hellbent on destroying my life as quickly as possible. By fucking some guy. I’m not, I don’t know,” I throw my hands up, looking all around the ceiling like I’m searching for possibilities, “a normal twenty-year-old who made a mistake almost a year ago. Nope. That’s impossible. I’m just the family fuckup, doomed to always fuck up if I’m ever allowed any amount of freedom or ability to make choices. Sure. Okay. Yeah.” I nod some more. “Thanks for clearing that up for me, Gray. And here I thought you came back to support me. Turns out you’re just here to babysit me. What was the plan for next year? Are you gonna give up your chance at the draft to babysit me for the rest of college? And what about when I graduate? You gonna move me in with you? And how’s that gonna work when I’m a competent adult? Hmm?”
He deflates, his anger leaking out of him. “Piper, no, come on. That’s not—”
An angry, unnatural laugh breaks out of my chest. “That’s not what? That’s not the plan? That’s not what you meant? Save it, Gray. You’ve made your position on my competence perfectly clear. Unfortunately for you, the legal system says otherwise. So I’ll just get out of everyone’s hair, alright?”
He follows me into the hall, stopping in my doorway where he watches me pull my suitcase out of the closet and start throwing clothes in it. “Piper, stop. What are you doing?”
“Leaving,” I say firmly without sparing him a glance.
“Where are you going?” he asks as I yank my phone charger out of the wall and stuff it in my backpack along with my laptop, charger, and the books I brought with me.
“Somewhere else.”
Mom and Dad are standing at the bottom of the stairs, but I ignore them as I drag my suitcase past them. My mom follows me out to my car, my coat in her hand. I accept it with a muttered, “Thanks,” and put it on. It’s too damn cold not to have it.
She stops me with a hand on my arm as I pass her to get to the driver’s side. “Piper, we don’t want you to be a prisoner. And we don’t think of you as the family screwup.”
I let out another low, angry chuckle. “Coulda fooled me, Mom. You’ve spent the last six months watching me like a toddler in a knife shop.” Sniffing, I cross my arms and look away. “You’re acting like I’m a criminal for spending time with a guy.”
“A guy you lied to us about,” she puts in calmly.
“Can you blame me?” I ask, looking her straight in the eye, my eyebrows raised. “Whenthisis the reaction I get?” I throw my arm wide, gesturing at my father and brother standing in the open doorway watching Mom and I talk. “What about any of this invites disclosure? If I weren’t here, I wouldn’t be telling you that I’m spending some of my free time with a guy. I’ve been seeing him for weeks, and you just now found out about him. The only reason Gray knows is because he’s seen us together. It’s not that serious, so it hasn’t seemed worth mentioning. Or do I have to tell you about every single person I interact with now? Is Gray subject to the same scrutiny, or is this special just for me?”
“That’s not fair, Piper. Gray didn’t—”
“Gray didn’t make a mistake and date the wrong person. Gray didn’t have porn posted of him without his permission. And Gray didn’t have the university and law enforcement both tell him that there’s nothing they can do and he should just be more careful who he sleeps with. Well, I am being careful, Mom. And I don’t appreciate the double standard, or being treated like I’m the one who did something wrong.”
“Well, you did get in trouble for breaking and entering and theft,” Mom says on a sigh. “It’s not like you didnothingwrong.”
My eyes bug out of my head, and I choke on my outrage. “I hardly think that walking through an unlocked door is breaking and entering, especially when one of the brothers actually said hi to me shortly after I walked in. As for the theft, they got everything back. And stealing their modem and other forms of electronic entertainment was supposed to be poetic justice. They could’ve easily replaced everything. I did no lasting damage. And in the end, they weren’t even out the money it would take to replace everything. But theyviolatedmy trust, my privacy, my autonomy. They took all that from me. And received nothing. No retribution. No punishment. No justice. So yes. I did that. I decided to serve justice on my own in whatever small way I could. Can you really blame me?”
“Piper …” Mom begins, her voice a combination of conciliation and censure.
But I’m done. I really can’t handle more of this right now. “I have to go.”
Ignoring further pleas, I climb into my car and pull away, working hard to hold back the tears that have been threatening for far too long. I can’t fall apart. Not yet. Not until I’m somewhere safe.
Once I’m out of the neighborhood, I pull into a gas station and text Cal that I’m on my way over. Without waiting for his reply, I start heading that way. I doubt he’ll have any objection. Worst case, if he’s not there and waiting for me, I’ll text Ellie. Either way, I’m heading to the same house.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Cal
Piper: I’m heading over to your place. Hope that’s okay.
Me: Of course. See you soon.
I frown at Piper’s text. She’d said that she was having dinner with her parents tonight and wouldn’t be available, so I wasn’t expecting to hear from her. We don’t have a chat-every-day kind of relationship, after all. And I definitely wasn’t expecting her to stop by.
“Everything alright?” Ellie asks as she comes back from the kitchen with a glass of water and cuddles up to Simon on the other end of the couch. We’ve been back from his parents’ house for almost an hour and decided to watch a movie and relax for a bit. Simon and I are heading out tomorrow morning, but I packed earlier so I wouldn’t have to worry about it last minute since we weren’t sure how late we’d be at his parents’.
“Yeah, everything’s fine. Piper’s on her way over.”
Simon shoots me a look, part surprise, part censure.
