Page 102 of No One Else
25
Evan
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THE DOORBELL RINGSand I shut the fridge door, still undecided about what I want to make for dinner, and stop my dad from trying to get out of his recliner as I pass by him in the living room. “I’ll get it.”
A part of me isn’t surprised to find Natalie there when I open the front door. She always seems to pop up at my house when I least expect it.
“Who is it?” Dad shouts, unable to see past me from the angle his chair’s at.
“No one,” I tell him, stepping outside, carefully closing the door behind me.
Dad took it pretty hard when I told him Natalie and I broke up, and I don’t want to rile him up again. I never admitted she was back with her ex, too ashamed to say the words aloud again. He thinks things just didn’t work out and I don’t want to give him false hope about us just because she showed up again, even after her weird behavior after class today.
I still don’t quite know what to make of that. Asking me to trust her, telling me she’d make things right. What the hell does that even mean?
She smiles at me, her emerald eyes sparkling, the same way she did when I revealed to her that picture of Carter and Olivia. I admit, I’d hoped to hurt her, wake her up and make her see she’d picked the wrong guy. But hurt had been the furthest thing from her expression. The only thing she’d seemed harmed by... was whenever I showed my own pain.
“Evan,” she breathes, reaching for me, and I step back against the side of the house, out of her grasp. It was a mistake to let her hug me at school today, the feel of her in my arms better than I remembered. I can’t do that again or I’ll never get over her. Not that I believe I actually will, but I have to have faith I’ll climb out of this depressive hole one day. And that won’t happen if she’s always around.
The wounded look on her face as I step away cuts my heart, but I steel myself against it, reminding myself she’s acted infinitely worse toward me. “Why are you here?” It’s one thing to track me down after class, but to show up at my house? That’s pushing it.
“To explain about earlier-”
“I can’t keep doing this,” I cut her off, turning away back towards the door. Before she worms her way in again, has me trusting her, despite what she’s done.
“Carter was blackmailing me.”
Her words have me freezing, then slowly pivoting to face her again. “What?”
“He was going to press charges against you for assault and battery, have you put in jail, fines thrown at you, kicked out of Suncoast, and fired from the gym. Then after all that sue you until you and your dad would have had to file bankruptcy.”
I open my mouth to reply with something, anything, but nothing comes out. No possible response for the bombshell she just dropped.
She steps closer, her eyes searching mine. “His dad is running for political office and told Carter he needed to do his part in portraying a wholesome family image or he would cut him off financially. I was part of that image. The longstanding girlfriend who’s an honor student and does charity work. He never even told his parents we’d broken up.”
She reaches out for my hands and I let her, too shocked to think about resisting. “It was all for show. I never wanted to be with him again. I did it all for you, to keep you safe. I couldn’t let any of that stuff happen to you.”
So much is running through my brain, blurring together, getting jumbled, I don’t know where to start. Shock. Betrayal. Guilt. Happiness. Hope. “I- I need to sit down.”
“Do you want to go inside?” she asks hesitantly, squeezing my fingers.
I look down at our joined hands, already forgetting she was touching me, and shake my head. “No, I’ll just- let’s go in the Bronco.” I can’t deal with my dad right now, how he’ll take over the entire conversation, excited to see her again. I need to be alone with her, find out more, every exact detail, and then discover where we stand.
