“Home,” Laura huffed, her hands clenched into fists at her sides.
“What? You can’t go home. You—"
Spinning on her heel, she pinned me with a fiery glare.
A drop of rain landed on the bridge of my nose.Great, I thought.That’s exactly what we need. For it to freakin’ rain.
“You do not get to tell me what to do,” Laura spit through gritted teeth, jabbing her finger at my chest. “I don’t belong to you. I’m notyours. You’ve made thatperfectlyclear.”
I shook my head as a drop landed on my shoulder, then another and another. “You don’t want me, Laura.”
“Oh, shut up, Max.” She dismissed me with a wave of her hand before crossing her arms tightly over her chest.
I took a step toward her. “Iamleaving,” I stated. “Thatishappening. Ihaveto. And I can’t take you with me. So, like I said, you don’t want me. You don’t want to belong to someone who can’t give you more than …” I shrugged helplessly. “I don’t know. Tonight. A week maybe. You deserve more than that.”
Her chest lifted and fell with a heavy breath. She worked her jaw from side to side, her eyes searching the night sky, as if it could offer her a sufficient response. The perfectscrew youbefore storming off, like she’d intended.
“And why don’t I get a say in this?” she finally asked, still unable to look at me.
“I—"
She silenced me with her steely glare, aimed in my direction so fast that I nearly choked on nothing but my own breath.
“Maybe I want tonight or a week. Maybe I want whatever you can give me.”
“And what if I don’t want to give that to you?”Because what if it’s not enough? What if I want more?
“Then I will hate you forever,” she stated with finality. “I will never talk to you again. I won’t sit with you at lunch. I won’t wave at you in the hall. I won’t eventhinkabout you because it would hurt too much.”
She stared into my eyes with a fiery anger that just barely covered the sadness beneath. And I knew she meant every word. I hoped she did. Because I nodded, my decision already made, and stuffed my hands into my pockets.
“Okay,” I whispered, holding her gaze. “Hate me forever.”
Her lips parted softly with surprise and so much heartbreak that I swore I heard the sound of her heart shattering over the trickling fountain behind us. Then she realized I was serious, that I wasn’t budging from my stance, and her lips—the lips I wanted so badly to kiss again—pressed closed.
She nodded, turned around, and began to walk.
“Come on,” she said.
“What?”
“You told my father you’d walk me home. So, let’s go.”
We walked in silence for six blocks, a distance I wished had been filled with holding hands and sneaking kisses behind trees.
But this is for the best, I kept telling myself.
It was best forher, and I hoped, eventually, she would see that, while I ignored what I thought was best for me.
CHAPTER SIX
Graduation came without ceremony—for me at least, which should have come as no surprise. Didn't matter that I graduated as a salutatorian. My parents were as disappointed in my existence as ever.
"If you had paid better attention, maybe you would've graduated as valedictorian," Dad had grumbled after receiving notice of my accomplishment.
Even when I succeed, I'm a failure.
Ricky was impressed though and made a point of telling me I could do so much more with my "giant brain" than waste it on the Army.
