“You lost the privilege to call me anything other than what I tell you to call me the day you left and didn’t come back for me.You’re dead to me, got it?Anyone who does know me, and that includes you in case you’re wondering, can call me Corinne,” she coldly said, the last bit holding zero to no emotion while staring at me feverously.Ouch!That fucking stung.I had hoped she would come back into my life but didn’t expect it to be this much of a colossal train wreck.I knew she wouldn’t be thrilled, and I didn’t blame her for being mad, but nothing could have prepared me for how painful our reunion was.
“For fucks sake,Corinne!I get it.You’re pissed.Duly noted.Okay?”I said louder than I’d intended, staring into her eyes.Twisting my fingers around hers, I pulled her fingertip off my chest, which wasn’t quite as easy as I expected it to be.She was a lot stronger than she appeared.
Tears filled her eyes and began to roll down her face.Wiping them away, I thought about how she used to hate crying but hated people seeing it happen even more.I didn’t know if that had changed, but I doubted it.
“Don’t you dare act like everything is okay, Shane.That ship sailed a long time ago.You made sure of it.You were the flippin’ captain.”Her words were strong but lacked even more emotion than her previous statement.She was shutting down and letting herself get lost.I refused to let her do it.This was the exact reason I left.I wasn’t good for her, and as badly as I didn’t want to do it, I had to remind her of that fact.I’d known for years her life would be shit if I stuck around and figured she would eventually come to the same conclusion.Honestly, I thought she had, and it was the reason she never returned to Cleveland.
“I’m not.Nothing has been okay since the last day I spent with you.I’ve fucking hated myself for so long.I’ve never forgiven myself for leaving, but what was I supposed to do?I couldn’t stick around and ruin your life more than I already had, Cor.I cared too much about you to drag you down with me.You deserved better.You still deserve better!”The words came out of my mouth, and although the voice belonged to me, it felt like a stranger had spoken them.It was hard to explain, but I guess when you spend so much time pretending not to care and trying to forget someone, the actual emotions you’d avoided for so long felt strange.
“You mean better than these creepy cryptic texts?”She yanked her hand free, taking a step backward.
“Huh?I don’t even know your number.What are you talking about?”That was a lie.Isaac gave me her number on several occasions, but I never used it.She didn’t need to know that, though.It wasn’t important right now.
“Right, like you don’t know what I’m talking about,” she dismissively said in a sarcastic voice as her nostrils flared, and then she clamped her lips together.
I furrowed my brow and tilted my head to the side.“Honestly, Cor.I have no fucking clue what you’re talking about.”
Her face became flushed, and she huffed, “Fine!You want to act clueless?Who are you even?The Shane I knew would have never stooped this low!”She yanked her phone from her bag and dramatically opened the other hand, letting the bag drop against the floor with a thud.
Her fingers slid across the screen a few times, and then she flipped it around for me to see.“Here, educate yourself!”she quoted what used to be one of our favorite movies and shoved her phone into my hands.
I bit my lip while awkwardly holding her phone, having no clue what it was I was supposed to be looking at.The last text was from someone called Leather Cult Leader, which was Isaac, but I wasn’t supposed to know what she called him.The next text in line was a spam one, or at least it was a pretty sound assumption to make since the person who sent it was still listed as a number and not a name she had saved to her phone.
“Oh, you pompous jerk face!We’re not kids anymore.I don’t want to play games; we’re too old for this.”She snatched her phone back, pressing her fingertip onto the screen, and then smacked it into my palm.
I scrolled through the one-sided conversation and by the end of the short exchange was ready to kill whoever had sent them on the spot.Someone had gone to a lot of trouble to sound like me it seemed.It might be a mere coincidence, but my gut told me it wasn’t.“Who the fuck sent these to you?”I spat out.
“You the f.That’s who,” she replied as hatefully.
“Cor,” I paused, needing a second to gather my thoughts before I said something I didn’t really mean.“I am being honest with you.I didn’t send these to you.You told me to leave you alone, so I respected your wishes.”
“We were dumb kids, Shane!You weren’t supposed to listen,” she responded in a defeated voice, and her shoulders slumped.I wanted to pull her into my arms to hug her—to comfort her—but that would make this situation a million times worse.I hoped there would be time for that later on, but right now, her safety took precedent.
“Do you have any idea who might have sent these?”
“I thought I did.I really had you pinned as the culprit.So, no, I don’t.I wish I did,” she admitted in a small voice while her hand ran up and down her arm nervously.I was happy to see that even though so much had changed, including us, I thought I was still able to read her.But it was her eyes that caught my attention most of all.She stared up at me with the same starry doe eyes that I used to have a weakness for.Who was I kidding?My knees still felt wobbly as if they were going to give out any minute while I stared at her.Man, I fucking missed her beautiful eyes and how they followed my every movement.
“Well, in that case, I’ll take you home to pack.”
“Huh?What do you mean take me home?I drove here, and I will leave the same way.And pack?What are you talking about?”She spoke fast, firing one thing off after another, and would take a deep breath in between sentences.
“You’re staying with me.”
“Ha!”she snapped before silently laughing.“I’m sorry.I thought you said I was staying with you.”
“I did.”
“Well, I have bad news, buddy.I’m not going to be doing that today or any other day that ends with the letter ‘Y’.”She bent down to fetch her bag, thrusting her arms through the straps and pulling the small backpack purse onto her back.
“It’s either my place, or I guess you could always stay here and bunk with tiny.”I smirked when Wiley’s middle finger wound up in the air above his head from where he apparently had taken a seat at the bar to watch all of my drama unfold.Cor glanced at my brother and scrunched her face with disgust.
“I won’t be going home with Tiny or you.”
“Either you go willingly or by force.The choice is yours, little dove.”I laid it all out for her.
“With force?”She laughed dryly.“Like you would ever?—”
“Smart choice,” I admitted in a hurry, cutting her off, and lunged for her, grabbing her and tossing her over my shoulder.
