All I’ve been doing is typing angry texts back and forth with Elijah and holding back the last few tears I’m going to shed for that liar.
Brick pulls the car over. Ironically enough, we find ourselves on Maple, the same street we argued on ten years ago after the pep rally.
“What’s going on?” Brick finally asks to break the silence.
“Nothing.”
“I can tell you’ve been crying and you’re not yourself.”
“How would you know what I’m like?”
“You may have grown up, Kaya, but I still know you.”
The way his voice drops several octaves when he says those words makes me desperately want to believe him.
“I had a bad night,” I finally admit.
“Something with your boyfriend?”
“Yes.”
“Something you need handled?” he asks with an edge to his voice that seems foreign to me, so I turn my head toward him in confusion.
“And who would handle it?”
“Your brother…. or me.”
“Like you handled things for me in high school?”
There’s a lull in the conversation as the radio deejay announces that an up and coming musical artist from the area was wounded in a shooting at a local club. The depressing news only amplifies my sadness.
“We should probably get this out of the way, Kaya,” Brick says as he turns down the radio.
“Get what out of the way?” I respond defensively.
“I want to apologize,” he offers.
“Apologize?”
“I was just a kid, and kind of a jerk, but I made a bad decision for a good reason. I didn’t realize the consequences of my actions and that’s my bad because you were a kid too. So can you forgive me, or can we at least have a ceasefire during Kyle’s wedding?”
Is he apologizing for what happened in the gym or for the kiss? Hell, maybe he doesn’t even remember the kiss. It’s not like we ever came close to kissing again the rest of that school year and then he left. It’s as almost as if it never happened. Sometimes it feels as if I imagined it.
“Maybe a ceasefire.”
“I’ll take that.”
He extends his hand so we can shake on it.
I accept.
It’s just as I feared. I feel a kinetic energy between us the moment our hands wrap around each other.
The air crackles.
A spark jumps from his palm to mine, and my skin tingles. I draw my hand away, almost startled by the intensity of the sensation. I can feel my face flush as I look up into his eyes, which seem to hold a thousand secrets.
We sit there for what feels like an eternity, neither of us willing to move or break the spell that has been cast between us. Then suddenly, we hear a noise nearby, startling us into breaking apart. We both turn towards the source of the sound, still feeling connected in some way despite being physically separated.
