“Because TJ asked if I’d had a good night and then said I’d left behind my Converse,” Tiffani cuts in sharply. The roughness to her voice is back again, and so is the fire in her blue eyes. “Asked me what the words written on them meant. I sure as hell remember you wavingyours around the entire night. The ones with the lyrics on them, right?” She cocks her head to one side, her glare almost threatening. “By the way, you’re not getting those back. I told him I didn’t want them and asked him to toss them in the trash for me.”
“But Tyler’s my—” Eden tries, but her attempts at denial are as useless as mine were.
“Stepbrother?” Tiffani finishes. She is so angry now that tears are welling in her eyes, and she wipes them away, placing her hands on her hips. “Yeah, I know. I just spent the past half hour arguing with myself. I was like, ‘No way, they’re totally related.’ But I’ve watchedCluelessbefore, okay? You know, when Cher falls for her stepbrother? I’m not stupid.”
So, this is it. Tiffani really does know the truth.
We should have been more careful. I should have kept my distance from Eden until I cleared up this mess with Tiffani. I’ve betrayed her, I’ve been selfish, and as much as I can’t stand Tiffani, I know that this has hurt her. I can see the fury in her eyes, but I can also see the pain. She isn’t fighting back her tears now. But did she care when she was controlling my life for the past three years? Did she even care that I didn’t want to be with her anyway?
Maybe this is the end of us. I didn’t want it to happen like this, but if this is what it takes to finally have Tiffani let go, then I’ll take it. She can’t be with someone who has gone behind her back like this. She can’t be with someone who has cheated on her. We are both better off without one another, and I hope she sees that now.
I glance sideways at Eden, but she is paralyzed. She is staring at Tiffani with wide eyes, barely blinking, her face still white. She is terrified, and I wish I could reach over and take her hand in mine so that she knows I’m here, that we’re in this together, that everything will be okay.
“You didn’t really hook up with Jake, did you, Eden?” Tiffani asks weakly, breaking the silence.
“No,” Eden whispers. She looks down at the ground, starting to blink again now, but I think it’s only because she’s holding back tears herself.It’s okay; I’m here.
“It was you that night at the pier,” Tiffani says through her sobs. I don’t think I’ve ever really seen Tiffani cry. At least not like this. “You’re a liar.”
“I know,” Eden says, and her husky voice is cracked with guilt. “I’m a liar. I’m a bitch. I’m a terrible friend.”
This is really between Tiffani and me. My relationship with Eden would never have come to this if Tiffani had just let me go, if she hadn’t blackmailed me into staying with her. I’m not letting her confront Eden like this, not when it is only mine and Tiffani’s fault. I want her out of my life.
“You know what, Tiffani?” I say loudly, clearing my throat and stepping in between her and Eden. I narrow my eyes at the girl crying in front of me, at the girl who has controlled my every move for so long, and anger builds within me. It’s finally my turn to get my say. It’s finally time to end this all for good. “I don’t even want to be with you. I’ve wasted three years because you blackmailed me into staying with you. Do whatever you want. Tell everyone everything you know about me, because having you keep it a secret isn’t worth the effort it takes to put up with you,” I tell her, and she is staring back at me with wide, swollen eyes and her mouth slightly hung open in shock, but I don’t care. She isn’t the victim here; neither of us are. We just aren’t good together, and all we do is hurt one another. “We’re over. Sue me. Report me to the cops. I don’t care. I’m done.”
“This is all your fault!” Tiffani screams at Eden as she steps aroundme and throws up her hands. “I don’t even care about the fact that you’re basically siblings, which I should because it’s disgusting, but no, the only thing I care about is that you’ve ruined everything.”
Eden, for some crazy reason or another, actually takes a step closer to her. “Tiffani, I didn’t mean for—”
I hold up a hand to stop her. Eden doesn’t need to apologize. She tried to convince me not to go through with this, to stay away from her unless I ended things with Tiffani, but I didn’t listen. Icouldn’tstay away from her.
I set my gaze back on Tiffani and without even flinching, I firmly state, “It’s over,babe.” And man, it feels like the most satisfying thing in the world. Almost blissful. I step back and jab a finger toward the gate, ordering her to leave. There is nothing more to say.
Tiffani lets out a muffled wail and throws her hands back into her hair. “But you can’t break up with me!”
She is so pathetic, it is laughable. And I do laugh. Out loud. She needs to drop this. She needs to move on, to find someone else who she actuallywantsto be with for a more genuine, sincere reason. “Because I won’t be there to make you look cool? Because you won’t get to control me anymore?”
“Because I’mpregnant, Tyler!”
It’s like a punch in the gut, knocking the air straight out of me. The entire weight of the world crashes down on me, and my chest tightens while my heart stops beating. I can’t hear a single noise. Not the passing cars out front, not even the breeze. Even my sight blurs, putting Tiffani out of focus as she buries her head in her hands and weeps even harder.
“What?” I whisper. I can barely speak. My voice is gone. No… No way. This isn’t happening right now.
Tiffani begins retreating from me, backing across the yard toward thegate, her eyes never leaving mine. She is still sobbing, completely and entirely distraught.
“What’s all the screaming about?” a voice that sounds like Mom’s calls out across the yard, but it isn’t clear to me. It’s muffled, distorted. I’m not tuned into reality right now. Everything is fuzzy as I stare after Tiffani, watching her disappear in front of me.
She reaches the gate and pulls it open, but then she stops. Her pained gaze flicks away from me, and she takes a deep breath before she opens her mouth and yells, “You should know that he’s hooked on coke! And he’s started dealing too!” And just like that, all of my senses snap back into function.
My vision clears, my hearing sharpens. Fury overtakes me, and just before Tiffani disappears through the gate, I growl, “You bitch!”
“Tyler,” I hear that voice say again, and itisMom’s. I glance over to her. She is standing by the patio doors with Dave by her side, both of them staring at me in disbelief. Mom looks pale, her gaze agonizing, a hand pressed to her chest. “Please tell me I misheard that,” she says, her voice pleading. “Please, please tell me you’re not.”
I can’t look at anyone. Not Dave, not Mom, not Eden. What do they all think of me now? I’m ashamed of myself. I’m embarrassed. I’ve let them down. I can’t hurt them even more by lying, by denying it all. They deserve honesty from me right now. It’s the least I can give them. I tilt my head down to the ground and close my eyes. “I wish I wasn’t,” I say quietly, and my eyes sting with tears.
The shocked gasp Mom lets out pierces straight through me, and I squeeze my eyes shut even harder. It breaks my heart to put her through this, but letting her down is all I ever do. This time though, it’s worse. She already knew I smoked, and although she didn’t approve, she knows it wasn’t the end of the world. But the coke… She didn’tknow about that. And she definitely didn’t know that I’ve been dealing for the past few weeks. It’s the ultimate low point of my life, and I feel like the absolute worst son in the world right now.
Finally, I force myself to look up from the grass, to face my consequences. I see Eden first. She is staring straight at me, her expression horrified, and I have to look away just as quickly again. I’ve let her down too, and my guilt only presses down on me even harder. I look at Mom now, but her face is buried into Dave’s chest as he holds her tight while she sobs. He is rubbing her back, his intense eyes narrowed at me.
