“June, you don’t know him,” replied Amelia.
“And trust me, it’s better that way. Because you don’t want to be around him when he’s mad,” Poppy pointed out.
“You’re exaggerating,” I said.
But they didn’t take it lightly.
“He put my brother in the hospital,” Amelia said.
“He almost killed a guy when he was sixteen,” Poppy let slip. The other two were getting upset. Their eyes widened and they stopped blinking.
“What? You’re kidding, right?” I asked.
Poppy turned away as soon as she realized what she’d said, but it was too late now.
“Poppy!”the other two girls admonished her in unison.
“Are you serious?” I didn’t bother to hide my disbelief.
“Yeah. With a wrench.”
Poppy mentioned this so casually that I understood that she wasn’t lying.
“Poppy, enough!” This time Amelia yelled, and her face contorted into a grimace that looked exactly the same as Brian’s tormented expression.
“What’d I say?” The blond fluttered her eyelashes innocently as I brought my hands to my face.
“Oh my god.”
“That doesn’t matter.” Amelia cut me off.
“What happened with you two?”
“Nothing.”
“Nothing? You were together and now you hate him.”
“Yeah, we were together,” Amelia stammered, brushing it aside. “I’m gonna get a drink. What do you want, June?”
That indicated that she wanted to change the subject, but I didn’t give up.
“Well, what happened?” I insisted.
“We went out, and it didn’t end well. That’s it,” she concluded robotically, as if she was reciting lines from a play. “Come on, Ari. Let’s get a juice.” She made air quotes as she said those words and reached the door. “I’ll be pissed if you tell my brother. Got it, Poppy?”
The pair disappeared, and I was alone with Poppy. Just the right person if I wanted to know what was going on.
Finding out about James Hunter’s life was certainly not my priority, but if I wanted to date his best friend, I had to at least ascertain the gravity of the situation.
I put my hands between my knees.
“What happened between Amelia and James Hunter? Did they really go out?”
Poppy fanned her hands to dry her polish. “One night during Tiffany’s birthday party, Jesus, June, it was a shit show,” she replied, unnerved.
“What happened?” I whispered, keeping an eye on the door.
“You wouldn’t get it if I told you. It all started years ago. Brian and James went to elementary school together. They were friends—” She suddenly cut herself off. We weren’t alone anymore.
