“So?” Tempest goes when she’s got the door locked.
“So?”
Wide-eyed, she asks, “Are you going to tell me?”
“Tell you what?”
“You’ve told me everything. Except one thing.”
“What is that?”
She sighs, looking at me, and her always smiling eyes go dim and grave. “Are you still mad at him? For what he did to you.”
My heart starts to thump in my chest. “I… I’m…”
She grabs my hand in hers and squeezes it. “Because if you are, then it’s okay. I support you.”
I squeeze it back. “A-and what if I’m not?”
“Then I support you too. Duh.”
“He’s your brother, Temp,” I remind her.
“I know. And I love him and he’s my BFF. But you’re my BFF too and I saw how you were that night. I saw what he did to you, Callie. I was there. He broke you.” She scoffs. “You’re the biggest good girl I’ve ever met and look what he made you do.”
My eyes sting.
I can’t believe this girl. I don’t know what I would’ve done if she hadn’t been with me. Not only that night but also throughout that summer.
I mean, she’s my partner in crime.
“So? Are you?” she prods.
And the only reason I can tell her is because not only do I love her but I also can’t keep it inside anymore. “I think… I think I’m tired now.”
“Of what?”
“Of being angry at him. Of holding on to the past. I try. I do. I… make myself remember and it was easy before. So easy but…” A tear falls down my cheek. “But I… it’s hard. He makes it so hard. Do you think I’m weak? For not being angry at him anymore. For letting go of the past.”
She has tears in her eyes too as she says, “God, Callie, you’re not weak. You’re one of the strongest people I know. You’re a survivor, okay? You survived your first heartbreak. You survived my brother. So no, it doesn’t make you weak. Moving on is not weakness. It’s a choice that we make when the time is right. It’s a choice that we make to cut that toxic, hurtful part out of our lives. So we can be free. We can have closure. You’re getting closure, Callie. You’re choosing not to hurt.”
I’m choosing not to hurt. I’m choosing closure.
That’s what I wanted, right? I wanted to move on.
I wanted to stop the hurt, the pain.
And ithasstopped.
I haven’t felt that anger in such a long time. I’ve been trying to but it’s gone now.
He made it go away. He did it.
He did what I asked him to do that night.
He made it stop hurting.
“Closure,” I whisper, a light bulb going off in my head. “I’ve wanted that. That’s what I wanted.”
