“Wonderful.” She patted his hand. “Let me check you out. I have a discount I can give you.”
Weston raised his eyebrows in my direction. I shook my head, showing I wasn’t upset. He smiled in response before following Maria to one of the empty counters.
“We’ll talk more about it later,” he promised me as Maria scanned the paint cans.
“Fine,” I said while aimlessly touching one of the key chains hanging on the checkout counter. The square plate read, ‘Stay Calm’ with a purple heart underneath. I smiled a little and the cheesy phrase. As soon as my hand released it, Weston tugged it off its hook.
“Is that all?” Maria asked while sliding the last paint can across the scanner.
“Last thing.” Weston handed her the key chain.
“I was just looking,” I said when Weston offered the key chain to me once we walked out of the store.
He shrugged. “It’s a keepsake for today. Something corny we can both remember. Plus, you often need that same reminder.”
I snorted. “Do you know how many times I’d heard this phrase and done the opposite?”
“I dare you to try doing exactly what it says,” he said. “At least once. You know, to shake it up. Disrupt the balance of the universe or some shit like that.”
“I doubt being calm would disturb the force,” I joked with a laugh.
Weston paused at the back of his truck and placed the bags in his trunk. He turned to grab my wrist before I could pass him to go to the passenger’s side.
“What?” I started.
He placed both hands on my cheeks and kissed me. We stood there for a good minute, locked together in an embrace. When we finally pulled back for a breath, he said, “Stay calm. For this one thing, at least.”
“Again,” I said with a stupid grin on my face. “What?”
“I want to show you something. Show you why I didn’t tell you about Fairfield. And how I got into doing favors.”
Chapter 36
We drove across town.Weston passed his neighborhood and drove through a busy downtown area. The music filled our silence. Once we turned on a dirt road, I mustered up the courage to ask him where we were going.
“I’m sure your friend found out about the house we burned, right?” Weston slowed the truck down but didn’t stop. The road curved with thick trees on either end.
“Yeah,” I confirmed. “Who’s we?”
Weston let out a heavy breath. Then, he inhaled slowly and held it in. Breathing work. Had he gone to therapy? Or, was that simply a habit because of his athletic background?
“Lawrence,” Weston explained. “The guy you met last night.”
I nodded for him to continue.
“And two other guys I used to hang out with,” he said. His eyes stayed trained on the road as he spoke. “We were friends in prep school. Lawrence is two years older. Andrew, Lawrence’s brother is my age and Oliver was the new kid. Sophomore year, I shared a dorm with Andrew and Oliver. We all liked football and drinking, so that’s what we did.”
I peered outside. The trees seemed to start thinning and in the distance, I could see a few houses. The landscape looked familiar. I sat up in my seat to stay attentive to Weston’s words and our surroundings.
Weston did another breathing exercise before saying, “Prep school was tough. The teachers were tougher. Especially our biology professor. Mr. Trenton. He… he was a psycho.”
His fingers tapped the steering wheel. I could see the skin on his neck go red.
“Weston,” I whispered. “Take your time.”
He gave me a curt nod and stayed quiet for a moment longer before continuing. “I didn’t think his discipline was abnormal at first. Which is silly, I know. He’d take some of us in his office sometimes when we failed an exam or embarrassed us in front of the other teachers.”
Weston flexed his hands, briefly. “He would slap our wrists with the rulers that have the metal on their edge - like those old school teachers in movies. But he wouldn’t stop after one or two slaps, and sometimes he’d make us hit each other with the ruler while he watched. Afterward, he wouldn’t let us go to the nurse. He said it was a good lesson to learn how to bandage your wounds.”
