Her eyebrow lifts. “I don’t kiss my friends goodbye.”
“Well, that’s good because you’re not allowed to kiss anyone until you’re thirty-five.”
“You’re not my dad, Zep.”
Okay, twist the knife. “It was a dirty trick, and I plan to do whatever I can to make it up to you. And your mama.”
“I don’t think you can.” She sniffles and looks to the side. “Mom doesn’t forgive when someone makes me cry. I saw you laugh when I went inside. Friends don’t laugh at each other.”
Rubbing my hand down my face, I remember how much scrubbing it took to get the green dye off my skin. “I wasn’t laughing at you, Bernie. I would never laugh at you like that.”
“You were laughing, Zep. I’m not stupid.”
“Have you ever had someone throw a cupcake at you?” I wait for her to look up at me and shake her head. “Not just one, but two. And that second one hits you in the face.”
“No.”
I smirk. “Think about it without the reason they were thrown. Getting hit between the eyes with a cupcake—the frosted side—is kind of funny, isn’t it?”
I’m rewarded with a small giggle. “Yeah, I guess so.”
“I would never laugh at you because you were upset. It kills me to know you and your mama think I’d do that to you. You’re my best friend, Bernie. The last thing I ever want to do is hurt you.”
“Then why did you kiss that mean girl? You left us at the park when we were cheering you up to go with her, and then you kissed her. Do you want her boyfriend to beat you up again?”
Damn her logic. “It’s complicated.”
“It always is,” she says with a frustrated sigh.
How do I fix this? My eyes land on her backpack that sits at her feet, and the Daredevils patch we sewed on is gone. “Where’s the patch?”
Her eyes look to where we’d put it on, and she just shrugs. “I asked Mom to take it off for me. She didn’t want to, but I didn’t think it was fair because we’re not friends anymore.”
“Bernie—”
“And I didn’t want to make Mom sadder than she already is.”
And twist the knife even more. “I want to be friends again. How can I make this up to you?”
“Mom cries at night. She thinks I’m asleep, but I’m not.”
Shit.
She looks at me and glares with the same venom as Misty. “You made my mom cry, Zep.”
Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. If I could, I’d kick my own ass for that. “That was never what I wanted for your mama. Or you.”
“But you hurt her. Whether you meant to or not, you did. You left us to kiss that lady. The one who called me a brat.”
“And she got yelled at for doing that,” I tell her. “Chanel played a trick on me. I thought I owed her something when I told her I didn’t want her coming around anymore. That I was happy with your mama. She saw you two coming, and she wanted to hurt you. And me. She likes to cause problems.”
“Why?”
Licking my lips, I try to decide whether I should say this or not. “Can you keep a secret? From your mama?”
“Maybe.”
“Guess I gotta take my chances, huh? Okay, here it is. I haven’t told your mama yet because I was waiting for the right time, but I love her. And Chanel wanted to make problems because she knew I loved your mama and not her anymore.”
