“Okay,” I said.I shrugged.“I’ve seen them fight before.”
“That must be difficult for you,” Olly said.His voice was oddly strained.
Was I missing something?
“Um, why?”I asked.I knew I was going to have to ask direct questions to get the full story out of Olly.He was back to his normal, stoic self.
“Because of Jordan.”
That took some real mental gymnastics to figure out.
In fact, try as I might, I just couldn’t get it to make sense.
“Huh?”I managed.
“Because he hit you,” Olly said.Another sideways glance.Now he seemed less sure of himself.“Right?"
I burst out a short laugh.“No!”
“Oh,” Olly said.He frowned.“But someone…”
The realization of what he had, somehow, picked up on was instantly sobering.
How had he guessed?Had I flinched at the wrong moment?Was there something in my eyes that told him I’d grown up afraid?
I cleared my throat.
“My dad,” I said.“He was… Clara and I left as soon as I was old enough to take her with me and get an apartment.”
There was silence for a moment.Olly switched lanes.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
But talking about my dad had made me remember something else.
“I have to call Clara,” I said.I grabbed my phone out of my pocket as Olly sped us along the road; looking at the direction we were going, I realized we weren’t headed for the office.
Was he taking me to his house?
I could think about that later.I had to make sure my sister was okay.
It took two rings only for the line to connect.
“Clar,” I gasped as soon as she answered.“I have something to tell you.It’s about Fernando.Are you with him right now?”
“No,” she said.Her voice came out as a sob.“Keat, do you know what’s going on?I just got this weird text from him out of the blue.He says it’s over.He doesn’t want me anymore.”
“Oh, god.”I covered my face with my hands.“It’s not you, Clara.He’s a louse.He’s been playing everyone here.He even used me.He… I can’t believe he did it, Clara, but he outed Olly and me today.In, like, the worst possible way.”
“He did that to you?”Clara’s sobbing intensified.“Did he even really like me…?”
“Oh, Clar,” I said.My heart was breaking for her, and for the fact that I couldn’t just hug her right there and then.I looked over at Olly.“Um, can we…?”
Olly nodded, glancing in the rearview mirror and indicating to the right.“Already turning around,” he said.“I’ll take you home.”
“Thanks,” I said, though there was a sinking feeling in my chest about how we wouldn’t get a chance to talk this through.“I’ll be there really soon, sis, okay?”
She was sobbing so much that all she could do was hang up.My heart was in my mouth, and I looked anxiously at the road signs we were passing to try and estimate in my head how long it would take us to get there.
