Zonk blinked up at me, curled against Scott’s bare chest as he stroked its patchy fur. “Zonk, this is the girl I was telling you about. The one I was going to make your stepmom. But she turned us down.”
The opossum gave me a beady-eyed, accusing stare.
I got it, Zonk. I didn’t like me either.
Scott pulledto the curb in the same spot where he’d first picked me up. No disco light show this time, just a thick, inescapable heaviness settling over us.
“So,” he said quietly, “I guess our six weeks are over.”
Tears broke loose, hot on my cheeks. I slid across the benchseat and hugged him, wishing I could stop time with my bare hands. “Yes. I’m so sorry.”
He tried for levity, even though his voice cracked. “If it’s Zonk, I can plug up the hole in the wall.”
Despite everything, a laugh broke out of me, but it dissolved into a sob.
I wiped my eyes, shaking my head. “You really are the weirdest person I’ve ever met.”
“And you’re the most beautiful person I’ve ever met.”
“Stop.” I shoved him lightly. “I’m not.”
“You are,” he said. No hesitation. “You just don’t see it yet. Someday you will.”
He had such faith in me. I wanted to be the girl he saw when he looked at me. But I wasn’t her. Not yet. Maybe not ever.
“Thank you,” I whispered, “for showing me what life looks like when you give it everything you’ve got. I’ll never forget this summer with you.”
He lifted my chin, staring into my eyes. “Stay.”
God, I wanted to. Every part of me screamedyes. But the pull of everything waiting outside this truck was stronger. “I can’t.”
The silence that followed was brutal, broken only by his unsteady breathing. Then he reached into his pocket, pulled out a cassette tape, and slipped it into my purse.
“What is that?”
“Something to remember me by.”
I patted my bag, trying for a smile that didn’t come. “You’re not easily forgettable, Scott.”
A thick quiet settled between us. Then, softer than I’d ever heard him: “I’ve never wanted anyone the way I want you.”
My lips parted, aching to answer him. To give him something back. Instead, I held his face between my palms, kissed him once, and then I was gone.
18
SCOTT: LOVE IS A BATTLEFIELD
I waited just long enough to see her disappear through the gates, but not a second more. Putting my truck in gear, I peeled out, no longer giving a shit if I offended any rich people’s sensitive ears. I didn’t know where I was going, only that it couldn’t be here. Couldn’t be anywhere near her house, or those gates, or the version of her life where I didn’t fit.
A few miles into my drive, the mansions thinned out and the streetlights got friendlier. Back to my affordable zip code. Back to reality. My mood wasn’t suitable for other humans, but the thought of sitting in my apartment alone in the dark with nothing but my thoughts felt like torture.
Then I saw it: the bright glow of the video store sign. Yes. That was what I needed. Something loud, violent, and aggressively un-romantic. I pulled into the lot and checked the handwritten sign on the door.Open till midnight. It had to be three in the morning by now, but then I looked at my watch. 11:48. My god. Would this shitty night ever end?
The bell on the door chimed as I stepped inside. The place was empty except for the lanky, bored teenager behind the counter running the late shift.
“We close in ten minutes,” he said, not even bothering to look up. “If you’re not outta here by then, you’re spending the night.”
“Give me five.”
