And I feelmy own flare.
“Nate, I can’t avoid him. I might not want to, but I need to talk to him. I can’t hide from it.”
“You should.”
“What? You, of all people, are telling me to hide? After all that support with swimming?”
“Don’t compare him to that. He’s different.”
I shake my head. “It’s not. I don’t run from what I’m scared of anymore. I’m gonna talk to him, explain things. And you can’t stop me.”
He grabs my hand. “Maisie,please. Don’t do this.”
“No. This isn’t a big deal. He’s just being Rob. I’m gonna walk over there and we’ll just talk. Okay?”
He stares at me and then Rob.“Why?”
“I need to give him a chance to ...” I trail off. Be my friend? No, I don’t think I want that. See if he means his apology and if we can be civil? That’s close enough.
I regret not giving this more thought. If I had, I would have seen this surprise coming. Now I have to deal with trying to figure out my words.
“Of course.” Nate says it slowly. “I knew this would happen.”
“The surprise? Maybe we both should have, but?—”
He steps away, fully putting the distance we used to have back between us. “Just go talk to him.”
“Wait, are you—” I try to reach out, but he moves away even farther.
“Maisie!” Rob calls, and he’s running over to us. I guess our time is up.
Nate still looks angry, and I know I need to clear this up. I need to talk to him more about what he’s thinking, because I’m not sure we’re on the same page.
“Rob,” I say. “Can you give us just a minute? I was?—”
“We’re done here,” Nate cuts me off. “I’ll see you later, b—” He stops, and his face goes tight. “Maisie.”
My eyes widen. He didn’t say my nickname. He used my actual one, and it cuts me like a knife.
“You’re my ride here,” I say, a last-ditch attempt to get him to stay while I tell Rob to never do this again. “We should?—”
“I’ll get you to where you need to go,” Rob says. “Don’t worry about it.”
I shake my head, not taking my eyes off Nate. “No, just give me one second. Nate?—”
He holds his hand up, lips still pursed. “You’re really going to talk it out with him?”
“Well, yes, but it can just be?—”
“Stop. This is a terrible decision, but it’s yours to make, I guess. I just thought ...” He shakes his head. “Whatever.”
“Nate, hang on.”
“No,” he snaps. “I’m not watching you do this. Notagain. So, go talk to Rob. I’m going home.”
And then he walks away, not looking backonce.
“Wow.” Rob laughs. “That was kind of rude.”
