George takes back the apple.
“What if I yell at you?”
“Wouldn’t be the first time.”
“What if I cry?” I ask more seriously.
“I think the crying would bother you a lot more than me.”
“What if all I want to do for the next six days is order room service and watch movies?”
“You already agreed to The Plan.”
“Ah, right. The Plan.”
“But if that’s what you really want to do this week, then that’s what we’ll do.”
“Nah.” I’m excited for an adventure with George. It’s been too long since we’ve had one.
“Didn’t think so.”
“Ifeelweirdly good,” I say.
“Weird in what way?”
“I thought I might miss him more, being here.”
George’s gaze coasts over my face. “You don’t?”
I shake my head. “But I think about how it ended. I think about how I scared him off.”
George passes the apple back to me for the final bite. “What are you talking about?”
“We had a fight a few days before the wedding,” I say when I’m done chewing. “He did something, and I snapped. It’s the only thing I can think of that might have made him walk away so abruptly.”
George has gone still. “What did he do?”
I huff out a laugh at the menace in his voice. “What are you going to do? Beat him up in the student parking lot?” It wouldn’t be unprecedented.
High school. Junior year winter formal. While George danced with Tish Torres, I sat on Dylan Martin’s lap, passing his dad’s flask back and forth. I was determined to lose my virginity that night, and the rum helped my nerves. George spotted us heading out the door. I was stumbling, unable to keep myself upright without Dylan’s help. We were in the parking lot, going to his car, when George caught up to us. I’ll never forget how cold his voice sounded.
“Touch her, and I’ll kill you.”
Dylan swung first, but he was drunk and six inches shorter than George and didn’t land the punch. George shoved Dylan against the hood of a car and slammed his fist into his nose. It earned him a broken pinkie and a suspension.
“It’s not what you’re thinking,” I say now. “Nate’s a good man. But I lost it, you know? I yelled. I said some not-so-nice things.”
George lifts a shoulder, likeSo what?
“I stormed out, spent the night with Aurora and Betty before I went back. I apologized for how I behaved, but I could tell Nate was shaken. I’d always been so serene around him, and suddenly I’d turned into a banshee.”
George nods along and then says, smirking, “I can’t really see you as serene.”
“Fuck you!” I say. “I wassoserene, and I really tried to be good.”
George’s eyes flare with anger. “Don’t do that.”
“What? Try to be a good girlfriend?”
