Treat You Better

Chapter Twenty-five: Awkward Messes

Chapter Twenty-five: Awkward Messes.

"What? Who?" I gasped.

"Perhaps someone who hated my parents, someone who was jealous of their fortune and fame. Maybe someone who wanted to take what they had just so that they could be in power." Angelo replied, bringing out a potato chip and inspecting it closely.

In my mind, there was only one person who could fit that criteria. "Like Franca Frances?" I whispered.

He only shrugged in response.

"You know, I was the one who insisted on a night drive that day, I was seven. They said okay and decided to just...drive. Then a biker came at them from the side, making my dad swerve to collide with a tree. I had my seatbelt on but the both of them weren't so lucky. The biker had a gun so... he finished them off."

"What?!" I put down my coke and sat straighter. "Heather Frances Sullivan was shot to death?" But that was not what the millions of news stations said.

She had an accident while driving with her family, only her son made it alive. That's what everyone thought!

"How did something so huge get covered up?"

Angelo took a deep breath and I wondered if talking about this was hard for him. He was still as passive as ever so I couldn't even tell if he was sad or not.

"Franca must have gotten the right doctors on the case. I know it was her all the way, I just don't have proof."

"Then how do you know what truly happened?"

"I had pull a few strings of my own when I came to town one summer. I found the actual footage from the security cameras in Franca's office."

"You found it in her office, that's great proof!"

"It's not enough. It'll be her words against mine there would be no way to prove that I got it from her. Plus I invaded her privacy."

"Oh," I mused. "Why would Franca keep such a thing with her though?"

"I wouldn't know, blackmail perhaps? The biker's plate number showed for a second. But most times she does things just because."

I sighed, thinking of something else that maybe even he could have missed. For his sake, I did not want Franca to get away with something like this, this was huge!
"Didn't the police ask you about your account of the event? You know, weren't there investigators around?" I asked.

"I don't remember, but even if there were, I won't have said anything." He explained. "I didn't speak for nearly a year after the accident, don't know why."

"Trauma, I guess?" I said, quietly. "Made you lose your voice."

Angelo leaned into his seat and he suddenly looked so tired.
He stayed silent for a long while and so did I.
I had no idea what to say but the silence never got awkward. It was heavy and thoughtful.

"I feel like I'm going to fail them." He suddenly said, and he sounded so different.

For once, there was real emotion in his voice but it was sad. I didn't like that one bit.

I leaned forward, shedding the blanket off my shoulders so I could free my hands.
"You're not going to fail your parents, Angelo." I said, reaching across the console and taking his hand.
"You're a good person despite all the things you've been through and not nearly everyone in your shoes can say that about themselves."

He looked down at our joined hands then up at me.
As an afterthought, I added with a shrug. "I personally think you have nothing to prove."

Angelo blinked and a slow smile appeared on his face.
My heart skipped a beat and just kept on skipping especially when he tried to hide it by pressing a kiss to my hand. Emphasis on "tried".