Quest and Tillie

Chapter 7: Don't Push Yourself

"That was fucking hilarious!" Brad crowed as he raced away from Quest. "You got him back good for cheating on you!"

Clearly, Brad had heard the gossip about why Quest and I were no longer together since I certainly hadn't told him anything about it.

He kept laughing for a minute until he noticed I was staring out the windshield with my hands clenched in tight fists on my lap. I was literally trembling with rage, wishing I had a large cup of iced tea to throw in his face.

"Hey," he said, and I could see him glance my way out of the corner of my eye, finally figuring out that only one of us was laughing. "What's wrong? You have to admit that was funny as hell."

Still without looking at him, I said in a deadly tone, "I don't have to admit anything like that because I didn't find it the least bit funny, you asshole. And I would never stoop so low and tell another person about what I'd done in private with a person, much less lie about what I had done with someone. That was crude, humiliating to me and just plain mean-spirited."

"He deserved it for what he did to you."

"No, he didn't. You just made yourself part of something that does not concern you, and you did it at my expense, saying something so ugly about me to another person like that. It was disgusting."

He was pulling up my parents' driveway and he parked by the house.

"Lose my number, Brad. We won't be going out ever again."

I practically threw myself out of his car, and he quickly got out and chased me toward the porch. "Oh, c'mon, Tillie. It was a joke."

I turned around and cracked him, hard, across the face. 

Smack!

"Guess we don't have the same sense of humor then, since I didn't think it was much of a joke. If you see me in town, turn in the opposite direction and go away fast, or I swear, if I'm holding anything in my hands, I will prove how good my aim is and nail you right between the eyes."

"God, you're such a bitch, no wonder he cheated on you."

He jogged toward his car without another word and drove off. The rock I'd found and launched at his car made a nice hole in his back windshield with crack lines radiating out from it.

I'll show you bitch, asshole.

Then, because this night wasn't enough of a joke, as Brad's car turned onto the road, Quest's truck pulled into my parents' driveway.

He parked and jumped out of his truck and ran to me, his eyes concerned, almost frantic.

"Tillie, did he hurt you?"

"No, he didn't hurt me, Quest."

I couldn't understand his concern.

"Thank God," he breathed out. "Tillie, I need you to not go out with Brad again."

"After what he pulled tonight, I wasn't planning on it. Not that it's any of your business or you have any say in who I spend my time with since you chose to spend your time with someone who wasn't me."

"I know, Tillie, and I'm sorry, but this is serious. It's not about me being jealous, I swear. It's -- you know I never liked Brad in high school."

"I do know that. But you'd never say why."

"When I heard you were out with him tonight, I panicked, Til. Freaked the fuck out. None of us guys liked him in high school because there were rumors about him. Nobody ever came forward, nothing was ever proven, and it was all locker room talk. But word on the street was he didn't respect the word no from girls. Nobody in our hometown, but girls from some surrounding towns. We never heard names, just that there were a few girls."