Fate's Return (Twisted Fate, Book 2)

Chapter Thirty-Two

We were the last to show, and when we walked through the door of Tucker's, nobody hid their curiosity. Everyone's eyes followed us, full of questions. Suzie, Deryk, Mike, Raffy, and... Brenan. They had to be wondering why I was with Gabe. Why had I skipped class to be with him and what, exactly, had we been doing?

"Gabe, we need to talk," said Mike, the first to break through the quiet. He looked at everyone else and then added, "In private."

Gabe nodded and looked down at me with concern, as if asking if I'd be okay. Why wouldn't I be? Suzie and Deryk were my friends, and Brenan was the guy I was dating—for now. I couldn't think of him as my boyfriend. Meeting his eyes, I nodded, if only to stop him from asking the questions out loud.

"Let's go to the office," he told Mike and Raffy, but glared at Brenan. "That way we are just upstairs if anyone needs anything."

"Just go," Suzie said, rolling her eyes towards the stairs. "We are fine."

They paused as a trio, and then walked away to ascend the stairs and disappear from sight, though each took his turn looking over his shoulder as they left. My guess was that they were in the kitchen, well within hearing range, and taking turns peeking around the corner every few seconds to make sure all was still well.

"Where'd you guys go?" Suzie asked, turning to smile at me. It was fake but so was the lightness of my answer.

"Roller rink." Hopping up on the counter, I shrugged. "It was a last-minute thing. I was driving Gabe back over lunch and figured, since he had a spare and I've been on total house arrest, I deserved a little fun. My mom has been crazed since the accident, you know? She even tried taking my car keys so that I'd have to walk, like getting behind the wheel automatically means I'll be hurt."

"You could have asked us to come with you."

I looked Brenan in the eye and said, "I didn't think you guys would have any fun." It was a lie and I sucked at it. In truth, after seeing them prompted my absences, I hadn't thought I'd have any fun if they were there. If I'd been a crankpot, they certainly wouldn't have had fun, so I guessed it wasn't really a lie. Gabe was just a neutral party that I didn't feel obligated to and had been chosen simply because he'd been present when the decision to skip school had been made.

"Okay then," Deryk said with forced cheer.

Brenan didn't look away from me and I felt burdened to reciprocate.

"We're going to the movies. Do you want to come?" Suzie asked, darting her eyes between us.

"I have to get home before my mom realizes school is out," I said.

"Not me, either." Brenan tilted his head towards Suzie and Deryk, speaking out off the side of his mouth, but never looked away from me.

Then go home, I wanted to say, and rolled my eyes to the ceiling.

I knew he'd stay until we talked, and I mentally began preparing for what I wanted to say. Or rather, how I should say it so that it wouldn't sound callous. You couldn't just blurt these things out. To say that I just wanted to be friends was so cliché, yet true. I never should have allowed us to move past being friends in the first place. Why had I?

Suzie and Deryk left after saying they'd see us later, and Suzie's pointed look promised that she expected a better explanation later.

Once the door closed behind them, everything I'd practiced saying flew out of my head. This was so much harder than it seemed. I'd had one boyfriend and no practice with having to end a relationship because he'd died. How was I supposed to start? Without music and customers to drown out the silence between us, it was impossible to remain attached to my logic. The reality and gravity of the situation muted me despite my intentions. If he stopped looking at me, maybe I might be able to speak. I hoped that he would say what I wanted to, but couldn't, or that Mike, Gabe, and Raffy finished talking. Soon.