Angie Russo. She and Marissa had been my best friends. Marissa had been smart. She checked out earlier, but Angie had tried to hang in there. Even in my darkest days, but it hurt. When she left for college, her truck and her boyfriend’s were both parked on my street. Justin stayed inside his truck when he never would’ve considered that before. She could barely stand being in the front entrance before she said her goodbyes and rushed off. I hadn’t heard from her since.
As I got out of my car, she stood, smoothing her hands down her pants. Her blonde hair had been styled. She was beautiful, but she had always been beautiful. With a willowy tall figure and smoky blue eyes, I wondered if she had finally stepped in front of the camera. Angie had never boasted about her looks, but I knew there’d been a few scouts when we were younger. Her parents wanted her to remain in school and to go on to college.
I saw the silver Prius in the driveway. “You retired the truck?”
Angie relaxed, a little. She grinned, a little, and eyed Beth and Hannah warily. “No. My little sister’s driving it now. I bought this last weekend.”
“That was a nice Thanksgiving present to yourself.”
She shrugged and hugged herself. “Yeah, well, I’m modeling now. I can afford it.”
“So can Alex.” Hannah stepped closer with her hands on her hips. She drew her chin down, leveling Angie with suspicion. “She won’t say a word, but I can tell. I can smell money on people and Alex has it. You’re not here for that, are you?”
“Hannah,” Beth groaned. “Let’s go inside.”
“Can’t. The Missus here has the keys.”
Rolling my eyes, I dangled my keys in the air.
Hannah snatched them but cast a warning eye over Angie. “She’s my friend. Just so you know.”
Angie’s slim shoulders lifted up and down in a deep sigh. “Yeah, well, she’s my friend too.”
“I haven’t heard about you.” She raked her up and down.
Beth grabbed her cousin and dragged her away, saying, “You didn’t know about Jesse either.”
We heard Hannah grumbling when the door opened and shut behind them, “You think you’re so special because you did—”
Angie bit her lip, smiling nervous at the same time. “They seem like good friends.”
I shrugged. “They’re like me. We get along.”
“They’re like you?”
I caught the sincerity in her voice and my gut dropped. Just like that, I was reminded of the last summer. It was only four months ago, but so much had happened. There’d been so much distance by the end of the summer and there was even more now. I didn’t want to lie anymore. I didn’t see the point to it. I shrugged. “They’re broken like me.”
She sucked in her breath and jerked to the side. Her throat started trembling and she was biting down on her lip, hard. As she glanced back, she flicked a tear away. “You were broken.”
I frowned. “You knew that.”
She shook her head quickly, one brisk movement. “You never admitted it. I felt it. I knew something was going on, but you never said.”
“I told you about my mom.”
“Because I knew! I knew about your mom and you never told Marissa. Your brother died and your mom tried to die the next year.”
There was so much emotion in her voice. I heard the sob in her throat, but I refused to feel sorry. I heard the unspoken insinuation. If I had spoken up and told them what was going on, that still wouldn’t have made it better. Heaving a deep breath, I said, “I know you’re going to say otherwise, but you couldn’t have handled what was going on in my life.”
“You didn’t even let me try!” Pressing a hand to her mouth, she tried to quiet her sobs. “Marissa told me that she saw you. I went home for break and stopped at your house a few times, but I ran into her at Eric’s house. He had a party. She said you looked good.”
“She did?”
She nodded, more tears falling free. Her chin kept quivering. “She did. She said some things hadn’t changed. You and Jesse were sneaking around again.” Glancing around, her smile was shaky. “I guess that’s not true anymore. You’re living here, huh?”
“Yeah.”
“I emailed you a few times. I should’ve called, but I couldn’t bring myself to do that. I just, I don’t know what I wanted.”
“I don’t check my personal email that much. It’s been mostly my school email. I have the same cell phone.”
“I know. After Marissa told me how cold you were to her, I figured the element of surprise was the best course. I don’t know. Stupid, now that I think about it. Whatever.” She took another deep breath. Her voice didn’t tremble so much. “I emailed Jesse, can you believe that? He told me that you’d be here and he said this was the best time to come. We came to town for the game. Justin wanted to watch Jesse’s game, you know, an old teammate and all.”
“Justin’s here?”
“No. He dropped me off. I told him I’d wait for you to come home. He’s at the game.”
“So you’re missing the game?”
She nodded. “God, Alex.” She shook her head, “I can’t believe it. You look…like you’re old self.”
“I do?”
“Yeah.” A tentative smile started to grow over her face. “You look good. You look almost like that party girl from our freshman year. Remember that year?”