Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
Nine Years Ago
Elio never showed up last night. He didn’t come home at all, actually. And to top things off? He’d barely spoken a word to me today.
School without Elio talking my ear off was like infusing hellfire into my veins. It burned, and there was nothing I could do about it because he wouldn’t say anything. He showed up to school in the same clothes he’d worn yesterday, with the same paint splotch from art class the day before.
I asked if he and Jude had a fight, and he said no.
But the no sounded more like a yes if I had anything to say about it.
I felt lost. He did this sometimes—got all quiet and weird.
He got that way before he moved in with us, and it usually meant his parents had done something.
Now, though? I couldn’t figure out what the fuck was going on.
“Are you taking the bus with me at least?” I tried to stay in step with him. Even his walking speed was different today, making both of us trip when we’d usually be in sync.
A throat clearing had me stopping in my tracks completely. “Actually, I was going to drive you both home today if you’d like.”
Where the fuck did he come from? Jude stood directly in front of us, yet Elio barely looked up. “Oh, uh, why?”
Jude rolled his eyes. “I can’t be nice? You’re my boyfriend’s best friend. I thought I’d extend the offer to you since you’re basically attached at the hip.”
Something felt off about that. I narrowed my eyes, glancing back and forth from Jude to Elio. The way Jude had enunciated the attached at the hip part didn’t sit right with me. “Uh…”
“Take the bus if you want. I was just trying to be nice.”
“No, I’ll come along. If Elio is okay with it?” I phrased it as a question, looking to Elio for support.
He shrugged his shoulders.
Okay, so that was awesome. A super awesome gesture that meant shit without his voice. At least if he spoke, I’d be able to hear any apprehension in his voice.
I followed them to the parking lot. Elio sat in the front with Jude, and I opened the rear door only to have a sudden, racing chill crawl down my spine.
Mom’s painting lay across the back seat, no longer covered like the last time I saw it. Elio had put his entire soul into the beautiful blue jay, taking extra care and adding detail to give the wings the perfect texture. Now, pieces of wings were scattered on the car floorboard.
Mangled fragments of the canvas were shredded everywhere, some of them looking wet and caked with dirt that’d turned into mud. It was ruined. Completely, utterly ruined. Something so special, now nothing more than scraps.
I cradled a piece of the canvas in my palm and looked at the back of Elio’s headrest. “What the fuck is this? What happened?”
From where I was standing, I could see a frown tug at Jude’s side profile. “Oh, that? Yeah, El here got a little angry and carried away. I thought he cleaned it up already.” He looked back, glancing at the mess for barely a second.
Shaking my head, I tried and failed to make sense of it. Why, though? After all the hard work he’d put into it?
“Just shove it to the side and get in. I need to get home soon. You know how parents are, yeah?”
Elio stayed silent. I couldn’t see him from here. I couldn’t gauge his facial expressions or if Jude was telling the truth. It was hard to believe, but what did I know?
We’d been talking less lately, despite being around each other all the time.
It was fucking maddening how easily he shut down around me now.
I wasn’t used to a quiet Elio; I was used to the Elio who wouldn’t shut the fuck up and laughed way too loud in the library because he thought I was the funniest person alive.
He rarely even joined us for dinner anymore, which hurt the most, honestly.
I wanted to know what was going on, but I didn’t want to push him too hard if he was going through something and wanted space.
Elio had changed in a lot of ways, and I had no idea what I was supposed to do. I just knew that, no matter what, I’d always love him. Even if it broke me.
I just hoped it wouldn’t break him.