Chapter 38
Chapter thirty-eight
Teddy
Helen enters the condo like a hurricane, a lanky brunette in a leotard right behind her.
Jamie and I snap our heads up from where they were bent over our textbooks as we sit together on the couch. Jamie holds a yellow highlighter and a bag of chips. He drops both and holds his hands up like he’s about to be robbed.
“Theodore Wright,” Helen booms, pointing a finger of judgment my way. “I have a bone to pick with you.”
“Oh, shit,” whispers Jamie, low and grim. “She’s using your full name. You’re so fucked, man.”
“What?” I stand and look at the women’s faces, noting how the brunette stares at me with pure hatred glittering in her eyes.
“What’d I do?” I ask, pointing to the stranger.
“And who are you?” I point to a furious Helen, who’s practically glowing with a fiery radiant energy. “And what have you done to my Helen?”
Helen falters for a beat, her eyes softening when I called her my Helen, and that’s when I think I might actually have a chance.
The brunette steps forward, hands on her hips. “I’m Lindsey—”
Jamie interrupts, his eyes tracing each of Lindsey’s curves. “Hey, Lindsey, I’m Jamie.” He leans an arm across the back of the couch and gives her his trademark panty-melting smile, practically smoldering.
“I wasn’t talking to you.” Her glower is directed his way, and Jamie’s usual bravado fades. He slumps back into the couch, uncharacteristically silent.
I suppress my snicker, which earns me a dirty look from him.
Helen strides toward me until she’s up close, her chest brushing mine, which would be a dream if not for the way her mouth is in a tight line.
Foreboding stirs.
“You.” She bites off the word. “You slept with me at your sister’s wedding and then never called, and then you have the audacity to show up half-dead in my ER. I risked my job, my entire career, helping you when you almost drowned.”
“Ah! I knew it,” I bark, half-triumphant, half-panicked. “I knew I was the reason you got into trouble at work.” I’m gearing up to say more, to throw out every explanation and apology I’ve been choking on for weeks when the first part of her sentence detonates in my chest.
“Wait! What?” I say, stunned. “You think I disappeared?” I take a step forward, my voice rougher now.
“You’ve got it all wrong. It’s you who never called me.
As a matter of fact, you told me quite clearly in the letter you left on the pillow that the entire thing was a mistake and it was better to never talk again.
You put a smiley face on it at the end, remember?
” I hiss out like it’s a mortal sin, “A smiley face! Who does that?”
Lindsey gasps like she just got to the plot twist in a thriller. “Helen, you didn’t!”
Helen splutters, “I didn’t. I mean, I did, but then I regretted it. I texted you a week later. Once I cooled down and had time to think.”
Now I’m the one who’s pissed. I cross my arms, fury blooming in my chest. “Really? That’s the story you’re going with? I never took you for a liar, Helen, but you’re proving me wrong.”
“What?” she yelps, her face red with outrage. “What’re you talking about? I texted you. Twice! Even though I knew you were ashamed of me. Remember how you hid me from your mom?”
“First of all, I wasn’t ashamed of you or trying to hide you. I told you that the night of the wedding. Second, I never got a text.”
Her arms cross over her chest, matching mine. “I sent two. I stared at my phone for hours waiting for you to reply. You didn’t.”
The room goes quiet.
Until Jamie clears his throat.
Slowly, we all turn to look at him.
“I, uh...” He scratches the back of his neck. “I might be able to explain that.”
My stomach sinks. “Jamie.”
He looks at me. “You were so upset, man. When you came back from that wedding. Barely left your room for days. Didn’t want to hang out with the rest of us. Sad-boy playlist on repeat. Remember when you told me what happened? You practically cried.”
“I did not,” I snap, glancing at Helen. I don’t need her picturing that.
“You totally did,” Jamie insists.
“Jamie,” I say slowly, warning thick in my voice. “What. Did. You. Do?”
He winces. “I might’ve seen a couple of texts on your phone, and, being the caring, protective friend I am, I might’ve…deleted them.”
“You what?” I roar. Rage floods my chest. “Are you kidding me?!” I lunge, but with this damn cast I’m too slow. He dodges easily.
Jamie doesn’t look at me. His eyes are on Helen. “I’m so sorry,” he says quickly. “I thought it would be cleaner. Why twist the knife, right? I was trying to protect my friend, that’s all. In my mind, you were the villain. The one who rejected Teddy, broke his heart.”
“You know me now.” Helen’s face has gone pale. “You’ve been in my house every day for weeks studying with Teddy. Why didn’t you tell the truth before? Why lie?”
“I thought you’d get past it. You were both moving on, hell, maybe getting back together. I see how you look at each other. Telling you now would’ve done more harm than good.”
“No,” I cut in. “You thought telling us might hurt you. You knew we’d be angry.”
“Well, yeah…that too.”
He’s so busy pleading with Helen that he doesn’t notice me circling closer until it’s too late.
I lunge like I’m going to deck him, then swerve at the last second and slam my shoulder into him.
He topples sideways onto the couch with a strangled yelp.
My ribs bark in protest, my cast thumps against the cushions, and I shove him back anyway, even though it stings.
We’re wrestling like we’re twelve again, the way we used to in my garage, knocking over surfboards and bikes, until my mom stormed in with a flip-flop raised like a weapon, yelling for us to knock it off. Some things never change.
“Real mature, Teddy. Very grown-up behavior,” Jamie grunts, flailing under me.
“Say you’re sorry,” I demand. Flipping him onto his stomach, I wrench his arm behind his back and twist it higher.
“To Helen or to you?” he wheezes, still struggling beneath me.
“Both.”
“Fine! I’m sorry!” he yelps dramatically. “Helen, Teddy—whoever needs to hear it. I’m sorry!”
Satisfied, I release his arm and ruffle his hair. We stand, brushing ourselves off. Then I nudge him toward Helen, saying, “Now apologize for real.”
He sends me a pleading look, but I cross my arms and glare until he drops his head and shuffles her way.