CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO #2
Wes frowned as the argument grew beneath the video. People repeated his words and added details he had never given them.
@sarahlee: I’ve followed Wes since the beginning. He always treated Bee well and defended her when people came after her. If he says she left, I believe him.
@jessica_marie: Exactly. The timing says enough.
@rachaelw_22: We still don’t know what happened between them.
@sarahlee: He lost his truck and can’t work. She should be supporting him instead of making his life harder.
The last comment made Wes’s stomach tighten. He had never said Bee made his life harder, but that was the story people heard.
His mother returned to the living room and stopped when she saw his face. Her attention moved straight to the phone in his hand.
“Tell me you didn’t post that,” his mother said.
Wes locked the screen. “It’s already done.”
“You heard everything I said and posted it anyway,” his mother replied.
“People already saw it,” Wes said.
“Then stop more people from seeing it,” his mother told him. “Take it down.”
“They’re going to have opinions either way,” Wes said.
His mother held out her hand. “Read me one.”
Wes kept the phone against his leg. “No.”
“Then you already know they’re saying something wrong,” his mother said.
“I told them not to bother her,” Wes replied.
“You put her in front of an angry crowd and asked the crowd to behave,” his mother said. “That doesn’t protect her.”
Wes stood carefully. Pain pulled across his ribs, but he kept moving toward the hallway.
“I don’t want to talk about it anymore,” Wes said.
His mother did not follow him. “That video comes down, Wes,” she called after him.
At Grandma’s house, Bee sat at the kitchen table while her phone buzzed against her palm. The notifications had been coming too quickly to ignore. When she opened Wes’s page, his face filled the screen.
Bee listened to the entire video without moving. She heard him say they were not together anymore. She heard him say she had ended things and needed something different.
He told people not to bother her. The comments beneath the video had already proved how little that mattered.
@taylorkayx: Something feels off. I’m waiting before blaming either of them.
@rachaelw_22: Breakups are complicated, and we’re only hearing one person’s version.
@amberlyn: Why are people defending her? She left an injured man.
@sarahlee: I’m with Wes. He deserved somebody who would stay when things got hard.
Bee’s vision blurred. She wiped beneath her eyes and kept scrolling until Maya reached across the table and snatched the phone away.
“That’s enough,” Maya said. “You’re sitting here helping strangers hurt your feelings.”
Bee looked at her cousin. “He told everybody I left him.”
Maya glanced at the video and stared at the caption. Her mouth fell open before anger took over her face.
“That boy has one good arm, and this is what he used it for?” Maya asked.
“He made me the bad guy,” Bee said.
“He sure did,” Maya replied. “He told half the story and let everybody else make up the rest.”
“He knows what people do to me,” Bee said.
“That’s why he should have kept your name out of his mouth,” Maya said. “He watched people come after you before.”
“He defended me,” Bee replied.
“Then he knew better,” Maya said. “That makes me even madder.”
Bee covered her mouth with one hand. Her breathing turned uneven as more tears slipped down her face.
“I defended him last night,” Bee said.
“You sure did,” Maya replied. “I was ready to cuss him out, and you kept telling me about his truck.”
“He lost everything,” Bee said.
“He lost a truck and a few months of work,” Maya replied. “That’s not everything.”
“He feels useless,” Bee said.
“That’s sad,” Maya said. “It still doesn’t give him permission to do this to you.”
Bee reached for her phone, but Maya pulled it against her chest and leaned away from her.
“Give it back,” Bee said.
“No,” Maya replied.
“Maya,” Bee warned her.
“Use that voice on somebody else,” Maya said. “You’re not reading another comment.”
“I need to see what they’re saying,” Bee insisted.
“Why?” Maya asked. “You already know they’re loud and wrong.”
Bee reached again. Maya stood and carried the phone to the other side of the table.
“Give me my phone!” Bee shouted.
“You can be mad at me after you stop crying,” Maya said. “Until then, this phone belongs to me.”
“Are they tagging me?” Bee asked.
Maya looked at the screen. Her expression answered before she spoke.
“Of course they are,” Maya said. “Some people have no home training.”
“How many?” Bee asked.
“Too many,” Maya replied. “I’m about to start blocking people with both hands.”
Bee covered her face. Her shoulders shook as she tried to pull in a full breath.
“I don’t want to be on the internet anymore,” Bee cried.
Maya returned to her side of the table and lowered her voice without losing the anger in it.
“Then stay off tonight,” Maya said. “You’re not giving up your whole job because strangers got loud for one afternoon.”
“I don’t want them looking at me,” Bee said.
“Let them look at a blank screen,” Maya replied. “They don’t get you tonight.”
“They think I left him because he got hurt,” Bee said.
“Let them think,” Maya replied. “People are wrong for free every day.”
Bee lowered her hands and looked at Maya. “That’s not fair.”
“The internet isn’t a courtroom,” Maya said. “Nobody checked the evidence before choosing a side.”
“I could tell them what happened,” Bee said.
“Not tonight,” Maya replied. “You can barely breathe, and those people want a show. Don’t give them one.”
“I don’t want to tell them everything,” Bee said.
“Then don’t,” Maya replied. “They don’t need the hospital, his house, or what happened here yesterday.”
Bee looked toward the phone in Maya’s hand. “What if staying quiet makes him look right?”
“Being quiet tonight doesn’t make him right,” Maya said. “It means one of you had enough sense not to post while angry.”
Grandma had been standing near the counter through the entire conversation. She finally crossed the kitchen and held out her hand.
“Give me the phone,” Grandma said.
Maya handed it over immediately. Grandma shut it off and placed it on the counter.
“Turn yours off too,” Grandma said.
“Gladly,” Maya replied. “I was two seconds from throwing hers outside.”
Grandma gave her a look. “That’s why I took it.”
Maya pulled her own phone from her pocket and shut it off. “You know me too well.”
The kitchen became quiet. Without the notifications, Bee could finally hear the faint hum of the refrigerator.
Maya sat beside her again. She kept one arm around Bee’s shoulders and glared at the dark phone on the counter.
“I don’t think I can forgive this,” Bee said.
“Then don’t try today,” Maya replied. “He can sit with what he did without you rushing over to make him feel better.”
Bee wiped her face. “He knew what those comments would do.”
“Exactly,” Maya said. “That’s why I’m mad.”
Bee leaned against her cousin. For the first time since the accident, she did not want Wes to call. She did not want another apology followed by an explanation of what he meant.
She wanted him to understand what he had done without making her explain it to him. She had spent enough time carrying both sides of their pain.
At Wes’s house, Wes sat on the edge of his bed while his phone continued filling with notifications. He had stopped reading most of them, but two comments remained on the screen.
@sarahlee: You were always good to her. You deserved somebody who would stay when things got hard.
@jessica_marie: She showed you who she really is.
Wes read the second comment again. He remembered Bee standing in Grandma’s house with tears on her face. He remembered the words she had said when he accused Maya of turning her against him.
I spent half the night defending you.