Chapter Thirteen
Harrison
“What the hell?” I watched as Sadie, looking as if she’d just found out someone died, pushed her way out of the diner and ran off. What was going on?
I saw Carrie holding up her phone while the rest of our friends stared at the screen, horror on their faces.
“What is it?” I was looking around the packed restaurant, noticing that everyone was on their phones. They were all looking between their phones and me. Most of them were laughing, but some looked disgusted. What the hell was going on?
“That’s the way to get it, brother!” a couple of frat guys came over and fist bumped me. “Nice!”
I smiled but was confused.
Drake leaned forward looking angrier than I’d ever seen him. “Look at your fucking phone, Harrison.”
I pulled my phone out. “What am I looking for?”
“Oh, you’ll see.”
And I did. I had notifications all over my home screen where I’d been tagged in videos. Feeling apprehensive, I pulled one up. It took me a moment to register what I was seeing. When it dawned on me what I was looking at, I felt like I’d been punched in the stomach.
“No.” I stood up. “No, no, no, no, no.” This couldn’t be happening. I looked around the room, furious, hoping to see one particular person. My eyes landed on her.
I pointed at her and yelled, “What the fuck did you do?”
Aubrey paled in the face of my rage.
The restaurant got quiet. People were either filming my reaction or watching to see what was going to happen. “You fucking videoed us? Why did you do that? Why?” I was caught between wanting to cry and wanting to kill her. How could she do this to me?
I watched as she hurried from her table, pushing through people to get away from me. I vaguely registered that all my friends from home had also left the building. I stood there for a moment, stuck, feeling as if my world had just fallen apart.
“Fuck!” I yelled and flipped the table over, people scattering to get out of the way. Then I ran into the parking lot. I had to catch Sadie. My God. What must she think of me?
Tons of people were in the parking lot holding up their phones and filming as I ran from the restaurant, got in my car, and flew out of the lot as quickly as I could without running over the people trying to cash in on one of the worst moments of my life.
It was raining. That seemed appropriate. It wasn’t long before my headlights caught her in their beams. She was jogging along, completely soaked. I pulled up beside her and rolled the window down. “Get in!” I yelled at her.
She looked over at me. Even with the rain pouring down, I could see that she was crying. She turned back ahead, sped up, and ignored me.
“I’m in a car, Sunshine, you can’t outrun me,” I yelled over the sound of the rain coming down.
She stopped abruptly, turned, and faced me. “What do you want?”
“I just want to apologize…”
“No!” She jabbed her finger at me. “You don’t get to do that yet. Don’t you want to try and make me feel crazy? Tell me that I’m paranoid to think there’s anything going on between you and Aubrey? Don’t you want to tell me one more time that the two of you are just good friends?”
I hung my head. “I’m sorry.”
“You’re not sorry! You’re just sorry you got caught. You bastard,” she screamed at me, and I flinched. “Why didn’t you just break up with me before I left for the summer? Why did you have to humiliate me? Do you hate me or something?”
“No, baby, I love you, that’s why I couldn’t give you up.”
“Don’t you dare say you love me! That’s not love. Stringing me along as a backup in case your little sexcapades with Aubrey didn’t work out? The only person you love is yourself.” She suddenly started jogging again, but this time cut across a field so I couldn’t follow her in my car.
“Dammit!” I pulled my car over and put my flashers on. Then I jumped out and ran after her.
“Wait! Sunshine…”
She stopped and turned around. “You lost the right to call me that.” She looked calmer, but her eyes were snapping with a mix of rage, heartbreak, and humiliation. I winced. I’d put that look there. Me.
“You know the worst thing? I was going to have a serious conversation with you tonight about our future.”
“Why?”
She laughed bitterly. “You texted me maybe five times all summer and called me once. If that doesn’t send a clear signal, I don’t know what does.
I probably should have broken up with you at the end of the school year when you showed up with Aubrey instead of eating lunch with us.
But I loved you. There was this part of me,” she wiped the tears off her face even though it didn’t matter because the rain was washing them away for her, “that couldn’t let you go yet.
That was the same part of me that trusted you.
But I promised myself that I wouldn’t beg you.
I wouldn’t beg you to choose me or to love me. ”
“Baby, it was just one time! I swear…”
“Oh, really?” she hissed at me. “You swear?”
I nodded a little hesitantly. Why did it seem like she already knew it was more than that?
“I take it you didn’t look at all the videos, did you?”
“No,” I admitted, feeling bile rise up in my throat. How many videos were there?
“It wasn’t just one time, you lying asshole! It was actually several nights with that woman, wasn’t it?”
I swallowed hard and looked away. “Yeah. It was six times over a couple of weeks.”
“And I’m guessing you only stopped because I was coming back to town?”
He nodded. “I mean… yes. But I was over her already. I was going to end things whether you were coming back or not.”
“I can’t believe anything you say. You know that, right?
” She swiped at the water on her face, angry.
“Well. I think the two of you deserve one another. You’re both terrible people.
You should make each other miserable until you cheat on each other with other people. Have fun,” and she took off running.
This time I let her go. I was deflated.