Three Day Summer(53)

“I . . . ,” I falter. “No. I mean . . . Look, you and me . . .”

“You slept with her,” she says matter-of-factly.

“What? No,” I say. “I didn’t.”

“What did you do with her?” she asks, and her voice is calm. In fact, she is entirely still, like a cobra just about to strike.

Should I lie? I should lie. “I . . . nothing.” But then I decide maybe I should do one honorable thing amid this shit fest. As my girlfriend, though soon to be ex, Amanda deserves the truth. It’s not that bad compared to what she thought, is it? That we slept together. “We kissed,” I finally say. “That’s it.”

Amanda doesn’t move. She doesn’t say a word. She looks me up and down slowly.

And then, an arm gets pulled back, and I feel a big blow to my shoulder. “You.” Another blow. “Fucking.” And another. “Cheater.”

Soon she’s flailing, her arm getting dangerously close to my busted eye.

I deserve the beating, so I just let her have at me, doing my best to keep my face out of her way. But then, suddenly, she stops. I look up, slightly afraid of what she could possibly have in store for me next.

But she’s not looking at me. Her eyes are wide and they are staring somewhere right behind my back.

“YOU,” she screams, and she’s running up the hill behind me.

I turn around, confused until I see what she’s running toward.

Cora.





chapter 61


Cora


I am frozen. Funny, because inside I feel like a thousand birds have just been released. I’ve found Michael and I saw the whole thing. He really and truly broke up with her. Even after what I said to him.

I want to laugh.

But then, I also have an extremely angry hundred-and-thirty-pound girl stalking toward me. The malice in her eyes is a force to be reckoned with. I don’t think I’ve ever had something so deeply rage-filled directed at me before.

I take a deep breath and bring my arms up to my sides, ready to defend myself if it comes to blows. But before it gets to that, Rob grabs Amanda’s arms and holds her back. She screams in frustration.

Michael is running up now and places himself between us. “She didn’t do anything,” he keeps saying over and over again. “She didn’t . . . seriously, Amanda. Stop it, please.” Amanda continues to furiously struggle, trying to get out of Rob’s grasp. “I’m not worth it,” Michael continues. “You could get a million hotter guys. Right?”

“I CAN!” Amanda screams at him.

“I KNOW!” Michael yells back.

Amanda stares at him blankly. He’s stumped her. Then she pulls her head back and spits in Michael’s face before slumping down in Rob’s arms.

“I’m done,” she says. “I’m done. Let’s go.”

Rob looks at her suspiciously and then up at Michael, as if asking if he can let her go. Michael shrugs his consent.

Rob loosens his grip and Amanda doesn’t look any of the guys in the eye. With her head held high, she glances at her two girlfriends. And together, almost as if it was planned, they forward-march down the hill and away.

One of them thinks to look back, probably realizing that Michael is their ride. But then, in a show of solidarity, she turns around and follows her blond leader.

Evan and Rob stand there watching them, not sure what to do.

Finally, Evan turns to Michael. “Er . . . so are we all driving back home together or what?” he asks.

Sometimes, you gotta love boys for their bluntness.

Michael laughs. “I’ll meet you by the yellow medical tents. As soon as the concert’s over.”

Evan grins. “Cool, man.”

He turns around to follow in the girls’ wake. Rob walks over to me, takes my hand, and kisses it. “It’s been a pleasure,” he says as he winks at me. He pats Michael on the back with a “Good one” and saunters away.

Michael and I are left alone. Well, as alone as we can be in a sea of four hundred thousand people. He smiles at me and I smile back. Neither of us says a word until Michael takes my hand.

“Come on,” he says, and he pulls me up the hill and away from the stage.

“Where are we going?”

“I don’t care,” he says, practically skipping across the grass. “But everything seems brighter, doesn’t it?”

Not really. In fact, some mighty dark and eerie clouds are rolling in and the wind has picked up, blowing flyaway hair all around my face. But I nod anyway. Michael’s green eyes and his white teeth, they are all sparkling, like he’s made of light.

“You were wrong back there, you know,” I say as we walk, barely recognizing the airiness of my own voice.

“Probably,” Michael admits, still with a full grin. “Though about what, specifically?”

I tug at his hand to stop him. “She can’t do better than you.”

His smile gets even wider and then, following my cue, he pulls me in and kisses me, slow and sweet.

“She can,” he says when he finally pulls away. “And you definitely can. But I appreciate the ego boost.”

“Well,” I say, touching his chin lightly and scraping his peach fuzz with the tips of my fingers. “Maybe with someone who can grow a decent beard.”