The Revenge Artist - Philip Siegel Page 0,30
pull to the side of the road into a Dairy Queen parking lot.
“I want her back, Becca.” It’s Steve Overland, and he is a man on a mission.
“She’s with someone else,” I say nicely.
Huxley and Steve were a study in opposites attract. Nasty rich girl meets charming, middle class football quarterback. But it worked. It worked so well. And then the photo evidence from that party rears its ugly head in my mind. It’s not all sunshine and lollipops behind Steve’s dopey grin.
“Don’t forget, you threw it away.”
“Is this about the party?”
“Of course it is. It will always be about that party! You guys had it all. You were rollin’ in the deep. But then you threw it away to hook up with some random girl mere feet from the love of your life.” My anger rises. I don’t want to be, but I am too invested in Huxley and Steve to be an innocent, cynical bystander. They were the first couple I ever brought together, and you never forget your first time.
“You’re good at this stuff. You know Huxley better than anyone.”
“Not anymore,” I say. “I am just a ‘fly on her windshield.’ Direct quote.”
“Really?” Steve sounds as down as I feel after that sentence. I kept a straight face, but my heart crushed flat like an aluminum can when Huxley said that. I never thought I was that insignificant, but she’s moved on for good. Past me, past Steve.
“I still love her,” he says.
“You cheated in the most public fashion this side of a Times Square billboard. I got you guys back together, and things were great, and then you blew it. How could you be so stupid, Steve?”
“I wasn’t!” His yell scratches in my speakers. We have a quiet moment as I’ve never heard Steve this angry. “I didn’t cheat.”
“Shall I bring up exhibit A?”
“Look, did I party a little too hard that night? Possibly. It was my going-away party. But I’ve never been so wasted in my life that I didn’t know who I was hooking up with.”
“There’s a first for everything.” I hear a blaring siren rush past me, pursuing one of my classmates probably.
“I don’t even remember having that much to drink.”
“When you can’t remember, that means you had a lot.”
“Becca, I wouldn’t do this. I love Huxley.”
The line goes quiet. I watch someone with the gall to order ice cream in gray, gloomy weather.
“You’re smart, Becca. One of the smartest people I know, to be honest. Doesn’t any of this seem off to you? You know me. Do you think I would do that to Huxley, embarrass her in front of all her friends, after everything we went through last year?”
I think about the public spectacle of their almost break-up last year. Huxley and Steve and his ex-girlfriend and his ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend got into a screaming brawl at a party when it seemed like Steve was cheating. Chaos, bloodshed, tears, our classmates feasting on the drama. But that wasn’t his fault. That was all part of my break-up scheme. The thought flickers in my head for a split second before going away, a lit match in a windstorm.
“It is odd,” I say. I hear him breathe a sigh of relief, but my chest is still tight. “But the fact of the matter is you were caught making out with a girl in your bed at your party by your girlfriend. She saw you. It happened. That part wasn’t made up.”
“Do you know who that girl was?” Steve asks.
“I heard she went to St. Olivos Prep.” So many conflicting rumors flew around about her, I could’ve named half a dozen schools.
“I heard that, too. I also heard she went to Minnisink or Denhoff or Springdale. I also heard she was a homeless person. Nobody really knows anything, and she hasn’t been seen since. It’s like she appeared out of thin air or something.”
“If only it were that easy,” I say in a cutting tone.
“Something about that night is off.” He hits each word for maximum effect.
As much as I want to just write him off as another jerk, I can’t. I can hear his emotions tremble in his voice. Something about the story of Steve and Huxley’s break-up never sat right to me, but I let myself believe it. I start picturing them back together, but that thought deflates in record time.
“Can’t you look into what happened? I want to know the truth.”
I shake my head. I can’t go down this road again.