He laughs and moves a little to his left, exposing Tamilyn. Our eyes meet and she drops her gaze to a folder in her hands. “Hey Tam, whatcha got?” Her eyes dart back up and she clings to whatever she’s holding. She looks like she’s trying to talk herself into coming closer to me. “It’s just an arm. I won’t bite you.”
“How can you joke like that?” she whispers.
“If I can’t joke about it, I’ll be pissed. I’m alive and that’s all that matters. It was just an arm and I’ll be fitted for a prosthetic one later today,” I tell her.
“I’m so sorry for everything, Austin. I don’t understand how you’re talking to me now when the other night you…you were so angry.” Her voice shakes.
“I was very angry, you’re right. I liked you and I wanted to believe there was going to be something more between us, but it wasn’t meant to be that way. I should have known from the beginning that you two had an attraction. I’m a guy. I think with my dick and it doesn’t always think clearly. It’s not your fault that I stormed off like a fucking idiot.”
She walks closer and sets the folder in my lap before wrapping her arms around my neck. She sobs softly and I pat her back. “I never meant to hurt you.”
“It’s life, Tamilyn. We all hurt each other at one point. I’m not mad anymore, I swear. We’re all friends and that’s how it should be. You two are my friends. Well, that ass is my cousin, but same thing.”
“Tam, why don’t you let him open the folder,” Ruston insists. I admit, I’m very curious to find out what she brought.
“Oh yeah, I’m sorry. I thought you would want to have these.” She steps back.
I grab the folder and hold it in my hand. This would be a great time to have two hands but I struggle to open it. She offers to help me, but I tell her that I need to do this for myself. I have to learn eventually, so why not start now?
My eyes fill
with tears as I pull the first photo out of the folder. These are my pictures from the fight. The only fight I’ll ever know. The tears begin silently streaming down my face and I don’t know what to say. I set that photo down and grab another one. My eyes are so blurry from the tears but I don’t care. I’ll keep these forever. I notice there are a few more so I pull them all out. Some are duplicates.
“Oh, I forgot to take the duplicates out. I was going to bring those to the gym.”
“Here, you can sort them out. I-I don’t want to say except thank you. I didn’t expect to see those.”
“I thought you’d like to have them,” she whispers as she sorts through the pictures. She hands the duplicates to Ruston and gives the folder back to me. “I’m sorry I didn’t come sooner. It was just really hard for me to see you like this, knowing my secrets did this to you.”
“I’m fine, I swear. I’m just glad you came.” I smile through my tears.
“You want some real breakfast, man?” Ruston asks. I’m glad he’s changing the subject. I don’t want to cry anymore. It was a bittersweet moment to see myself doing what I love, knowing I’ll never get to do it again.
“That would be fucking amazing.” My stomach growls just thinking about it.
“I’ll go, just let me know what y’all want,” Tamilyn says.
“You pick, Austin. What do you want?”
“I want to stay living with you, if that’s all right. And I guess a sausage biscuit from McDonald’s would be great.”
“Hell yeah, you can stay living with me. You’re welcome as long as you want to be there.”
I let out a sigh of relief. Mom told me I could go back with her, but I like it here despite everything that’s happened. This is my new home and I’m going to make a new life here. Tamilyn jots down what we want and says she’ll be right back. I watch as she leaves, then I grin at Ruston.
“You’re so damn lucky to have her.”
He just grins back. “Yeah, I guess you could say that.”
“Thanks for letting me stay at your apartment after everything. I know it’ll be good to sleep in a real bed again.”
“We’re family. Like I said, you’re welcome anytime for as long as you want. How long are you here for?”
“They’re saying about a week. I guess they want to make sure I’m not going to get any sort of infection or anything.”
“That’s smart. Hell, I can have Mom pack you up some leftovers, and I can bring them to you so you can at least eat real food.” Ruston laughs.
“That would be awesome. Do you have another vehicle yet?”