That’s when they started screaming at each other.
“You piece of shit—”
“Frigid little cunt—”
“Fucking bastard!”
I pulled on Mayra’s arm with some force, deciding it was best to just get her away before the attention of the school faculty was captured, if it wasn’t already. Besides, I still didn’t like Justin’s look at all, and I wanted to get her away from him as quickly as possible. She took a step toward me but still glared at Lords.
“You can drag her away all you like!” Justin called after us as I wrapped one arm around Mayra and yanked her out of the lunchroom. She wasn’t really fighting me, but she wasn’t exactly cooperating either. “It’s the only way she’ll ever put out, you know!”
~oOo~
“You shouldn’t have pulled me away,” Mayra said later as she drove us back to my house. “I was not done talking with him!”
“You didn’t need to…confront him,” I told her. “Not on my account. It was no big deal.”
“No big deal?” Mayra repeated with a harsh laugh. “He practically attacked you. Aimee told me all about it in last period, and you weren’t even going to say anything, were you?”
“No,” I admitted. “It was over. There wasn’t really anything to say.”
“Matthew!” Mayra turned and gaped at me. I cringed a little, looking forward toward the street and back to her, hoping she would get her eyes back on the road. She seemed to notice and turned her head to face forward again as she let out a big sigh. “You don’t have to put up with that shit. Not from people like him.”
“You dated him,” I said. I immediately regretted the reminder. I reached out and touched the fish shape on the door.
“Yes, I did,” Mayra said quietly. “But he wasn’t always like that. Not with me, at least. When he…he…”
She paused for a moment and then reached over and gripped my hand. I returned the hold as she seemed to gather herself back together. Another sharp breath exited her lungs before she spoke again.
“When he showed his true colors, that’s when I ended it. He never really accepted that though. I guess now he finally realizes I’m serious, and all his attempts at trying to talk me into going out with him again are pointless.”
“Because you moved on,” I said softly. I wasn’t comfortable with this conversation at all. I was pretty sure I was supposed to console someone when they talked about a breakup, but my stomach felt tight, and I didn’t know what to say.
“Oh, he’s moved on, too,” Mayra said, her voice harsh. “A couple of times, at least.”
I wasn’t one to keep up with high school relationships and gossip, so I really wasn’t sure what she meant. I assumed he had dated some other girls since they broke up, but I had no idea who they might have been, and Mayra didn’t offer any further explanation.
We didn’t speak much the rest of the way back to my house, and once we were there, the atmosphere was different—uncomfortable. I didn’t like it at all. Mayra was obviously still upset, and I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do about it. She pulled out math homework and scribbled down a few answers, but she obviously wasn’t concentrating on it at all. I wanted to do or say something to make everything normal again, but I didn’t know what I should do or say. I finally decided homework definitely wasn’t working, and Mayra didn’t seem to be accomplishing much anyway, so I poured two Cokes with four pieces of ice each, and we sat on the couch to drink them.
After a few minutes of silence, Mayra finally spoke.
“He was really great when we first started dating,” she told me. “He said all the right things, kissed up to Dad, and took me out every weekend. He was a perfect gentleman the whole time, too. I thought everything was going along just fine until he made it clear he was expecting more than I was interested in giving.”
I tensed, not really wanting to think of what the details of “more” might have meant.
“He got a little…demanding,” Mayra continued. “That’s when I broke up with him. It was kind of an ugly scene. I’ll spare you the details.”
I nodded, quietly relieved. At some point the lack of information was probably going to bother me, and I would ask her, but I didn’t want to know just then. Mayra leaned back against the couch and ran her hand through her hair. She turned to look at me, and I felt her fingers wrapping around my arm.
“I’m sorry he did that to you,” she said. “I can’t help but feel responsible. It was my idea to make sure everyone knew about us. I should have realized he was going to be a jerk about it and at least warned you.”
“It’s not your fault,” I said. “He’s been a jerk to me before.”
“I guess what people say is true. Once you date someone, you can never really be friends again.”
“I don’t know,” I said with a shrug.
“Because I’m your first girlfriend,” Mayra said with a nod.