But he wasn’t stoic now. Sitting between Isaiah and Beth, he slowly rose from his table, never once taking his eyes off me. I bit my lip and willed myself not to cry and him not to approach me. I couldn’t do both in one day. I couldn’t be strong enough to expose myself to the world and stay away from him.
When he took a step in my direction, I shook my head and pleaded with my eyes for him to sit back down. Noah stood still and ran his hand over his face, a curse word I’d heard him say more than once forming on his lips. Was this breakup killing him as much as it was killing
me?
He closed his eyes for a second and when he reopened them, he slammed his hand into the door as he left the lunchroom. Isaiah bolted after him.
Laughter broke out in the direction of my old lunch table and when I glanced over, they were staring at me. Grace included, though she was the only one at the table not laughing. She gave a brief nod and looked away.
“Fuck them. ”
I jumped when I noticed Beth standing so close that her arm touched mine. “Excuse me?”
She motioned to the rest of the cafeteria. “Fuck them. They aren’t worth it. ”
“For once, I agree. ” Lila linked her fingers with mine. “You could have told me you were planning on doing this. I would have come in with you. ”
I turned my attention back to Beth, but she was already gone. I caught her black hair trailing behind her as she left the cafeteria through the same door that Noah used.
“Are you hungry?” Lila asked.
More like I wanted to puke. “Not really. ”
Lila gave me her Glinda the Good Witch radiant smile. “Good. Then we won’t feel guilty for eating only dessert. ” She tugged on my hand. “Come on, they have fudge brownies. ”
NOAH
My fist collided with my locker and the loud banging accompanied the curse flying from my mouth. Echo finally found the courage to expose her scars and she wouldn’t let me stand by her side.
“Nice dent, man. ” Isaiah rested his hip against the corner of the hallway as he crossed his tattooed arms over his chest. “I appreciate you choosing my locker to beat the shit out of. I was looking for an excuse to never open it again. ”
My head jerked as I did a double take. Damn, I hit the wrong one. The shock of my mistake zapped the anger out of me, leaving behind a dull throb in my knuckles. “Sorry. ”
“Did it get out whatever it is you’ve had up your ass?”
I was wrong, some of the anger still simmered in my gut. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“It means the girl you love is in that cafeteria baring her soul and you’re out here punching lockers. I call that something up your ass. ”
I ran a hand over my face. “She broke up with me. Not the other way around. Besides—” I pointed toward the cafeteria “—I wanted to be by her side. She waved me away. ”
“When did you become a fucking sheep? Way I see it, she may have said the words, but you must have wanted to break up, too. ”
My muscles flinched and my fist curled, causing Isaiah to push away from the wall. He stood with his feet apart, arms held stiff near his sides. Isaiah sensed a fight and he wasn’t wrong. My voice dropped. “What did you just say?” Because he knew how much I loved Echo and those words he’d just said bordered on betrayal.
Yet my brother continued, “That you must have had some doubt about the two of you because you seemed to easily walk away. ”
The urge surged through me to hit something again, but the throb in my knuckles kept me grounded. “I love Echo. I love her so much I asked her to marry me. Does that sound like I wanted to walk away?”
His eyebrows rose toward his shaved hairline as his muscles relaxed. “Tell me you’re kidding about the marriage part. ”
Collapsing against the locker, I let the back of my head hit the metal. I wished I was kidding. That one question became the domino that destroyed my relationship with her. “I’m not. I fucked it all up, bro, and I don’t know how to fix it. ”
Isaiah’s combat boots thumped against the floor as he came closer to me. “All I’m saying is that I don’t see you fighting for your girl, man. If you want her, then stop punching lockers and start focusing on the prize. ”
Echo
The smell of acrylic paint tickled my nose the moment I walked into the gallery. Landscapes filled the canvases on the wall. A painting of long blade grass bending with the wind caught my eye. Earlier today, I’d exposed my arms. This afternoon, I was finding answers.