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“Oh I can think of three or four different places we could bring the computer to,” Colin said merrily. “Your phone too. There’s probably enough on there to—”

“Alright!” Garrett exclaimed. “Alright! I get it. I— I’m done. Claudia and I are totally finished.”

We’d broken him, it was obvious.

And it was a huge relief.

“She won’t hear from me again, I promise. You guys…” He swallowed, hard. “You guys…”

We stood there, eyebrows raised. Silently waiting.

“You guys win,” he said gloomily.

I scratched the stubble on my chin. “That’s good to hear…” I said. “But there’s just still one thing missing from this whole equation.”

He looked up from his misery for a moment. “W—What’s that?”

“An apology.”

Brandon coughed. “A BIG fucking apology.”

“To us,” said Colin, “but especially to Claudia.”

Garrett nodded slowly. He walked over to the sink, turned it on, and splashed cold water over his face. We folded our arms and waited until he was finished. The silence made it especially awkward for him.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “To all of you.”

“And?”

He turned to Claudia. “And to you,” he said. “What I did was… well, it was…”

“Reprehensible?” Colin suggested.

Garrett nodded. “Yeah. That.”

I unlocked the door again. One by one we filed out, putting Claudia before us. I waited until Colin and Brandon took her out of the restaurant. Then I stopped to turn on Garrett one last time.

“Lose her number,” I said. “Forever. And lose our address.”

He shifted from one foot to the other, uncomfortably. I waited until he nodded.

“You lose everything for good, and we don’t ever see you again?” I shrugged noncommittally. “Then maybe nothing has to come of your computer.”

Garrett glared up at me with bloodshot eyes. He looked like someone had just shot his dog.

“Do I, uh… ever get my computer back?” he asked hesitantly.

I smiled and dropped a brotherly hand on his shoulder. “Oh Garrett,” I laughed before walking away. “That’s funny…”

Forty-One

CLAUDIA

Having Garrett out of the picture was like breaking free of the rainclouds and sailing into an endless blue sky. My spirits were lifted. I had renewed energy and ambition and focus.

The semester ended, and the campus got quiet. Not so in our house though. That’s when things got really loud.

Without the pressures or responsibilities of school, there were only two things to do: work on finishing the house, and screwing our tails off. And whether for bad or good, I have to say we worked more on the latter than the former.