Page 31 of Villainous Summer

I hadn’t told them about me walking into Van’s house. Not that I didn’t think they would support me but because the entire story was bad enough.

“You don’t need to maim him. Just make his life a little more miserable,” Devin said.

“You could always talk to him, ask him to delete the photos,” Autumn offered. “I bet if you asked, he would.”

We stared Autumn down in incredulity and humor.

We all loved Autumn’s positive spin on the world, but sometimes, she was too naïve.

“Uh, no. Pass,” I responded. “I don’t want that man to have the satisfaction of knowing he’s affected me at all.”

As we looked over the list again, the plotting became more concrete.

Wren vetoed my idea of placing valerian root in the vents of his car, citing that if I got caught, it was a class two felony in Washington. Buzzkill.

Devin suggested scattering dried mashed potatoes on his lawn, which, while funny, was more of a harmless prank my cousins used to do to one another, and it was not the vengeance I wanted.

Autumn reminded me that a life well lived was the best revenge, which was not the vibe I was going for.

By the time Adrian returned with a bag of burgers, we had gathered ideas of some semi-legal ways I could make Cory suffer.

I was feeling slightly better once I got the greasy meat and cheese into my system and was able to drink half of my beer before we parted ways.

Autumn and I walked back to the apartments together. She lived on the first floor, while I was in the back corner on the third.

When we got to her door, she turned to me, her face drawn. “Are you sure this is a good idea?”

“No. Of course not. But I can’t sit back while that man terrorizes me.”

“And you’re sure you can’t talk to him? I’m sure if he knew how upset you are, he’d . . .”

I put up my hand to silence her. “No. Definitely not. Babes, I love your big heart and endless empathy, but men who show off pictures of their naked exes are not the type you can talk to. I’m already the crazy ex to him. What do you think he’d do if he found out I know?”

“It was one bad day.”

I laughed. “Yeah, it was. But when is the ex-girlfriend allowed bad days? No, he deserves nothing but torment for this.”

Autumn dragged a hand through her auburn hair, then pulled it from her face. “Promise me you won’t let this anger fester in you.”

Fester.

What a great word.

Autumn knew me too well for me to argue. I had a tendency to take things too far at times. But I’ve never struck at a person who didn’t burn me first. I wouldn’t start fights, but I sure knew how to end them.

“You know me. If I went over there and tried talking, I’d start running my mouth, call him names, maybe make him cry—and, yeah, that would be hilarious. But he’d know he had power over me. No way.”

Autumn slid her key into her door, her lower lip between her teeth, letting out a resigned sigh. “Just be—careful, okay?”

“Cross my heart, hope to die. I will be.”

The trek up the cement and metal stairs to my apartment had my knees aching. I may have twisted them a bit in my drunken stumbling.

Once home, I flopped back on the couch and stared at my reflection in the hand-me-down TV from my dad. Despite showering the night before, my hair somehow looked lank, and my skin was sallow. My cheeks were puffy and eyes bloodshot.

I looked like shit, but that wasn’t my concern in the sweet reprieve of my apartment.

At the brewery, we wrote the broad strokes of a plan, but writing was different from action. I suspected my friends only thought I was joking about this revenge idea. But I was completely serious.

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