Page 140 of Bring You Back

My insides cringe.

I hear a muttered, “Fuck,” but it doesn’t come from Julian. I glance over at Tommy who now has his stare downcast with a shake of his head.

“Everyone around here seems to prefer you, so here,” Reyna continues to me, waving a hand down her new wardrobe. “I’m you,” she says through Banks’s protest thathedoesn’t prefer me.

I cross my arms. “You’re too blonde to be me.” I try to keep the jab subtle, but my voice is too fond of being thorny, and they all hear it. But it’s Tommy who speaks up again.

“What about me?” he asks. “Am I too blond to be you, too?” He gives me a pointed look, knowing I wouldn’t have said that to him. I ignore the comment and look back at Reyna who sends him a small appreciative smile. I roll my eyes. Whatever.

“You have no reason to be mad at me over this,” I say to Reyna, getting to the core of her issues.

“I have a lot of reasons to be mad at you,” she says back to me, mirroring my crossed arms, and I chuckle.

“Oh, so is this just years of pent-up frustration?”

She drops her arms. “Do you have to makeeverythinga joke?”

I realize I should probably be taking Reyna’s identity crisis more to heart, but her reasoning for it is too baffling for me to understand. I throw back, “Do you have to take everything so seriously?”

“You—”

“You guys know who you’re fighting over, right?” Banks cuts in, then eyes Julian. “No offense, dude, but you’re sort of a dick.”

Julian scoffs a laugh at my back as I correct Banks. “We’re not fighting overanyone.” I give Reyna a pointed look in the hopes that my words get through her head.

“Let’s just eat,” Julian says, and I hear him move to the table, set glasses on top, get settled into his chair.

“Good idea,” Tommy agrees, following suit.

Banks smacks his lips in disappointment and complains, “I wanna see a cat fight!”

Reyna’s face is pinched with emotion and unfinished thoughts as she holds my stare. The sight softens my stance enough for me to try to soften hers. “You don’t have to change,” I tell her, and I could laugh at the words. She’s already changed.

“Please,” she scoffs. “This is what you’ve wanted. If anyone should change around here, it should be me, right? And maybe you,” she adds as a muttered afterthought toward Banks.

“I’ll eat to that one,” I enthusiastically agree as I grab the plates and pass them around, taking Julian’s signature advice to just eat and ignore his problems. This is one I would love to ignore myself. This is embarrassing.

“Why doIhave to change?” Banks asks, his offense carrying around the table.

“Really?” Tommy says back from his chair, voice flat.

“You’re a Grade A asshole, man,” Julian adds as he scoops two slices of pizza onto the plate I just dropped in front of him.

Banks stands straighter. “Well, at least I get an A.”

We’ve taken our same seats, out of habit. Reyna realizes she’s beside Julian and looks to Banks who has once again taken Brent’s seat. “Switch with me,” she says to him. Julian eyes her but makes no protest.

Banks switches with a shrug, and as soon as Reyna takes her new seat, she realizes she’s now closer to me, and starts to get up again, her eyes set on Naomi’s seat at the other end. She pauses when she realizes that would make her close to Julian again, and plops back down as she looks to Tommy, motioning a finger between him and Julian. “Can you guys switch, then we can switch?” Her finger now motions between herself and Tommy, and I want to yank it off her hand.

“For fuck’s sake,” Julian mutters.

Same.

Tommy pushes to standing, ready to switch, but Banks says, “Uh uh. My ass likes where it’s at.”

I bet.Nestled between the guy he’ll never be and the girl he’ll never have.

Tommy plops back down with a last look at Reyna who sighs and stays put. Probably because now she sees she would’ve put me beside Julian.

---