Page 92 of Not Made to Last

Olivia doesn’t hesitate. “You said you’d hoped to get your son back.”

Mom sniffs, loud enough that I can hear it, but her back is to the camera so I can’t see her face. “And I got that, Olivia. For the time you were in his life, I got glimpses of the boy he was before…” Even though I can’t see it, I know she’s crying, and it tugs at something inside of me, because she’s right. And I didn’t even realize it until right at this moment. “And I have you to thank for that, I’m sure. And I’m so,sosorry that it ended this way. I’m sorry that I told him the way I did, and I’m sorry that it’s affected you the way it has. But most of all, I’m sorry that you feel like you’ve lost him… I know now what it’s like to have Rhys shut you out of his life, and I wouldn’t wish that upon anyone.”

49

Olivia

I wonder what it is about my house—or my open garage in particular—that makes boys think they can just walk right in.

Unlike Rhys, Oscar actually says something when he crosses the threshold. “You know I live two blocks away?”

I continue filling dents on an old side table. “Oh, yeah?”

“Yep,” he says, standing beside me to look at my work. He’s in running shorts and a loose tank, and he’s clearly just gone for a run because the boy issweating.

“So, did you walk home after egging my house that night, or did you get back in Rhys’s car?”

“I—” He takes a step back. “You know about that?”

I’m about to answer when Dominic opens the door leading into the house. He looks at Oscar, then me, then Oscar, and back again. “You good?” he asks me.

“Yeah,” I say with a sigh. I’m pretty sure I know what Oscar’s doing here, and I’m really not in the mood.

As soon as Dom closes the door, Oscar asks, “Come for a walk with me?”

“Didn’t you just finish a run?”

“Yes. And now I need to cool down, and I don’t want to do it alone.” He tugs on my arm. “Please?”

I roll my eyes, shrug out of his hold. “You know I already have one annoying little brother, right?”

“Please tell me you’re referring to Delgado because that would make my life.”

Shaking my head, I put my supplies down before turning him around by his shoulders and guiding him out of the garage, rolling the door shut behind us. Once we’re on the sidewalk, I send Dom a text letting him know what’s happening, and as soon as I’ve pocketed my phone, Oscar states, “You haven’t been to school the past couple of days.”

The sun’s just beginning to set on a Friday night, and Oscar could be anywhere else, doing literally anything else, and I’m sure it’d be more fun than asking me about my sudden disappearance from school.

“I need some time away,” I tell him.

Oscar nods, looking from left to right, as if deciding which way to go. He chooses left, and off we walk. Slowly. “But you’re coming back, right?”

“I don’t know,” I tell him truthfully. I’ve spent the past couple of days trying to decide if it’s worth it. I can always go to West High, the district public school. I’d looked it up, and it’s a decent school. It’s not St. Luke’s, but it might have to do.

“Is it because of Rhys or because of the whole rivalry thing or what?”

I pull a branch off a tree that lines the street just for something to do with my hands and answer, “All the above.”

A beat of silence passes before he says, “The rivalry thing is so dumb.”

“No shit.”

“And it wouldn’t even be so bad if your brother hadn’t pulled that shit last year.”

I stop in my tracks, turn to him. “What shit?”

Oscar looks down at me, his eyes narrowed, as if I’m stupid. “The whole breaking into St. Luke’s and glueing that motherfucker of a dildo to the front door thing.” He starts walking again, clueless to my reaction, and I try to focus on the details of that event. It happened right before the regional final between Philips and St. Luke’s. Rhys and another kid from the team got a one game suspension. Philips won, pushing them into the state finals and putting an end to St. Luke’s season. If St. Luke’s had a full team…

“I mean, to be fair, it was pretty smart,” Oscar continues. “I don’t even know how he got one of Rhys’s game day jerseys to wear that night or where the hell he and his boys got a yellow Lamborghini from. It would’ve taken a lot of planning and effort, but damn, they got us good…”

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