Page 54 of Caught in a Bad Fauxmance
“So.” Julian gives up on his sister and refocuses on us. “Want to watch a movie? Dev and I were talking about working our way through theLord of the Ringssince I’ve never seen them, but that might be a lot for one sitting.”
“Since when does he call you Dev?” Maya whispers tome.
That’s a story for another day, maybe never. “Sure,” I tell Julian, ignoring my sister. “But maybe something with less orcs.”
“Nerds,” Maya says, loud enough this time for both of us to hear. I go to shove her with my shoulder, but she stands up before I can. “If we’re going full-on dork, let me get Andy. He lives for this kind of stuff.” She shoots me a wink as she heads toward the stairs. An obvious lie to anyone who’s had more than two conversations with Andy. He couldn’t tell an orc from an elf. My guess is she’s off to do her digging, leaving me to distract the wolves. I get one last subtle whiff of her jacket before she leaves, but even Mami’s scent doesn’t do anything to calm my nerves.
“Wait!” Stella shouts, nearly throwing her phone across the room as she races over to Maya. I’m ready to pounce ifshe tries to hurt her, but what comes next is even more upsetting.
Stella hugs her.
Maya goes rigid in the embrace, her face screwed up in amix of confusion and discomfort. Even Julian sits up stiff as a board, the two of us on the edge of our seats.
“I’m so happy you decided to come,” Stella says, still not letting go, her face tucked deep into Maya’s curls.
“Uh…you’re welcome?” Maya gives me a panicked look, but there’s nothing I can do short of pulling them apart. Maybe this is just Stella’s weird way of playing nice? One thing I’ve learned this year is that kindness comes with a steep learning curve.
Stella pulls away, flashing Maya a too-sweet smile before grabbing her phone and heading back to her seat without another word. She plops back onto the armchair, kicks her feet up on the coffee table, and starts texting again like nothing happened. Maya stays in place, mouthing,What do I do?to me and Julian. The two of us shrug. There’s little relief in knowing that Julian is concerned too.
Maya backs away slowly, waiting until she’s made it to the staircase to bolt. She’s out of sight for a fraction of a second.
And then she starts screaming.
Pure adrenaline jerks me out of my seat and sends me flying up the stairs. I’m not a violent person, but I’m prepared to claw apart whatever,whoever,made my sister scream like that.
The top of the staircase looks like a culinary crime scene. Clam chowder instead of blood, a half-empty bucket instead of a weapon. My sister instead of a body.
She’s curled up in the mess, her violet wig knocked askew and stained with chunks of clam and potato, the embroidered roses on her jacket barely visible beneath the gunk. I kneel down beside her, pushing through the unfortunatesmell of soup to help her into a sitting position. The screams die down as soon as I’m with her, melting down to quiet, whimpered sobs. She holds on to my arm so tight it burns, her fingernails digging crescent moons into my already bruised skin, but I push the pain down and let her hold on as hard as she has to.
A cold, hollow cackle draws my attention away from Maya. Henry and Liam stand side by side a few feet away; Liam laughing until his cheeks turn pink while Henry records the spectacle on his phone. Henry blinks up at me with those stupid dopey eyes, shaking his head as he starts to lower his phone. Without thinking, I let go of Maya and lunge at him, grabbing the phone and throwing it to the ground with all the force I have left in me. It cracks on impact, but that’s not enough. I want to crush it until it’s nothing, until it’s as broken as they’ve left my sister.
“What the hell!” Liam shouts on Henry’s behalf, shoving me back from the two of them.
“Fuck you!” I snap back, taking the opportunity to grab the phone and throw it to the ground a second time. The force shatters it the rest of the way. Finally, Apple’s shitty hardware design comes in handy.
Julian stumbles up the stairs, nearly slipping on the chowder. “What is wrong with you?!” The question is aimed at Henry.
“C’mon, we had to. They did the salami thing, so now it’s our turn,” Stella replies in between hiccupped laughs as she trails behind him. The laughter dies once she gets a look at the scene at the top of the stairs. Her smile morphs into a frown, her gaze suddenly shifting to Liam. “It was his idea.”
That doesn’t surprise me. That damn hike managed to wreak havoc on me even when I didn’t go. “You think this shit is funny?” I wave the last remaining pieces of Henry’s phone in front of Liam’s face. “Hurting someone like that?”
“Oh please,” Liam scoffs, shoving my hand out of his face. “First off, that little stunt was meant foryou.You’re lucky she came up first. And you’ve both been doing the same thing since you got here. You can’t get mad because we decided to punch back.”
We?The war our families waged has never been just or fair, but it’s only ever been between us. Liam doesn’t get to rewrite history, insert himself somewhere he doesn’t belong. Whatever problem he has with me stays with me.
“This doesn’t involve you,” I spit back, knowing that I should stop there. Instead, my anger boils over, too fast and too scalding for me to hold in. “But you’ve never cared about boundaries, huh? If you did, you’d know to fuck off and stop trying to make passes at the guy who dumped you.”
Liam goes beet red down to his frosted roots, and while he still towers over me, I’ve never felt taller.
“For the record”—his voice is low, strained as if the lightest touch would make him snap—“Ibroke up withhim.”
While that doesn’t change what I think of him, his reply does spark Julian back into action.
“That’s enough.” Julian grabs Stella by the arm and carefully sidesteps around Maya to drag her toward Henry. “You two could’ve just shut up and been respectful like I asked, but no! You’re assholes.” He pauses, rounding on Liam this time. “All of you.”
With the others occupied, I rush back over to Maya. Iwipe the chowder out of her eyes, pushing synthetic hair and clam bits off her face. “You okay?” I whisper.
She shakes her head. “Can we go home?”
