Page 157 of Before We're More Than Friends
“She shouldn’t have come over after giving Mom the cold shoulder for so long.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “She didn’t reach out after Dad got arrested, but she suddenly wanted to say something now that Mom’s in the hospital. Ishouldbe upset.”
“That doesn’t make it right to treat her that way!” Arielle huffed. “Now you’ve probably made the situation even worse. Mrs. Naysmith isn’t the nicest woman, but she does return respect.”
“Someone needed to tell her!” I shot back. “Isn’t it just like it when you lash out at Mom all the time? What’s the difference?”
“The difference is that she was trying to do something good,” she hissed. “We’d finally calmed down, but no, you have to make things worse than they need to be. I know you can’t control your thoughts, but it isn’t hard to control your mouth.”
My eyes stung at her words. “Then what’s your excuse?”
“Would you stop pointing fingers?” She stepped closer to me, nearly getting in my face. “Would it kill you not to be such a?—”
“GIRLS!”
We both snapped our heads to see Nonno standing behind us, hands crossed over his chest.
“You’ve already gone through enough,” he said. “You don’tneed to treat others—and each other—like this. And for as long as I’m in this house, I won’t have it.” He pointed in the direction of the kitchen. “Get back in there. And I don’t want to hear another word from either of you.”
When Arielle and I had gotten in fights when we were little, we’d point the finger at each other. We’d shout, “But she was being mean first!” or “but she hurt my feelings!”
Mom and Dad had refused to take that from either of us, and I knew we were too old to play that game with Nonno. Seeing the angry look in his eyes turned my frustration into a mix of hurt and guilt. The last thing I’d wanted was for him to be mad at me.
But neither Arielle nor I apologized as we sat back down at the table. The three of us ate our food in silence, even though the sourness in my stomach killed my appetite. We’d really hit rock bottom.
Around eight thirty, Gracelynn’s face popped up on my screen as my phone buzzed. I sighed before picking up the phone, knowing what I was in for.
“Did you seriously have to do that?” she snapped before I could even open my mouth.
“Hello to you too,” I muttered.
“I loved coming home to my mom being pissed off atmebecause she thought I’d said something bad about her to you. And because I was the one who told her to bring the flowers and the card.”
My blood ran cold. “It wasyouridea?” The frustration I’d felt earlier resurfaced for a new reason. Mrs. Naysmith hadn’t even reached out for her own sake? “You made your mom reach out?”
“I thought you’d appreciate it,” Gracelynn said. “But clearly, I was wrong. I knew you blamed my mom for this whole situation, but did you really have to yell at her like that? I was trying to do something nice foryou.”
“You didn’t have to make your mom do something nice,” I fired back. “She can do that on her own if she wants to. You didn’t need to get involved.”
“Well, sometimes we need a push! And for a moment, things were good with us. Now that’s shot again.” Gracelynn blew air out of her nose. “It’s been hard for my mom to reach out because your mom’s addiction reminds her of what happened to Faith.”
“My mom’s addiction shouldn’t be the reason that your mom fell off the face of the earth when my dad was arrested. And you know that.”
“That’s why I’ve been encouraging my mom to make things right for a while now. But all I got was sighs and excuses. Have you done the same with yours?”
“Your mom’s husband didn’t go to jail,” I reminded her. “And I know that if she had, my mom would’ve reached out despite the fight. Yours didn’t.”
“Do you know that? Or are you just saying that because—You know what, forget it. You’re too angry to see that you’re not the only one hurting.”
“You’re the one who doesn’t understand!” I shouted. “Your life hasn’t fallen apart like mine has! And I’m not using that as an excuse. It’s a fact.”
“You’re missing the point,” Gracelynn said. “You’re missing everything.” With that, she hung up on me.
I cursed under my breath. What was up with her? How could she not understand how much the thing with our moms hurt? I had a right to be upset, to call her mom out, but she and Arielle didn’t get it.
No one got it.
To clear my mind, I opened my texts. I had unread messages from Sienna, but I didn’t want to answer them right now. I was already upset that she hadn’t told me about what was going on in the band. I had no idea where the boys and I stood, but it probably wasn’t much different. That left only one person to go to.
Raina
