Page 153 of Resurrection
"Right," Ty grumbles. "Because it’s convenient for you, asshole. We’re in this shit because of you."
"I warned you, Brady."
My heart twists in my chest. The classroom presses in, cold and harsh.
"Stop it," I tell my brother.
"Why?" he teases. "You afraid he’ll skip town again? Think I’m going to scare him off?"
"Can’t you just talk it out—whatever it is—and move past it?"
"He can’t move past it," Ty supplies cryptically.
"Why?" I ask.
"Because he’s a selfish asshole who thinks he’s the center of the universe."
I don’t know what to say to that. My brother isn’t the easiest when it comes to maintaining friendships or any sort of relationship. I can’t even remember the time he had a steady partner. So I just sit there in silence that’s occasionally interrupted by the sounds coming from outside. I just sit there and wait, wait for this nightmare to pass.
"He won't leave," Adri whispers all of a sudden, staring at some unidentified spot on the wall across from him.
Tyler and I both look at him, confused.
"Who are you talking about?" I ask.
My brother is a stranger again. His face is ashen, strained. "Not like before," he continues, softer now, but just as urgent. "That was my fault."
My head spins. I can't understand this. I can't understand him. The room is a vacuum, airless and still. The world narrows to three people, three voices, three pieces of a puzzle that never fit. I watch Adri. I wait for him to explain.
"What are you saying?" The question slips out, fragile and thin. I'm afraid of the answer. I'm afraid of everything.
Ty’s body stiffens beside me.
Adri looks down, his shoulders tense with the weight of something heavy. "I kissed him," he says.
The hell?
I feel the words like a physical blow, a force that knocks me back.
"You kissed who?" I manage to squeak out through the shock.
Adri meets my eyes squarely, and there’s a familiar storm in his gaze. "Who do you think, Shrimp?" He pauses for dramatic effect. "Your damn boyfriend." His chin juts defiantly toward Ty.
"Why?" I blurt out.
"What kind of question is that?" he grits out. "I was seventeen. I didn’tknow what the heck was happening to me. I had a crush on him. I guess I read the room wrong."
I’m doing the math in my head while my brother speaks. "Read the room wrong? He was fourteen, Adri."
"That didn't prevent him from going after you."
"We’re the same age."
"Are you saying I’m old?"
"That’s not what I’m saying." I’m shocked and frustrated at the same time, and my emotions are all over the place. "If you had any brain in that head of yours, you wouldn’t have done that." I have more questions. When? How? Did Ty like it? I don’t know which one to ask first. Instead, I turn around and look at Ty, sitting by my side. He just stares at me, not saying anything.
"Is this true?" I finally ask.
