Page 154 of Resurrection
"Yes."
"And?" I press on.
"He said he wasn’t into guys and that I misunderstood him," Adri butts in.
"And me? What about me?"
"I liked you, not him," Ty finally says after what seems like an eternity of nothing.
"Then why did you leave me?"
"I told him to go without you," Adri butts in again.
I turn my attention to my brother, trying to wrap my head around this unbelievable situation. "Why?"
"Because he was jealous," Ty blurts out. He stares at Adri, then at me, then at nothing. The past explodes around us, fragments of a life I never understood. I do now.
"What is this?" I croak through tears in my eyes. "Some kind of a joke?"
Adri runs a hand over his tied hair, a gesture I've seen a thousand times. A gesture that suddenly means something else. "It’s not."
The classroom shifts and spins, the walls closing in with the weight of the revelation.
"You mean to tell me you chased away the one man I truly loved just because he turned you down?" I exclaim in disbelief. Then, shifting to Ty, I add, "And you just went along with it, leaving me behind to question if our four years together meant anything to you at all?" I look at them, really look. My hands are shaking so much, I’m scared that I have no control over my body, the same way I’ve never truly had control over my life. "You ruined my life," I whisper. "Both of you."
Adri snaps back, "You think you're the only one going through shit, Nomes? Yes, I fucked up, and every day for the past seventeen years, I’ve lived with this guilt that I somehow screwed my sister over. I can’t sleep because of it…watching you fading away."
"Then you shouldn’t have done it. You should have stayed in your lane, minded your own business."
"You were going to piss your life away on his right along with him." Adri gesticulates at the man by my side.
"I’m not the one who pissed his life away," Ty grits out. "I was doing something to get out of here. You were doing nothing except hanging out with some shady characters."
"She had an opportunity to do great things, and you were in the way," Adri says. "I took care of it. I gave her a future. You had nothing to give except a shitty song and empty words."
"Stop it," I demand. "Both of you. Sto?—"
Adri’s radio crackles softly, the volume so low, you can barely hear it. "Sherriff Medina. Do you copy?"
Our attention shifts. My heart pounds so loudly in my ears, I can barely hear myself think.
Adri's expression hardens. He’s back in his work mode. "Sheriff Medina here," he replies. "What’s the situation on the ground?"
"The shooter is still on the third floor. East wing. My guys are trying to lock him down, but we don’t have a visual. We believe there are still hostages in there with him. We're preparing to evacuate everyone on the first floor, but we need you to stay put and keep yourselves hidden until we give the all-clear."
"Copy that." He ends the transmission and relaxes against the desk.
"Are we just waiting?" I ask quietly.
"It’s the safest option," he explains.
"It’ll be fine, Nomes." Ty reaches out to bridge the sudden gap between us. He attempts to grab my hand, but I can’t do this right now. The silence in the classroom is heavy and suffocating. The past blurs with the present, and I'm caught in the center, trying to make sense of the senseless.
34NAOMI [THE PAST]
Time after graduation moved slowly,as if waiting for me and Ty to catch up. I could almost feel it hold its breath as I sat by the window that morning, my bags packed, my heart loud and restless. The sky was empty of clouds and of promises. So was the road.
A few days ago, Ty gave me a mix tape. It hadTy & Naomi’s Road Trip Mixscribbled on it in his illegible handwriting. I’d been tempted to listen to it before our departure, but I held off, wanting to do it with him. It seemed that it would be more meaningful if we played it exactly as directed.
