Loose Lips Sink Ships

by Katrina LaCroix

  Chapter 4

  Avery could see him reaching for the shifter. He looked over his shoulder to the entrance, the only possible way out. It had to be here. It had to be now. She threw open the door and leapt out, shouting to him as he started in reverse.

  “Please stop avoiding me! Can’t we talk for one minute?” she cried at the top of her lungs. The car continued to recede, and he swung the wheel to turn himself around. She could clearly see his face because the convertible top was down. He could hear her, but he was ignoring her even now.

  “Carter Thomson, be a man and come talk to me!” she screeched. A look of disgust contorted his face. His brake lights came on and the car stopped. His lips moved, and she was glad she couldn’t hear how he cursed her. The driver’s door swung wide open and Carter got to his feet. Seething mad, he pointed at her and stalked forward.

  “We’ve got nothing to talk about! You messed up big time, Avery Leigh. I’m done listening to your excuses. I won’t hear any more of your lies. I’m through with all of it!” he snarled.

  His tone shook Avery, who felt both nervous and inflamed. Carter had always been passionate, but it felt weird to see his ire brought so strongly against her. They’d fought before, but they’d never been at such a crucial crossroads. Avery took a deep breath, the oxygen filling in her lungs and seeming to stretch all the way into her toes and fingers. She felt confident, because if there was one thing she loved to do, it was fight.

  “Don’t you dare give me that! I’ve treated you like a god, and then as soon as I make one tiny slip-up you’re ready to bury me? I don’t even know what the problem is. That’s not fair and you know it. Now how about you grow a pair of balls, we accept that we sometimes make mistakes, and let’s move on and put this behind us.”

  Incensed, Carter set his hand on his face. No matter how angry he got, it didn’t make him any less attractive. He had on a pair of jeans and a polo shirt, and altogether he looked like something out of a magazine ad.

  “A tiny slip-up? You’re such a bitch,” he snapped.

  “You know better than to call me that, you fucking asshole!” she spat.

  “You’re flatter than a pancake!”

  “If your dick were a month it’d be February! Shorter than the rest and over before you know it!” she screeched, suddenly freezing up and becoming self-conscious. She’d lost control for a moment. “No, no, I didn’t mean that. It’s average. Really.” She curled her hand under her chin and tried to think of how to recover.

  “Look at what you just did. That’s what I’m talking about!” Carter said, though he’d lost some of his anger too. He sounded more thoughtful and contemplative all of a sudden. “I don’t think you’re right for me, Avery. Maybe you never were. So why don’t we just accept that and part ways?”

  It hurt Avery to hear him speak so evenly about breaking up. She could see that to him it was already a foregone conclusion, and it made her feel like she was falling. Grasping at straws, she had to find a way to bring him back from the brink.

  “But that’s not true. We belong together. I love you, Carter. Don’t forget about how we like to plant condoms in toy stores or steal tokens from kids at the arcade. It’s all those sweet memories that make me care about you so much.”

  But Carter shook his head, blocking out her arguments.

  “It wasn’t all like that. You’re leaving a lot out. I guess you never realized how embarrassing it was for you to talk to your friends about me. I never get a chance to do my homework because you’re always distracting me. If you cared about me so much, how come you do everything you can to have such a negative impact on my life?”

  Avery opened her mouth, but no words would come out.

  “That’s why I need to find a good girl, one who will actually try to help me with things. There’s got to be someone out there who’s innocent, maybe a bit naïve, but always has the best of intentions. You’re jaded and cynical, and it makes me sad to think some of that’s rubbed off on me. It’s time for a fresh start with someone who doesn’t know about all the bad parts of the world,” he mused.

  Taking a step closer, Avery looked him in the eyes and carefully reached for his arm. He didn’t pull away, and she felt that connection that always sent a soft warmth through her cheeks. It was like she was speaking with his soul.

  “Carter, the kind of girl you’re looking for doesn’t exist. We all want some kind of perfect angel, but we’re down here on the ground where we have to make choices and deal with reality. Every girl does something you won’t like, shoot heroin before math class, cheat on her…taxes, or shave her armpits. So really, there’s nothing wrong with me at all. We can be happy together again just as soon as you realize that.”

  A sour look dawned on his face, and he flinched away from her. She didn’t know what she said to make him have such a reaction, but it wasn’t what she intended. Maybe she’d finally convinced him to come back to her. He threw his arm down, scaring her with a sudden glare of icy malice. There was only one card for him to play with a look like that.

  “Nothing wrong with you? You said you were glad my mother died so I could use the inheritance money to buy you breast implants for your birthday!”

  “Now, come on. I never—”

  “I heard you!” he shouted into her face. “When you were lying next to me talking on your phone, I wasn’t asleep.”

  “Look, I’m sorry. Ok? It just slipped out. Sometimes I say things I don’t mean. You know that. I can’t be held responsible for every little thing I happen to say. I say things all the time! I never meant to hurt you.”

  Carter didn’t appear satisfied, and his angry scowl remained. If she hadn’t known any better, Avery would’ve thought that he hated her. As it was, she hoped he was only conflicted.

  “You’re only as good as your word, Avery,” he said, his bitterness subsiding. “What am I supposed to go on if not what you say?”

  “Go on what I do then, Carter. I sat next to you at your mother’s funeral. I cried when you gave your eulogy about her fight with cancer. I’ve faked it a lot in my life, but I wasn’t faking that.”

  Sighing, Avery wished she could hold him. He didn’t want to argue like this. She blamed the grieving process for making him latch onto her one little comment and blow it out of proportion. Shaking his head, Carter crossed his arms in front of his chest.

  “I can’t forgive you for what you said. It just doesn’t make any sense to me. What kind of a person would say that? Deep down, you’re just a nasty person with an evil spirit who doesn’t care about anyone but yourself. It makes me sorry I ever loved you.”

  Avery felt like a puppet on a string. One moment, she felt hopeful she was getting through to him, and the next she wanted to stab him in the chest with a knife.

  “Really? Is that what you really think?” she glowered, standing up to him. She was tired of taking all the blame. “Considering how you reacted, I don’t think I was out of line at all. What did you do the very same day you cashed that inheritance check? You bought this fancy car. What did you do after that? You fight with your girlfriend so you can justify sleeping around with fleabag whores in sleazy hotel rooms. Oh yeah, what a way to honor your dead mother.”

  Gritting his teeth, Carter reached back his hand. He looked ready to slap her, but then he closed his fist and held it to his chest. He sniffled, looking ashamed and cowering before Avery’s unwavering gaze.

  “Give me a break, ok? My mom just died. I don’t know what I’m doing. When something catastrophic like this happens, people act out to compensate for the loss. It’s a defense mechanism to protect me from the pain,” he quibbled.

  “That’s not how it works,” Avery pressed. “If you’re able to understand your behavior, you’re capable of changing it. Don’t hide behind an explanation you found in a psychology textbook. Take some control and do what you know you need to. Let’s just get through this together.”

  They stood in silence for a time, looking into each other’
s eyes one moment and letting them wander around the dark, empty McDonald’s parking lot the next. The sound of a car racing up the street echoed around them. Glowing light from the restaurant’s menu board bathed them. Finally, Avery thought she had him back.

  “Come on, the Honey Wagon is right here waiting for us. The air mattress is full. There are blankets. We don’t even have to go anywhere tonight.”

  She smiled at him, brushing back her hair and then extending her hand. For a moment he looked like he might take it, but then he shivered visibly and retreated back to his car.

  “I can’t forgive you. You’re just not the right kind of girl for me. Goodbye,” he stated, pulling open the door and sliding into the driver’s seat. As if her heart were tethered to the car, she felt it rip out when he drove away. Suddenly alone, she put her hand to her head and racked her brain to figure out what just happened. A few moments later, the mannequin next to the McDonald’s menu board emitted a static-ridden voice.

  “Boy, that wasn’t what you wanted at all,” an adolescent male voice crackled.

  “I hate my life.”