“Drive safe. I’ll call you tomorrow,” he said, leaning in through her open window. She wanted him to kiss her again but he didn’t.
“I will. Good night.” Brooke smiled and watched as Jake stepped back. What a night! She couldn’t wait to see him again. Thoughts of her and Jake flooded her mind on the return drive to the gas station where she changed out of the black dress and into her sweats. Maybe her mother really would like him. Why wouldn’t she? He was smart and wealthy and nice. What’s not to like? Maybe they really could all go to San Francisco together. Not next weekend, but soon.
Alex and her mother were in the living room watching television when Brooke entered. She paused briefly, hoping they wouldn’t ask too many questions about her night. The fewer they asked, the fewer lies she had to tell.
“Did you get the chair put together?” she asked, hoping to immediately send the conversation in a different direction.
“At record speed,” Alex said. “And when I say record speed, I mean the kind that spins slowly on a turntable.” Brooke smiled. She’d heard that joke many times before, but there was something about the way Alex said it that made her want to giggle.
“He’s lying,” her mother said, giving Alex a playful swat. “It wasn’t hard and it didn’t take long.”
“I appreciate you buying it for me. I promise I won’t kick the legs off this one like I did the other.” Brooke felt bad that she’d ruined furniture during one of her episodes and the only way she knew how to apologize was to make light of it.
“How’s Maddie doing?” And there it was, the question Brooke had been expecting.
“Good,” Brooke lied. “I’m gonna head up. Night.”
“G’night, sweetie,” her mother called as Brooke started up the stairs. Brooke wasn’t paying attention anymore. Her mind had shifted back to Jake and their incredible evening. All she wanted to do was get into bed and relive the entire date beat by beat. The arrival, the green cocktail, dinner, Jake standing up to Tryg, dessert, the kiss. Especially the kiss. Just thinking about it sent a warm feeling through her.
Brooke slipped into pajamas and crawled beneath her puffy comforter, trying to remember the words Jake had said before their lips met in the parking lot. She’d gotten so lost in that final moment with Jake, the minutes leading up to it were a blur.
Every night since her accident, Brooke had climbed into bed wishing she could feel normal again. This was the first time that she hadn’t even thought about her disorder. All she could think about was Jake. This perfect guy with brooding eyes and a perfect smile who had come out of nowhere. Maybe she deserved something great after all. Maybe her future was going to be better than she’d ever imagined.
Seven
Bad News in Nine Words
It was almost five a.m. when the ding of a text woke Brooke from her happy dreams of Jake. She couldn’t remember exactly what they’d been doing when she opened her groggy eyes, but she was irritated at whoever decided to send her the text. Keisha. Brooke blew out a sigh and looked at her phone.
Keisha: Tryg was attacked last night. He’s in the hospital!
A sudden chill came over Brooke. Tryg was attacked? When? How? At the restaurant? Brooke’s fingers flew over the keypad as she scrolled to Keisha’s number.
“Can you believe it?” Keisha said as soon as she answered.
“What happened?”
“I guess someone tried to rob him as he was leaving work last night.”
“From Wally’s on Main?”
“Yeah. He was opening his car door and someone hit him with a tire iron or something.” Another chill.
“Is he hurt bad?”
“I don’t know. I guess he texted Maddie, or maybe his parents did or something. She went over there to see him.” Brooke felt panic creeping up inside of her and she wasn’t sure why.
“Isn’t that where you went on your date last night?”
Still stunned, Brooke stammered, “Um, yeah, yeah.”
“Was he there? Did you talk to him or anything?”
“Sort of,” Brooke responded. “It was weird, though. As soon as Jake went to the bathroom, Tryg came over and wanted to talk, but Jake came back and told him to eff off.”
“Talk about what? Maddie?”
“No,” Brooke said flatly. “He was basically trying to ask me out.”
There was a pause on the other side before Keisha sighed. “Tryg is such a jerk.” Usually Brooke would have been quick to agree, but she was still trying to picture some thug sneaking up behind Tryg and demanding his wallet. Did he hand it over? Knowing Tryg, he probably refused.
“What time was that?” Keisha asked.
“I don’t know, we finished dinner at maybe nine?”
“Well, this happened after the restaurant closed at, like, eleven. In the alley.”
“We left way before that.” Brooke didn’t mean to sound so adamant, but that’s how it came out.
“But he and Jake had a confrontation?” Keisha inquired. Brooke felt defensive. Was Keisha trying to imply that Jake could’ve had something to do with what happened later?
“No,” Brooke assured her. “Not a confrontation per se. Tryg was being his usual dickhead self and Jake put him in his place. Any guy would’ve done the same thing.”
That was hours after Jake and I had left, Brooke thought. Why was she even trying to calculate the hours? Obviously they had nothing to do with it. Was she just feeling guilty about letting Jake shut Tryg down? Stop it, she told herself. I did nothing wrong. Neither did Jake. Tryg had no right to come talk to me at the restaurant. He knew it was rude. That’s why he waited until Jake got up to go to the bathroom. Plus, look at what he was doing to Maddie! Hitting on me, then hours later calling Maddie to come be at his side in his time of need. What an asshole. She hoped Maddie wouldn’t fall for whatever line Tryg was feeding her.
“Well, I hope he’s okay,” Keisha finally said.
Brooke, more concerned about her best friend, asked, “Is Maddie going to be at school?”
“I don’t know. I texted her but haven’t heard back.”
Brooke looked at the alarm clock on her nightstand. In fifteen minutes, it would go off. “I’ll see you when I get there. Thanks for letting me know.”
“Yeah, no problem.”
She waited for Keisha to hang up.
Brooke lay back down and stared up at the ceiling, trying to make sense of all the turmoil the conversation with Keisha had churned up inside of her. She felt so weird. Guilty and worried and just . . . strange.
The longer she lay there, the more Brooke replayed the exchange between Tryg and Jake. There was nothing she should have found alarming about Jake and Tryg’s confrontation. Jake seemed to let the whole thing go easily after Tryg walked away. But there was one thing she couldn’t push out of her mind—the chill she got when she saw Jake stare, unblinking, at Tryg. That change. Although only briefly, Jake had looked like a completely different person. Brooke squeezed her hands into fists, pulling the covers up to her face. How could she even suspect that? Was her medication making her paranoid now too?
“This is crazy,” Brooke murmured, not realizing she’d said it out loud. Jake did not go back to the restaurant hours after they left and attack Tryg. There was just no way. For all she knew, the police could have someone else in custody already. Some drug addict. Or thug desperate for a quick score. Not only did Jake have way too much to lose to go around attacking people, he also just wasn’t that kind of guy.
The high-pitched ring of the alarm shot through the air, jolting Brooke out of her thoughts. Getting out of bed, she hurried into the bathroom to get ready for school. By the time she got to cheer practice, hopefully Maddie would be there and could give them more information about Tryg’s assailant.
Eight
Reality Always Wins
Brooke found Maddie sitting by her gym locker in a daze, wearing the same practice uniform Brooke sported. Her hair was twisted up into a messy bun and the da
rk circles under her blue eyes suggested she hadn’t slept.
“Maddie?” Brooke said, unsure of the reaction she was about to get.
Her best friend looked up at her. “Please leave me alone.” Maddie’s voice sounded hollow. Brooke could tell Maddie was in dire need of emotional support, so she ignored her request and sat down beside her.
“I feel bad for blowing up at you at the karaoke bar,” Brooke said, unsure where to start. There were a lot of things that needed to be said, so she decided the karaoke incident was as good a place as any. Brooke adjusted the pleats of her skirt and continued, “I heard about Tryg. I’m really sorry. Have you talked to him?”
Maddie still wouldn’t look at her. She paused and finally said, “I sat in the ER with him most of the night.”
Brooke could feel the anxiety begin to build. Should she tell her best friend two hours before the shithead beckoned Maddie to meet him at the hospital, he was asking Brooke out? She deserved to know that, right? I would want to know if Jake had been hitting on Maddie, Brooke reasoned. Was this the best time to explain it, though? Should she wait? Or was it better to let Maddie know before she got sucked back into her dysfunctional relationship with Tryg?
Brooke sighed. She was pretty sure she was screwed regardless. “What happened?” she asked.
“He can tell everyone the story when he gets back to school. I don’t want to start any rumors,” Maddie said.
A flash of anger shot through Brooke. Stay calm, she told herself. “Rumors? Really? I’m your best friend, Mads. I’m not gonna go spread rumors.”
Maddie was quiet for a moment. “He was walking to his car and he parks in the alley behind the restaurant, and as he was unlocking it, some guy in a black balaclava came up behind him and hit him with a tire iron. I guess Tryg fell and put his arms up to protect himself and the guy hit him again, then grabbed his wallet and ran off,” Maddie explained, emotionless.
“So he couldn’t see what the guy looked like?” It was what Brooke really wanted to know. Even though she’d squelched the notion that Jake could have been involved, she wanted confirmation.
“No.”
Damn. “How bad was he hurt?” Brooke asked.
“Arm’s broken in two places. Scraped his face and elbow up when he hit the ground, but other than that, he’s okay. He’s having surgery to put a pin in his arm and then they’ll release him today.”
Brooke took this in. She was relieved that Tryg was okay, but that didn’t answer the question of whether she should tell Maddie about her interaction with Tryg. Brooke felt pressure to make a decision. She wished she had more time to weigh it out, decide what to divulge and what to keep to herself.
“We should get to the gym,” Maddie said abruptly and got to her feet. Brooke stood up, the pressure mounting.
“It was nice you went over there to be with him.” That was all Brooke could think to say. If she wasn’t going to expose Tryg, she needed to say something else.
Maddie nodded.
“You guys aren’t back together or anything, though, right?” Brooke asked, hoping the answer was no. Maddie stopped walking and turned her full attention to Brooke.
“Why is that any of your business?”
Where was this coming from? Brooke wondered. They’d commiserated many times about how Maddie should drop Tryg like a rusted anchor. How she could easily be with someone a million times better.
Maddie’s defensiveness sparked that familiar angry feeling in Brooke, but she was determined not to go off. Do not lose control of your temper. Things are fragile right now. Handle it the right way. She thought of Dr. Fenson’s advice to remove herself from the situation and not take anything Maddie was about to say personally.
“I feel it’s my business because I care about you,” Brooke explained, exhaling. “I hated how unhappy you were when you were with Tryg before, and you deserve someone really good. I don’t want to see you get sucked back into an on-and-off relationship with him again.” Wow. Even Brooke was surprised at how perfectly her words came out. They were clear and emotionless and conveyed what she really meant. Without any anger at all.
“I think he regrets all that,” Maddie confided and began to walk again. “I think things will be different this time.” Brooke’s heart sank. How could Maddie be so stupid? Tryg seemed to have a power over her that Brooke couldn’t understand. If Maddie had any self-respect, she’d ghost herself right out of Tryg’s life. Don’t judge, she reminded herself. Just try to convince her she’s wrong.
“I don’t think that’s true.” Brooke chose her words carefully.
“Why are you always sabotaging us?” Maddie asked in a fiery tone.
The anger Brooke was feeling began to swell. “I’m not. Look, you need to know something. Last night, I saw Tryg.” Crap. That wasn’t how she had wanted to bring up their interaction. Her tongue was moving faster than her brain.
“What?” Maddie asked.
“I was on a date and we went to Wally’s on Main,” Brooke said, trying to think of a way to minimize the emotional damage she knew she was about to cause. She decided that her only option was to be totally honest, and she gave her best friend a brief playback of her and Jake’s entire interaction with Tryg at the restaurant. “And then when he gets attacked he calls you? He hasn’t changed, Mads,” she said when she came to the end of her story.
“You’re making that up,” Maddie said flatly.
“Are you kidding me? Why the hell would I make that up?”
“I’m going to ask Tryg what really happened.”
Brooke’s anger rose a notch. I’m trying to help her see the truth and she’s accusing me of lying? It was the same thing that happened at karaoke. Control it, Brooke. Control the anger. Don’t flip out like you did last time.
“Do you honestly think Tryg would tell you if he did? Admit he hit on your best friend? I swear to you that’s what happened. You can believe whatever you want, but it’s the truth.” Brooke found herself talking faster than she wanted.
“He’s using you,” she continued. “When Tryg wants sympathy or gets lonely, he comes running back to you. Then he’s off looking for other girls. Just let him go. You’re so pretty and so fun and so smart. You can do a lot better than that asshole.”
A tear cropped up in Maddie’s eye and she quickly wiped it away. Brooke felt horrible now for telling her.
Maddie said, “I’m really tired today. Could you tell Coach I’m not gonna be at practice?”
“Are you going home?” Brooke asked, concerned.
“Don’t worry about where I’m going.” Maddie turned and walked away.
Brooke considered following her, but she knew the tension between them was already as high as it could get before one of them exploded. Their relationship was too volatile to go another round, so Brooke just watched as Maddie disappeared down the hall and around the corner.
When Coach Debbie asked about Maddie at cheer practice, Brooke told her that she’d gone home. Riley filled Debbie in on the details—that Maddie had spent the night in the hospital with Tryg after he was mugged. Everyone acted really concerned about Tryg, but Brooke’s thoughts hovered around Maddie and Jake.
Her friend needed her right now and she had no idea how to help. She cursed Tryg for making that call to Maddie. And Jake, well, that was a whole different story. She was so into him and yet she couldn’t understand why something wasn’t sitting right. Every time she pictured their incredible date at Wally’s, the standoff between him and Tryg popped into her head.
Brooke twisted the code into her combination lock and popped open her gym locker. Wriggling out of her sweat-soaked shorts and T-shirt, she stuffed them into her bag and pulled out her phone. Five texts from Jake and six missed calls.
Jake: Good morning, beautiful. Did you sleep well? (7:18 a.m.)
Jake: Hey. It’s Jake. Are you up? (7:29 a.m.)
Jake: Everything ok with you? (7:38 a.m.)
Jake: Why aren’t you answering my texts?
(7:51 a.m.)
Jake: Are you seriously going to just ignore me? That’s fucked up. (8:06 a.m.)
“What the hell?” Brooke was shocked. Five texts in fifty minutes, from good morning to f-word-laced accusations? What was going on? This wasn’t the Jake she had started getting to know. Stressed, Brooke grabbed her towel. She was only three hours in and the day was already taking bizarre turns. Should she call Jake back? Brooke looked at her phone. She had twelve minutes to get to class and still needed to shower. There wasn’t time.
Brooke: I’m not ignoring you. Had cheer practice this morning. Will call you later.
She sent the text and dropped the phone into her bag. That was the best she could do to reassure him at the moment. Throwing her gym bag into the locker, she grabbed her shampoo, slammed the locker door, and darted off.
“So let’s look now at the logarithmic equations. Turn to page two hundred and seventy-three in your books,” Mr. Davenport instructed, his back to the class as he scribbled on the board. Brooke started to flip through her book, but couldn’t remember what page he’d just told them to go to. Her mind was on Jake and his crazy progression of texts.
The last thing Brooke wanted was for Jake to assume he was being ignored or to make him feel insecure in any way. She liked him so much, how could he even think that? Had she not flirted enough? She felt like she’d been pretty obvious, telling him it was the best date she’d been on and kissing him. Even though they’d only just met, she was already having thoughts of dancing at prom and jetting away with him to Martha’s Vineyard for long weekends.
He doesn’t realize I get up so early for practice, she thought. He believed I was home. Still, there were a million reasons why she wouldn’t text back right away other than cheer. She could have forgotten to charge her phone or maybe she’d come down with the flu and was still asleep. But even though she thought he had overreacted, she didn’t want their blossoming relationship to end over something as ridiculous as a miscommunication. She wished she could leave class right now and go talk to him. Assure him everything was fine.
Murdered at 17 Page 6