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“The fuck is this, huh?” I ask, walking up to them sitting on the trunk. Samuel straightens and gets off the car. This is way over the line.

“You taking my girl to prom?”

“Danny, don’t,” Bexley says, sounding exhausted and climbing down, too. But I ignore her, shoving him.

“Answer me, motherfucker.”

He stumbles back. “I took her home because her boyfriend bailed on her.”

I don’t think. I don’t hesitate. I punch my brother square in the jaw.

“Danny!” Bexley screams.

I hit him again before he has time to fight back, connecting with his nose and sending him to the ground.

“The fuck you thinking, Bexley? I asked you to stay away from him. I told you what would happen.”

She shakes her head, eyeing me in horror. “Look at you,” she says. I stare at her, and as my eyes see the mascara trailing down her cheeks, and the dress she picked out, that she looks so pretty in, I swallow sick regret.

I look down at my hands, still covered in blood and mud from Mickey. I see my brother on the ground holding his nose.

“Love, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t you call me that.” She clenches her jaw. “Don’t you ever call me that again. I waited all day for you. I put on this silly dress and got my hair and makeup done, just so you could make me cry it all off.”

I walk over to her, but she shoves me away, causing me to put my hands up in surrender. “No!” she says as more tears fall. “I told you… I told you not to make a fool out of me.” She shakes her head, her hair falling behind her back. “I’m done. It’s over between us.”

“You don’t mean that,” I say. “I got held up. Something happened.”

“Something always happens,” she fires back, looking at my clothes. “Good God, Danny. What the hell? What is that? Blood?”

“We hit a deer.” I point back to the car.

“You hit a deer?” she asks.

“Yes. That’s why we got held up.”

She shakes her head, rolling her eyes at the same time before focusing her attention on my brother. “Samuel, I’m sorry I dragged you into this. Go ahead and get out of here. I’ll call you later,” she says before turning toward the house.

But I follow. “You won’t fucking call him later,” I tell her.

“I’ll call whoever the hell I want. Leave, Danny.”

But I still follow as she hits the step and opens the front door. “Bexley,” I say, desperation in my voice. “Please. I’m so sorry. I…I’ll leave it all. I’ll get out of this. I promise. I’m done. After tonight, I’m done. I realize now I don’t want to be without you. This is all fucked up.”

She turns around. “You realizenow? After everything we’ve been through. It took this for you to see you don’t want to be without me?”

I search her face, feeling my own tears, and my heart feels as though someone’s crushing it with ahydraulically powered plate. I search the ground for answers, but there’s nothing, only dirt and grass. I’m losing her.

I’ve lost her.

The one good thing I had.

I don’t give a shit that Johnny and Carson are watching. That I just broke my brother’s nose and he’s witnessing this whole shit show. I drop to my knees, lower my head, and grovel. “Please, baby. I’ll do anything.”

“Don’t do this,” she says.

I look up at her. “Let’s leave. You get enrolled into a good college somewhere and do your photography, and I’ll find a job. I’ll be a better man.”