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Wiggling my phone at her, I ask:
Where is Dare?
I see a flash of pain in her eyes and she takes my phone to type.
Why do you care? Didn’t you break up with him?
He’s the one who broke up with me.
Lucy frowns and types furiously.
That’s crazy. Dare would never break up with you. He’s obsessed with you.
Lucy shows me the phone with a bit of an attitude.
I reach for it, but she snaps it away to type again.
I know it’s none of my business, but why did you two break up?
I try to take the phone, but again she yanks it out of reach.
Was it the age difference?
I move to answer and am thwarted by Lucy changing her mind and adding more text.
It’s because he’s rich, isn’t it? I saw your social media profile. You’re one of those social justice folks who hate rich people.
Okay this is getting annoying.
“I don’t hate rich people,” I sign. “I hate systems of oppression.”
Lucy has no idea what I signed, but I doubt she’d listen even if she did. Heck, I listenwaymore than she does. Lucy’s ears might as well be for decoration.
By the way, I think it’s so hypocritical to break up with someone because they’re rich. Who do you think gives the most to charity, huh? Who do you think supports the causes that poor people cry about? It’s not the ones who can barely pay their bills, that’s for sure. They can barely help themselves, much less someone else.
I read her words and take an aggressive step forward, gesturing for the phone.
She hands it over with a little tremble to her fingers.
I am not getting into a debate with you right now. All I want to know is WHERE IS DARE?
Mom walks over.
“Is everything okay here?” she signs. Her eyes dart between me and Lucy like a bald, oversized barkeep sniffing out a fight.
I’m not surprised that she noticed the tension. Mom is always ready to defend me when she feels I’m being bullied. The thing is, even with our differences, I don’t think Lucy falls under that category. We’ve never been best friends, but I also don’t feel like she’s trying to attack. It feels like she’s being as protective over her brother as mom is towards me.
Lucy gets tired of handing one phone back and forth. She takes out her own cell and taps on it.
I’m not telling you anything.
I need to talk to Dare.
Do you know how hard Dare’s taken the breakup? He looks like a broomstick now, he’s lost so much weight. And he can’t even take a second to process because he’s up to his eyeballs in lawsuits thanks to that buffoon he kicked off the board. With all that’s going on, YOU do not need to add to his stress!!!!
My stare turns fuzzy as I process her words. That hesitation gives her just enough time to type:
If you didn’t know what a good thing you had when you had him, you don’t deserve to yank on his chain now that you’ve changed your mind. Please leave.