Page 68 of Drive

“Sugar, We’re Goin’ Down”

Fall Out Boy

The following afternoon, my sister pounded on the door like the damned police. It was clear when Reid opened it a few minutes later she had interruptedsomething. I held my breath as she walked past us toward the kitchen. “I need one of you to cover my shift. No one else will do it, and, well, can one of you go in?”

“I’ll go. Reid has a show,” I offered as she looked around the apartment and then took a step back on a gasp. Incredulous eyes looked over at Reid as she gawked at him. “She took all the furniture,everything?” Reid stood stone-jawed as Paige walked around the apartment. “What in the hell, Reid? This is how you’ve been living since she left?” Her tears were instant as she looked over at me. “This is how you’ve been livingwithhim?”

“Stop acting like you care. We’re fine,” I said with my arms crossed. “You’re covered. I’ll get dressed right now.”

“I’ll drive you,” she said. I looked at Reid, whose defeated posture relayed he was just dying to get out of the situation.

“Fine.” I pulled a clean black shirt out of my duffle and changed in front of them both. Paige winced and stared us down, a scowl on her face when she cornered Reid. “Why did you let her leave you like this?”

I turned on my sonic ears as I raced to the bathroom to get a hair tie. I was dying for the same answers.

“Paige,” he said, “drop it.”

“Hell no, you aren’t this big of a pushover. She tookeverything! This place was fully furnished. A mattress on the floor, Reid?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“How can you say that?” Paige was pushing harder than I ever had.

“Hey!” I said, carefully breaking up the impending fight. “Can we go?” I walked over to Reid and mouthed “sorry” and told him I would meet him at his show before walking out the door. I paced at the foot of the stairs for ten minutes and was about to go back up when Paige walked down.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“Nothing,” she said with a heavy sigh. “Let’s go.”

We got in the car, and I was thankful when she turned the key and the radio struck up “Heart-Shaped Box” by Nirvana. I didn’t want to talk to her, though I was itching to find out what conversation she just had with Reid. Even more curious to see if she’d made him more resentful of our situation.

For once, I kept quiet. I wasn’t in the mood to defend myself.

“He didn’t live like that,” she said after a few minutes. “Their place was nice. It wasnothinglike it is now.”

I didn’t know who she was reassuring, herself or me. “I don’t know why he would let her do that, even if—”

Then she had my attention. “Even if what?”

“Nothing. It just doesn’t make sense. He’s a smart guy. He’s not a sucker.”

“Guilt. Maybe he was guilted,” I said as I looked over at her pointedly and insinuated she was doing the same to us. “But, Paige, the accident wasn’t his fault.”

We pulled up to the restaurant.

“How do you know?”

“I just know,” I said, grabbing my apron from her dash.

“He was the one driving,” she pointed out on her high horse.

“Andshewas the one who caused it,” I said in monotone. I didn’t have it in me to keep defending him to her. As much as she claimed to care about him, she never really gave him the benefit of the doubt. I had no doubt Reid wasn’t a sucker. I just think he’d been sucker punched one too many times to care about defending himself.

“I know you think I’m just some raging bitch—”

Angry tears surfaced and I jerked myself together. “I’ll never forgive you,” I whispered as I turned to stare at her. “Ever. No matter what happens between Reid and me. And it’s not because I’m sleeping on a mattress on the floor. I’d rather be there with him than doing your dishes and sleeping on your couch. You threw me on my ass and turned your back on me because I didn’t do what youtoldme to. I’m not your kid. You don’t get to make decisionsforme. I’m your sister. And Reid might be your friend, but that’s all he is: yourfriend.”

Her eyes narrowed. “You just blew in like the tornado you are and screwed everything up. You aren’t an innocentvictim. You’re drama and you know it. It’s my job to look after you but, hey, you want freedom, you’re on your own now.”