10
M E G A N
M I R A N D A
And when she found me later that night under the boardwalk, she didn’t freak out. Didn’t adamantly shake her head or say things like no or no fucking way or this isn’t happening. Instead she’d said, “I’m sorry,” which made no sense. And besides, I hated apologies. And now she was freaking out. “God, I can’t believe I didn’t go home with you that night.” “Cody Parker,” I said, forcing a smile. Trying to force her to smile. “Who could blame you?” “Cody fucking Parker,” she mumbled. “So not worth it. God, this is one of those things I don’t think I’ll ever be able to make up to you, you know?” “Coll, it wasn’t your fault,” I said, because it wasn’t. And she said, “No, it was Brian’s fault. That little prick.” Because that was just the sort of thing a best friend should say. She started crying and said, “Shit,” as she wiped at the mascara under her eye. She grabbed me around the middle and cried into my shoulder, and I felt that ache in my throat like I was going to cry too, but nothing came out. I held on tight, reasonably sure that I would never love another human being as much as I loved Colleen Dabner in that moment. Someone leaned out a car window and whistled. We both shot him the middle finger. And then Colleen’s hand tightened around my arm. Because standing on the corner of the