Pins and Needles

Chapter 28

Only the sound of the wheels on the road and the dull radio could be heard during the ride home. Maeve hadn't spoken a word to me since we left the park and I didn't dare question her. After the truth about Milan's eye had been revealed, everything fell apart.

...

Maeve stumbled back, a look of astonishment clear on her face, "Angel, you did that to him?"

Milan answered for me, nodding his head, "Yes, she did. I was sitting with my friends during free time and here comes Angie, sprinting towards me with a pencil clenched in her hand. She climbed on top of me and swung her fist down, gouging my eye. Luckily, the teacher was right around the corner and stopped her from jabbing me twice, but the damage was already done. My eye was irreparable, hence the eye patch," he then faced me and twitched his neck. "And, here you stand in front of me, the same girl that ruined my life all those years ago; nothing's changed. But, since I've got you in my grasp, I can finally ask the question that I've been dying to get answered ever since that fateful day. Why? Why would you do it? Did you have a personal vendetta against me, or--"

"NO!" I yelled, gaining the attention of a few people from the group who quickly lost interest. I pressed the pin deep into my finger, but no matter how far it went, I couldn't stop myself anymore. I had to let it out.

Both Milan and Maeve flinched when I screamed, most likely not expecting me to speak that early.

I inched closer to Milan as he backed away, "You think you can just play the victim in this situation? I actually liked you before you provoked me."

He sneered, "Oh please, give me a break. How did I provoke you to do something as crazy as that?"

"You called me ugly!" I shrieked.

The two paused, my declaration catching their attention.

I screeched further, "You went on with your friends that day joking and laughing about how Angelica Crown was disgusting. You said I was gross, unsightly, and... afschuwelijk. That one word holds so many meanings and I knew that you were applying all of them to me. You were blind to see me like that and I decided that you didn't deserve sight, so I took it from you."

Milan's face was unreadable as he spoke after me, "That's it?"

He then grabbed me by the collar of my hoodie and shouted, "That's the only fucking reason?! Are you insane?! Calling a person ugly does not grant the recipient the right to STAB THE OTHER'S EYE OUT!!"

I placed both of my hands on his own, trying to wriggle from his hold, "You don't understand. You couldn't POSSIBLY understand what your words meant to me. You destroyed me, so I returned the favor. In fact, what I did to you looks like petty larceny in comparison to what you did to me. You can make up for an eye, you have two of them. You CANNOT, however, make up for someone's mental stability. That's irreplaceable."

"Oh, so you are aware that you're psychotic," Milan fired back.

"You--" I started, but was unable to finish when Maeve ripped me away from Milan.

I tried to struggle away from her, stating that I wasn't finished talking to him, but she yanked me harder, causing me to wince and give up.

...

I crossed my hands in my lap, then uncrossed them, and crossed them again. The drive seemed longer than it was on the way up to the park, but I knew it wasn't. Maeve kept her eyes straight ahead and never moved to talk or look at me. This had me happy and worried at the same time. I didn't want to talk about what had happened either, but if doing so would better my chances of having her come home with me, I was willing to make some sacrifices. The only issue was, I was having a hard time deciding when to speak up. The radio wasn't helping ease the awkwardness either as Last Christmas by WHAM was now playing. I eventually couldn't take it anymore and just went for it.