What we've always been.

11. Vandalizing and hooking up.

CHAPTER SONG: She Will Be Loved- Maroon 5

Corey

I grab the bag of old jackets and shirts the old woman gives me and smile at her. She tells me how proud she was of my playing at the recent game and I thank her sincerely. Heather watches me like a hawk. Since the crowd around our booth has thinned out a bit I decide to confront her.

"What is your problem with me?" I ask finally.

"I don't like you." Heather responds coldly.

"Yeah I got that. What I don't understand is why." I tell her.

"Do I need a reason?" She asks.

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"Because decent people need a reason to hate someone." I argue.

"First of all I didn't say I hate you, I said I don't like you. Second of all what about me made you think I was a decent person?" Heathers response makes me go silent.

I breathe deeply and go back to sorting clothes in bins. But before long the urge to keep pestering her returns.

"Is this about your sister, because the breakup was mutual I can assure you of that. She was leaving for college and I was still years away from that stage." I tell her.

Heather rolls her eyes like a disappointed mother.

"You really are so full of yourself huh?" She says.

"Oh come on, I would understand if your sister hated me but not you." I say.

"Jesus fucking Christ is that all you remember, nothing else just the fact that you used to fuck my sister?" Heather asks.

The confusion I feel makes me tilt my head.

"Am I missing something?" I ask.

Heather shakes her head.

"Forget it superstar." She says.

I grab her arm forcing her to stop ignoring me.

"Look my best friend already hates me because I seem to mess up even when I'm trying not to. So please help me out here." I beg.

Heather sighs and sits up.

"We've met before, long before the year began and long before you started up with my sister." She says.

"We did?" I have no memory of ever meeting Heather before.

"I was in the same mental health programme as Alec after his uh...accident." Heather says.

I remember a lot from those days. Visiting Alec and seeing him in his white uniform drawing and participating in group therapy. He was a different person during those days, lost and dazed like a zombie. It was only later that he got better, regained his energy and became himself again. But in all those moments I do not remember Heather being there.

"I don't remember." I admit.

Heather senses the honesty and lack of hostility and her resolve softens.

"Figured you wouldn't, we did only speak once." She says.

"What about?"

"It was Alecs first week there. He was still amped up on pills so he mostly blew around the place with very little expression. I had been there for months at that point so I had seen it all before. You weren't allowed to see him but you came anyway and sat around the art room, that's where we met. We talked a lot. You told me about how scared you were about what happened to Alec, told me you were the one who found him. I told you about my own attempt and how scared I was too." Heather speaks softly and her eyes start to water.