The Twenty Year Triangle

Chapter Twenty-Three

I reach the top of the stairs just in time to hear the back kitchen door closing. Oliver probably went to the porch to call his dad. I follow him out there but find him jumping off the porch into the yard.

"Olly, wait!" I watch as he walks into the field, heading towards the barn. The rain has slowed, but it's still wet and muddy.

"You're going to ruin your suit, just stop and come back inside!" I call out, but he ignores me. I step off the porch to chase after him, and my feet sink into the wet, muddy ground.

"Please, slow down! I'm going to fall." I beg.

I'm not. I'm better on bare feet than in shoes, but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do, and sometimes that includes little fibs. It works... He stops, turns, and sighs as I hustle to catch up.

"Damn it, Kinsey, why did you follow me anyway?" He looks down at my feet. "You don't even have shoes on."

"Some things never change," I offer. "Like you running away from me."

"I'm not running away from you."

"That is literally what you were just doing," I counter.

"I can't sit there while he makes his little comments. I'm sick and tired of him painting me as the villain in his life."

"He doesn't do that," I defend.

"Yes, he does," Oliver says.

"No, Olly. That's not it, he's upset with you because you left and—"

"Oliver. Kinsey, it's Oliver."

"You let Brandi slip and didn't say a damn thing," I shoot back. "Why is that?"

"And, I've let you've too. Don't even go there."

"I never did," I reply in an instant. "Did I? No, never. I was so understanding about Brandi, and you know it."

"It's not the same thing."

"Pretty much is," I reply. "Hell, I let her sleep in bed with us one that one night!"

"That is not fair, and you know it! I'm not having this fight again."

"Well, then you can just stand there while I have the fight by myself."

"No. Just no," he says as his face twists with anger. "To bring up that night up of all nights? That's bullshit, and you know it."

It is, and I do. I'm glad she didn't hear me bring that night up. But I'm drunk, and I'm mad and I'm grasping... 

I take a second to gather my thoughts. "You're right that wasn't fair, but–"

I get cut off by thunder that's so loud both of us jump.

"Just go back in the house, please," Oliver says tiredly as the sky lights up with lightning. "I'm gonna go call my dad from the barn and wait there."

"You can't drag your dad out here in a storm."

The sky roars again as if to prove my words, and then the rain picks back up in a hurry, pelting us with cold water and hail.

"Ouch!" I yelp as hail hits my bare arm. My dress is quickly soaking through and clinging to my body.

"Come on!" Oliver grabs my hand, and we beeline for the barn.

Oliver pushes the old heavy door open, creaking nearly as loud as the thunder.

As the heavy door falls behind us, we're surrounded by darkness, but it's not what I see. My eyes well with tears as I'm brought back, January first, two thousand and one. A day neither Olly or I could ever forget. We may have started on New Year's Eve with a kiss, but all the words that changed everything were said right here on New Year's Day. I can still see it. The little crate was set up with blankets and a picnic brunch, and the cheap strawberry wine that became our thing after that day.