LOVELORN

59|Accusations & broken feelings

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THE FIRST thing I noticed about Avi was the slap bruise on his face. The second thing I noticed was that his eyes were red and irritated, like he'd been crying for too long. His exclamation was nearly forgotten when I saw that, honing in on his face in horror.

"Avi, what happened?" I asked, stepping closer, disregarding his words.

He blinked, eyebrows furrowing as if I reminded him of what had happened. Then his expression contorted into a mad one again.

"Are you together?" He spat.

His harsh tone made something inside me twist in pain, but I ignored it. There were more important matters at hand.

"Answer me first. Who did that to you?"

For a moment he hesitated, as if considering whether to push his questions or to answer mine. His eyes flickered to Zora's for hardly a second before landing on me again.

"Can we talk in private for a moment?"

Zora had been standing next to me frozen, but she finally seemed to snap back to reality. "I'll go inside."

We both remained silent as we waited for Zora to enter the house. Once she was gone, I spoke up.

"We can talk in the backyard."

Rounding the house, we went to sit down on a couch on the terrace. I couldn't keep my eyes off the bruise on his cheek. It felt like looking at myself a few weeks back. I had a strong inkling who it was. The implication made my chest tighten.

"Did...was it...?" I couldn't finish the sentence, feeling like I'd choke on the words.

His gaze dropped to the floor, throat bobbing. It was enough confirmation. I started to feel a bit ill.

"I got a C," he began. I tried my best to hide my surprise, knowing it was unwarranted. He was human, there was nothing weird about him making mistakes. "They were furious, to say the least. I don't know if you remember, but I got that B a while back."

I did remember, it was hard to forget. But I didn't say that, I just nodded, prompting him to continue.

"Well, they went on this whole rant about how I was compromising my future and that if I continued like this, I'd risk my uni retracting their offer. It completely spiralled and we ended up shouting at each other. I called them horrible parents and mom," he inhaled a sharp breath, "...slapped me. Some more screaming went on before I got out of there. I drove around for a while and then I came here, to see you."

A storm of memories infiltrated my mind and I tried to push away the swarm of negative feelings attached to them, the trauma they'd left me with. This wasn't about me.

"Avi, that's horrible. I wish you didn't have to still live with them. And no matter what they think, you're only human. One grade doesn't define your worth."

He buried his face in his hands, seeming exhausted. "I know, but fuck, I've never gotten a C before. I've just been so tired lately and I...I just messed up."

I used to think my parents' love was only conditional for me, but I realized now that there had always been conditions imposed on Avi too. He'd just always met them. Until a few slip-ups recently.