I glanced over my shoulder, but no faces appeared at the window – not yet. My stepmom was nosy and my dad was suspicious. Combine those two traits and you basically have professional eavesdroppers; it was only a matter of time. I don't want it to be like this, I thought as I took a step towards Max. He was careful not to look at me and I found my own attention straying to Rhonda. She was staring through the window at Flor with red, watery eyes and all I could think was this is my fault. I'd pushed and pushed and pushed, even though Flor had pushed back. He'd tried to let this go and I'd kept on until this was where we'd all ended up.
"Look, maybe you shouldn't come home tonight?" Max asked, leaning back against the car and running his hand down his face. "In fact, maybe you shouldn't come home at all."
"What the hell does that mean?" Flor asked, grabbing his cigarette between two fingers and taking a step forward. "You trying to kick me out of my own place?"
"All this time, all these years, how did I miss it?" Max asked, glancing back over at us, his eyes swinging back and forth like he was trying to discern some obvious connection between us, like a red string of fate wrapped around each of our pinky fingers. Legend has it that those who are destined to become lovers are connected by this crimson thread and although it can stretch or tangle or twist, it will never, ever break. I decided that if this was indeed the case with Flor and me, we were certainly testing the limits of our connection.
"Let's talk this out later, okay?" Flor said, taking another step forward. I saw him glance at Rhonda and away again, like it pained him to look at her. Did he love her? I stuffed my hands inside the front pocket of my hoodie and took a breath.
"Max," I began, and both he and Flor startled like I wasn't even there.
"No, you shut the hell up," Max said, his voice breaking like he didn't know what he should feel for me. Honestly, that was a surprise. And here I'd been operating under the idea that he was never really all that interested in me, that he, like Flor, thought of me as annoying add on, just another little sister. But his words …
"Don't you fucking talk to her like that," Flor growled, throwing his cigarette down on the driveway. Max raised an eyebrow.
"What? Are you gonna fight for her honor, Flor?" he said, pushing away from the car and turning to face his friend. The last thing I wanted to add to my recent résumé of regrets was the breakup of a longterm friendship like theirs.
"Max, I'm sorry," I blurted, moving between them and trying to get Max to actually look at me. "We didn't mean for it to happen like that. It just … things between Flor and I are confusing. Please, I don't want my parents to find out this way."
"You plan on telling them?" Max said, looking at me like I was insane. "When they're having a baby? Are you insane? River's going to kill you." I rather thought it was the other way around – my dad killing Flor. But then again, River was awfully protective of her only son. "I wanted this to be a mistake. I thought Rhonda was crazy, but … " Max shook his head at me. "You two are fucking insane. If you want to fuck your brother, be my guest. You guys deserve each other."
"Max, don't," I said, reaching out to touch his arm. He threw my hand off like it was poisoned and the tension in the air tripled. Flor's fist came out of nowhere, cracking Max in the face. He stumbled back, but he didn't go down and before I knew it, the two of them were embroiled in a raging fistfight. Max grabbed Flor by the shirt and shoved him against the car as Rhonda climbed out the other side and moved around to try and help me pull them apart.
"What's going on out here?" Addi's voice was high and panicked as she came down the cement steps and tried to grab Max by the arm. The boys struggled to get at each other anyway and somehow in the fray, Max's elbow flung back and smashed me right in the nose.
I stumbled, blood pouring down my face as Florian paused long enough to catch sight of me. His eyes widened and then all bets were off. I suppose somewhere deep down, I almost liked the fact that he was fighting for me, but it was all wrong. Everything was just off. When I was fifteen, when Flor had me pressed against the wall, his lips on mine, his hands on my body, how did I ever think this would turn out? I should've seen this coming from a mile away.
I clutched my nose and tried to staunch the bleeding while my two childhood friends, the only two guys I'd ever had sex with, ended up on the pavement. Flor was on top this time, dropping a hard punch to Max's face that made my entire body go cold. Whatever he was fighting about, it was more than just Max pushing my hand off his arm. Flor was angry and confused and frustrated, and he was taking it out on his friend.
"What the hell?" Addi asked, gesturing at the boys. Nobody was trying to stop them now. All I could hope was that they'd stop before my parents made it out here. "Abigail?" I pulled my hands away from my face, wet with my blood and gave her a look. That was all it took. "Max knows." She pursed her lips and glanced over at Rhonda. Rhonda's blue eyes slid over to mine and held there. I could see the frustration and the confusion I was feeling mirrored in her gaze.
"You know you can never have him?" Rhonda asked me, voice soft. "Not without giving up everything else." I heard the sound of the front door opening and then my dad was suddenly just there, ripping Flor and Max apart while my stepmother screamed at them. When she caught sight of me, her mouth dropped open and my heart twisted into an impossible knot.
Rhonda walked away, her heels loud against the pavement, and disappeared around the corner.
"What is this all about?" my dad asked, holding Max and Flor apart.
I caught that beautiful green-eyed gaze and then swallowed hard, blood choking my throat.
"Me," I whispered around a lump of fear.
It was now or never.
I sat at the dinner table, my eyes focused wholly on my empty plate and the gold placemat beneath it. I held a warm washrag against my face while Flor sat clutching one in his lap on the opposite side of the table. He had a black eye and a split lip. In the fray, one of his lip rings had disappeared, leaving a bloody hole that his mother was clucking over even now.
"I can't believe you boys would go that far. And right outside in the front yard where all the neighbors could see? What if somebody had called the cops?"
I looked over at Addison, beyond thankful that she was still here and Max wasn't. I don't know if I could've done this with his penetrating gaze focused on me. If the relationship that he and Flor, and he and I, had once shared could ever be repaired, I'd be devastated. I heard my dad mutter something under his breath, but I couldn't and wouldn't look his way.
"Now that we're all calmed down and cleaned up," River paused to dab at Flor's lip, but he jerked away from her. I imagined that it wouldn't matter how old he got – whether he was sixteen or twenty-one or forty years old, she'd be right there by his side. "Let's hear what started all of this." River looked over at me. "Does this have something to do with you dating Max?"
Flor snorted and I felt my cheeks go red.
"Something like that," he choked out, coughing and shaking his head of mussed hair. I wanted to run my fingers through it, kiss his swollen lips, even now with all of this drama. What did that say about me? "But it's a little more complicated than that."
"Was it really an accident?" River asked for what had to be the twentieth time, eyes focused on my aching face and bloodied nose. I nodded yet again and she sighed, sitting down heavy in the chair next to Flor, one hand on her belly. "Then what? What on earth could've inspired the two of you to go at it like that?"
Silence descended, heavy and stifling. I knew it had to be me to break it.
"Dad," I said carefully, "River."
Addi took a deep breath beside me.
"Don't, Abi," Flor said softly. I felt a kick under the table and narrowed my eyes on him before finally reaching down and holding my palm out for the note he was trying to pass to me. Considering we were sitting on opposite sides of the table, it was a bit of a stretch, but if River or my dad noticed Flor and I leaning a little far forward, they didn't say anything.