“It was one little lie,” Charlie scoffed. “Get over it!”
“One little lie? Are you kidding me? That one little lie ruined my life.”
“Oh, stop being so melodramatic. What did he do that was so bad? What was the worst thing that happened?”
Danny could not answer that question because she had not allowed herself to think about anything that had happened in the last eight months, but if she had to answer that question, the worst thing that had happened was that she lost her best friend.
“Just shut up!” she snapped, wanting to end the entire conversation, but Amber and Charlie were not backing down because of a few curt words.
“Do you have any idea what you did to him?” Charlie asked. “He’s a fucking wreck because of you.”
She felt the stirring of something she didn’t want to feel and pushed it down. “He brought it on himself.”
“Bitch!”
“Dickhead!”
“Devil worshipper!”
“Grandpa!”
“Guys,” Amber cut in, “can we just have a mature discussion like rational adults?”
Charlie took in a deep breath and mentally counted to ten. “I can’t believe I left a hot, naked woman in my bed for this.”
“Maybe you should get back before she deflates,” Danny said, flashing him her devil smile.
“I fucking hate you!” he sneered. “I don’t even know what the fuck Max sees in you.”
His words caused her throat to close up again. It stung more than she was willing to admit.
“Let’s just all calm down,” Amber said. “Danny, I know that you’re angry because we lied to you, but you can’t be so upset that you would cut him out of your life. What we did was wrong but not unforgivable.”
“It’s like I told Max, Amber. He took advantage of my situation. Richard and I were in love and he ruined that.”
The expression that came over Amber’s face made it look like she was about to throw a slap. “Danny, let’s just forget for a second that Richard never came to the hospital.”
“Not once,” Charlie added. “He even stopped taking Amber’s calls.”
“Yeah, let’s ignore that. Let’s also ignore the fact that he never really cared about you…and he was cheating on you.”
“And while we’re at it,” Charlie said, “let’s also ignore the fact that when Max confronted him about it, Richard beat the shit outta him.”
A hard lump formed in Danny’s throat as she listened to what they were saying. For some reason, she wasn’t fazed at all by Richard cheating on her, but him hitting Max…
They were lying. They had to be. Max had not told her any of this. Yet there was that day…when he came home bloodied and bruised. He was so angry that day and every other day that Richard’s name was mentioned. Now it made sense. Why didn’t he tell her? He could have used all this information to get the upper-hand last week, but he hadn’t said one word.
“Let’s ignore all that for a few minutes,” Amber continued. “You say you’re in love with Richard. Did you see him yet?”
The thought had not even crossed her mind. “No,” she admitted.
“Called him?”
She shook her head.
“Texted him?”
She finally snapped from annoyance. “That doesn’t change anything, Amber.”
“It changes everything. You’re not in love with Richard!” Amber’s shouting made it clear that her frustration was growing by the second. “Danny, what’s going on in that head of yours? You told me a few weeks ago that you were in love with Max and nothing would ever change that.”
Danny sneered. There were things coming to the surface and she didn’t want it anywhere near there. “That was before I found out he was a lying bastard.”
Again she sensed Amber’s urge to slap her. “I get that you’re angry at him, but where are all your other feelings for Max?”
“I don’t have any other feelings for Max.”
“Step aside, Amber,” Charlie said through gritted teeth. “I’m gonna knock her the fuck out! Maybe another blow to the head will hit some sense back into her.”
“Hold on, Charlie. Something fucked up is going on here.” She turned her attention back to her friend. “Danny, you sound like a robot. Feelings like that don’t just disappear. Where are they?”
“Gone…along with my trust.”
She saw the aggravation on both their faces. She was testing their patience and one of them were going to hit her soon.
Amber’s eyes were scrutinizing her now, looking for clues to understand her behavior. “Something happened when you regained your memory and I think…your body is doing the only thing it knows how to do naturally.”
Danny rolled her eyes at the pathetic attempt at psycho-analysis. “And what’s that?”
“Suppressing your feelings for Max.”
She was the one who was irritated now. “Don’t you guys get it? I’ve never had feelings for Max. We were completely platonic. I only ever saw him as a friend.”
“Now look who’s lying.” Amber reached into her purse and pulled out her cell phone. A few seconds later, she turned it to Danny. “This was before the accident. Where’s this feeling?”
Danny only caught a glimpse of her powder blue dress and the dimple on his left cheek before she felt a sharp pain in her chest. She quickly turned away and shut her eyes.
“Look at the picture,” Amber urged softly.
She shook her head, afraid to try again.
“Danny, look at the picture.”
She glanced at it again, but that brown hair, those brown eyes caused a scorching burn to rip through her body and she turned away again.
“Look at the fucking picture!” Charlie shouted.
He grabbed the phone from Amber’s hand and held it front of her face, his other hand gripping her head so she had no other choice but to look at it.
She tried to shut her eyes but this was what her body and mind had been begging for the whole week and all she could do was stare. Stare at the dimple that God had placed on the perfect spot on his cheek. When she looked at herself, everything inside her stopped working. The way she looked at Max, the feeling encompassed in her hazel eyes. It was the same moment, the same look that had made her realize she was in love with him.
Her stomach clenched and the floodgates opened, releasing every emotion she had squashed and tossed aside. The memories began to swirl around her head again, every blissful moment she had spent with him. She gasped for air, trying to slow it down. It was overwhelming and her body couldn’t handle all the mayhem. The room was spinning and nausea took hold of her stomach. She convulsed and felt bile rise up in her throat. She was hyperventilating now; either in the middle of a panic attack or a nervous breakdown. No matter which one it was, it could only end badly.
Amber studied her with worried eyes. “Danny, are you alright?”
Charlie’s face also wrinkled with concern. “Oh, fuck, Amber. I think we broke her.”
Danny could only hear their voices. Their faces were blurred by the frequent flashing of fleeting images. “I think…” she said unsteadily as her body continued to shudder with convulsions. “I think…I think I’m gonna be sick.”
She pushed past both of them and ran to the bathroom, slamming the door shut behind her. She threw herself over the toilet, heaving with nothing coming up.
The look on his face the day he left. All the things she had said to him that day. Add guilt and regret to everything she was already feeling and her stomach flipped over again. Her mind tormented her, taunting her with her own heartless words. How could she say those things to him? To the man she loved? It was so stupid!
She had had too many thoughts and emotions when she regained her memory. As some kind of coping mechanism, she shut all of it off and decided to focus on just one thing. The first thing she fixated on was Richard. Her feelings for him had forced their way to the front and Max was pushed to the backseat. And she had kept him there all this time. Day after day, he would pop up. Day after day, something inside her begged to relive those memories, but she pushed it out of her head. She had been afraid that exploring those feelings would lead to a breakdown and that’s exactly what was happening now.
“Did you see that?” she heard Charlie say from the other side of the door. “It was like a fucking exorcism.”
“Unbelievable,” Amber replied before tapping on the door. “You okay in there?”
“Fine,” Danny responded weakly, hurling more nothing into the toilet bowl.
Amber was right. What he did wasn’t unforgivable and now looking back without anger clouding her hindsight, she understood why he did it. He had been in love with her for so long and she refused to acknowledge it, refused to see what was right in front of her.
She had resented him for lying to her, but now she realized that even if he had told her the truth, she would have ended up falling in love with him anyway. It would have been impossible not to. The pictures and videos all proved that she was in love with him before the accident. All she needed was a clean slate and a fresh pair of eyes to see it.
After about twenty minutes, the convulsions finally stopped and she had enough strength to stand up. But now thinking with a clear head, the full weight of their argument last week came crushing down on her.