Read End of the Innocence for Free Online

or two.”
    “Actually it’s a poem. But still, nice use.”
    She turned the music up louder. “Okay, you’re smart, I get it. No one likes a show-off.”
    I was still laughing when we pulled out of the parking lot.
    As she pulled onto First Street, I pointed to the radio. “I love this song!”
    She nodded in agreement. “She has the best breakup songs on earth!”
    And suddenly I felt like shit again.
    I didn’t say anything for like two songs. She didn’t notice until we pulled up to the light at East Avenue. “You got quiet,” she said, turning the music down.
    “You must have really hated me,” I said, wishing I was anywhere else but here.
    “’Cause of Brad?” she asked. I nodded. “No, I hated him; you, I didn’t know. And once I did, I felt sorry for you.”
    That made my head spin. “Why would you feel sorry for me?”
    She shrugged. “Because I assumed Brad would be with you like he was with me, and I had to feel sorry for anyone going through that.”
    Okay, not feeling so bad now and moving toward annoyed. “Go through what?” I asked in a voice that was harsher than I meant.
    She must have caught the hint because she quickly added, “No! I meant the way he and I treated each other. We were horrible when we were together. In fact, when I saw you guys together I realized how wrong I was.”
    And now on to confused. “I don’t understand.”
    She pulled over, parking in front of a small thrift store I’d never been in before. I waited for her to turn the car off and think her words out. “Brad and I dated each other because we were supposed to. When he was a freshman, he ended up hitting this home run that won an important game, and suddenly he was the most popular guy in the world. My friends told me I had to go out with him, not because I liked him, but because I was supposed to.” She took a deep breath, and I suddenly felt sorry for her. “We didn’t so much date as we used each other as accessories. I was a pretty girl to take to parties, and he was a cute boy to walk around school with. And I really think we hated each other for it.”
    “Did you know about him?” I asked softly.
    “That he liked guys?” she more asked herself than me. “Not really. Well… most guys who play sports are always all over each other after three beers. Every party I’ve ever been to has ended up with two or three guys on the ground wrestling each other for no real reason, so he wasn’t gayer than anyone else. But I’ll be honest; even when he’s with you, he doesn’t seem gay.”
    I felt my chest seize up as she began to voice all my inner fears out loud.
    “But I can see when he smiles at you how much he loves you. The first time I saw it, I sat there and thought to myself, ‘Oh, that’s real emotion. Why didn’t I see that before?’ It was like seeing a whole other person.”
    Now I was just confused again. “So you aren’t mad at him?”
    Her sigh pretty much said it all. “Of course I am, but I’m trying not to be.” And then she gave me that thousand-watt smile, and it was easy to believe she was the best-looking girl in this town. “But I’m not mad at you, honest.”
    She had that same aura of believability Brad had when she talked. There was a quality about her that made you want to like her, and it was easy to see how the two of them made a couple. But I knew how much of Brad’s façade was complete crap, so I wondered how much of hers was just as insincere. “Did you really drop a bucket of Coke on him?” I asked, smiling a little.
    She covered her mouth, but she barked out a laugh before she could suppress it. “One of those huge cups they sell at the Vine!” she confirmed. “He looked like a drowned rat.”
    That image made me laugh with her.
    “And then I threw his ring at his head, and it bounced off across the lobby.” Her voice was getting higher as she began to laugh more and more.
    I held up my hand. “This one?”
    She nodded as she struggled for breath.