Tonight the Streets Are Ours

Arden doesn’t argue with that. After all, he’s correct.

“I was waiting out there for a while,” he offers. “If you hadn’t shown up soon, I was going to take off.”

“Okay,” she says. “So you found me. Why did you want to?”

“I heard from Bianca,” Peter explains. “She said she talked to you. So I … yeah. Just wanted to see what you two talked about.”

A slight breeze ruffles the tree leaves. Arden opens her mouth, but then Peter barges on.

“Did it sound like she might want to get back together? Did she say anything like that? Do you think she misses me—could you tell?”

“What?” Arden asks.

“This afternoon was the first time she’s texted me since we broke up. Did you say something to her, maybe, that made her change her mind? Did she talk about changing her mind?”

“No, Peter.” Arden shakes her head. “No. That’s not what we talked about, and no, I don’t think she’s changing her mind.”

“Oh.” He deflates. “I thought … you know, sometimes girls talk about those things. Never mind.” He pulls Leo’s flask out of his back pocket and takes a long swig.

“You know it’s the middle of the afternoon,” Arden says, watching him drink. “On a Sunday.” She pauses before adding, “And we’re in a park.”

“What’s your point?” He doesn’t look at her. “Just because you don’t drink, you’re going to judge everybody who does?”

“I’m not judging you!” she retorts. “You don’t know me, so please don’t assume that you know what I’m thinking.”

Now he looks at her. “Sorry.”

“You want to know what Bianca and I discussed?” Arden asks. “She told me about Leo. She told me what the two of you did to him. She told me why he left.”

“Really?” Peter raises his eyebrows. “I didn’t know she talked about that with anyone. Well. Congratulations, Arden. Bianca trusts you. That’s a big responsibility, but I guess you’re the girl for the job.” He flashes her another winning smile.

“Is this all some big joke to you?” Arden snaps. “Other people’s lives are just here for your amusement? This person—your brother—he ran away because of what you did. Oh, and he’s home now, by the way. So, thanks for mentioning that.”

Peter’s eyes widen; he’s surprised that Arden knows all of this. And she thinks, I’m smarter than you gave me credit for.

Peter isn’t smiling anymore. He takes another sip from the flask. “I know I screwed up. I know I hurt my family in ways that we can’t just get over. I face that guilt every day.”

No, you don’t, Arden thinks. You get drunk. You make a joke. You tell a story. You run away.

Then again, what else could he do? If he looked in the mirror and saw himself for what he is and what he’s done, how would he be able to stand himself?

“You lied to me,” she says.

“Did I?”

“You know you did! You purposefully acted like Leo was just some dumb jock who you were casually friends with. You said you didn’t know the reason he left, except that probably it was your parents’ fault. You said that you and Bianca were soul mates, you were meant to be. You purposefully let me believe that your brother was still missing, that he might be dead, for God’s sake. You said—”

“Arden, I never lied to you.” He pauses. “Maybe I just lied to myself.” She starts to speak, but before she has time to respond, he goes on. “It had nothing to do with you. I didn’t know who you were before yesterday. I didn’t even know you were reading Tonight the Streets Are Ours.”

“But you knew that people were reading. And you led all of them to believe that you’re someone you’re not.”