Page 91 of A Thousand Second Chances

I regret it instantly.

That brief touch seems to snap him out of whatever lull had come over him, and he shoves me roughly away. “Don’t touch me!” he snarls. “Don’t talk to me. Don’t evenlookat me. Until you go away tomorrow, just leave me the hell alone!”

He storms past, vanishing up the road, and I sigh, silently berating myself.Great job, Percy. You handled that super well.Something in the way he’d saidgo awaynags at me. Is he upset at the prospect of me leaving again? That seems absurd when he’s gone out of his way across every loop to make me feel unwelcome. Or maybe he’s eagerly anticipating his own opportunity to go away. Carolhadmentioned how she suspects he can’t wait to escape the island.

You and me both,I think morosely as I resume my trek back to the welcoming lights of the Royal Lilac.You and me both.

thirty-seven

Chris

I’m still in abit of a daze from my confrontation with Devon when I spy Quinn’s conspicuously vibrant dreadlocks outside a gift shop downtown. She takes one look at me, her surprised grin fading to concern.

“What the hell happened to you?”

“To be honest, I don’t really know. I ran into Devon and—”

She growls. Literallygrowls, like an overprotective dog. “What did he do now? I swear, if he laid so much as a finger on you, I’ll make sure Oshkoff expels his ass.”

And she would, too, or at the very least, give it her best effort. Quinn’s outrage on my behalf soothes some of my frayed nerves. No matter what happens, I know she’ll have my back.

“We didn’t get into a fistfight. We, uh…talked.”

Her brows shoot up. “I thought you two hated each other.”

My eyes skirt away, roving over the stream of tourists shuffling past us. “Yeah…about that.” It takes a couple attempts, me starting and stopping, but I eventually get the whole story out.“So, yeah,” I finish awkwardly. “I guess it was all some big misunderstanding.”

I expect Quinn to make a joke or shrug it off, then drag me on a shopping spree until it’s time for dinner. I’ll probably even let her convince me to go tonight. Maybe with Devon and me on more solid ground, dinner won’t suck as much, despite the empty seat I’ll have to my left.

But Quinn doesn’t do any of that. Instead, she surges forward and hugs me tight. I’m too surprised to return the hug before she steps back, studying me with an intense look that leaves me vaguely uneasy.

“What was that for?” I ask.

“I never realized things got that bad for you.” I’m shocked to see tears in her eyes that she quickly, almost angrily, swipes away. “I mean, I knew your coming out hadn’t gone great, even if you refused to talk about it. But this…”

I shrug uncomfortably. “It’s fine. I got over it a long time ago.”

She peers at me with a too-knowing gaze. “Did you?”

I open my mouth, but the words stick in my throat.

She nods grimly, pressing her lips in a firm line. “It must’ve sucked, feeling like everyone was against you.”

“Yeah…” Where the hell is Quinn going with this? Reliving the past sure as shit won’t make me feel any better about it.

“I mean, I can only imagine how terrible that would be,” she continues, seemingly oblivious to my growing discomfort. “How alone I’d feel. Especially if I thought even the people who cared about me didn’t have my back.”

I clench my jaw. “I get it, Quinn. My life sucks. What the hell is your point?”

She fixes me with a sad, pitying look that makes my skin crawl. “Mypointis that you felt like you had no friends, that you were on your own…but you weren’t. Youaren’t. So, whatI’mwondering is why you’ve convinced yourself to continue believing a lie.”

The question slams into me, threatening to crush me beneath its suffocating weight. “You…that’s…” I want to call itinsane, but Quinn’s still oozing sympathy, and instead, I settle for muttering, “You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.”

“Oh?” Her eyes narrow. “Fine, let me lay it out for you. You thought your teammates hated you because you were gay. But now you know that isn’t what happened. They thoughtyouhated them and that you were pushingthemaway. Yet, just now, you said, ‘My life sucks.’ Present tense.”

“I…” My heartbeat hammers my ribcage as my chest tightens.

“You don’t believe it, do you?” she whispers. “No matter what Devon says, deep down, you still feel like you’re alone.” Her voice turns pleading. “Why, Chris? Why are you so determined to be lonely and miserable?”