She didn’t even flinch when it shattered against the wall.
The next morning I pulled her from the floor, and Maggy helped me carry her into her bedroom. From that day on, I knew something inside her was broken.
Dakota’s eyes are feral on me. “Good. Neither does he. He likes to fix things and people.” Her eyes take me in, try to swallow me whole. “And he saw you—”
“I get it. Now leave me alone.” We don’t have time for her to list all the ways I need saving.
I begin to walk away from Dakota, but she grabs my arm and jerks me back. I take a deep breath, shake her off, and keep walking. My fingers itch to lash out at her, but I keep them at my side.
She follows. “Why did you do it? Can you at least tell me why you pretended to be my friend to get close to my boyfriend?”
“That wasn’t a part of it. I didn’t—”
“Yes, you did. Stop the lies, Nora. Does Landon know that you knew the whole time?”
I grit my teeth. “Shut up.”
It’s much more complicated than this. This is all too complicated to discuss on the sidewalk. Of course he doesn’t know. I led him to believe Dakota didn’t talk about her feelings for him or even mention him. He knows nothing, about anything. I feel so close to him, even though he doesn’t know anything.
Dakota is still walking with me, but at least I’m almost to the subway station now. She won’t follow me all the way to Scarsdale. She’s not that bold.
“I think if he knew how calculated this whole thing was, he would run from you. He doesn’t like liars, or stalkers. And I’m assuming he has no idea what’s in Scarsdale.” Dakota’s words cut little slashes into me, and the air burns them as we walk. “I trusted you, Sophia. I thought we were friends. We let you live with us.”
I glare at her. I don’t do well with threats, a little fact about me that Dakota will learn very, very quickly if she keeps talking to me the way she is. “I posted an ad on a website and ended up living with you. You weren’t doing me any favors.”
Dakota lifts her purse higher onto her shoulder.
What am I doing arguing with her? Still?
“Yes, and when we met, I saw you hold that picture frame for a few seconds too long. You knew the entire time who he was.” Dakota blinks, and her eyes focus on the building next to us. “All those questions you asked about him, about our relationship. I was nice to you, Sophia. So was Maggy.”
Maggy, who would spend two hours putting on her makeup in our small bathroom, but pleasantly talk to me all the while, was the nicer of the two. Still, from the day I arrived at the apartment, I felt the division between the three of us. Me versus them.
“What is it that you want, Dakota?” I finally ask. I take the steps down to the subway slowly, and she’s right behind me.
It briefly crosses my mind that she could push me down the stairs.
“I want to know what’s happening with you and Landon, and I want to ask you—well, beg you—to leave him be. He’s the only thing I have.” Her words float around me, envelop me from behind. I wish Brooklyn subways were more crowded so I could slip into the crowd and disappear.
I wait until we reach the bottom of the stairs before I respond. Dakota wants me to stay away from Landon, something I can’t do. Even when I tried, I couldn’t.
She doesn’t stop talking. “Don’t you have enough? Your rich family, your big houses all over the country. The money you get every month from—”
“Look, Dakota.” She has no idea what she’s saying. My family’s being wealthy has nothing to do with my wanting Landon. That she sees the two as parallel says a lot about how she sees him. I can’t tell if she views him as an object or equivalent to riches. “I don’t know what to tell you. You broke up with Landon months ago, and you’ve been seeing—”