8
SUTTON
PRESENT DAY
My best friend, Maude, is sprawled out on my couch when I walk inside the beachfront house—okay, mansion—I bought when I signed my first record deal seven years ago. Sporting sweatpants and surrounded by containers of sushi. WatchingSVU, our favorite show.
“How did it go?” she asks around a spicy tuna roll as I collapse down beside her, pausing the television.
“I don’t know how to answer that.”
“Oh-kay…” Maude manages to make the two-syllable word sound like a full sentence.
“I saw him.”
“Hot, forbidden teacher?!” She knocks a pillow off the couch in her haste to sit up. The sushi is fortunate to stay intact in its container.
“That’s an entirely inaccurate description.”
Maude lived one floor below me growing up in Chicago. We kept in touch when I moved to Brookfield and roomed together in the dorms during our freshman year at Ohio State. One night sophomore year, drunk on cheap vodka and weighted with regrets, I made the mistake of spilling my guts to her about Teddy Owens. Since my love life has mostly been a string of disappointments since, he still comes up, more often than he should. Often enough to merit his own nickname.
“Is he not still hot?”
“He’s…he looked okay.”
“That’s a yes,” Maude surmises confidently. And correctly.
“And he’s still Ellie’s ex, right?”
I roll my eyes. “You know that he is.”
“So,forbidden, since you’re annoyingly deferential to Ellie.Andhe’s a teacher, correct?”
Maude is a lawyer. I’m getting a clear sense of what it’s like to be a witness she questions on the stand.
“Okay, sotechnically, you weren’t mischaracterizing anything. Buthot, forbidden teachermakes it sound like I’m a weirdo with a fetish for educators.”
“I like it.” She smirks. “Did anything happen between you two?”
“Of course not.”
“Of course not?” Maude laughs. “They dated in high school, Sutton. He’s fair game.”
“He’s not even—”
Maude interrupts my attempt to tell her about Tanya. “What if it was Ricky?”
“Huh?” That’s all I can manage, surprised she’s bringing him up. We were all three part of the same friend group in high school, up until I moved away senior year and subsequently broke Ricky’s heart. He didn’t take it well, forcing all our mutual friends to take sides. Maude took mine, something I still feel guilty about.
“What if Ricky came to visit you in Brookfield and got the hots for your Type-A stepsister?”
“No one saysgot the hotsanymore, Maude.”
“Whatever.” She waves a hand. “You know what I mean. Would you care if they got together?”
“Well, no,” I answer, then rush to elaborate when I catch Maude’s triumphant expression. “It’s different, though. I was never in love with Ricky. Ellie wasveryin love with Teddy.”
“So were you.”