“Was the drive from London okay?” I ask.
“Not bad, thanks,” she replies, still studying the menu.
I expected awkwardness, but Myf is at ease, behaving as if we’ve known each other years. No formal greeting, just straight to chatting. I hope this will make the conversation easier.
I take a deep breath. I don’t have patience for small talk. “Why did you wait until now to contact me about Dylan?”
My abruptness doesn’t faze her; she merely glances at me before running a finger along the list of meals. “Because I only just found out what happened. I hadn’t seen Dylan since July.”
Which means… “Is he back in England?”
“Yes, he got back a couple of days ago.”
The knowledge Dylan is in the same country again knocks my world off its axis; the surety I won’t see him now gone. What if he starts stalking me again?
My awesome response to this information? “Oh.”
Finally, Myf places the menu on the table and folds her hands onto the table. “He’s not good, Sky.”
“He’s nothing to do with me anymore,” I say quietly. “We knew each other a few weeks, I found out what he’d done and everything ended. We probably would’ve ended anyway.”
“But everything shouldn’t have ended like they did. I think Dylan is as cut up about what you think of him as he is about things not working out between you.”
I stiffen and lower my voice. “He didn’t give me any reason to think anything else. Someone told me he’d raped her; he wouldn’t explain. Why would I believe any different to what Lily told me in this situation?”
Myf rubs her pink painted lips together. “Let me order and we’ll talk about this. Is that okay?”
As she stands at the counter, I deliberate whether to stay. Is she giving me a chance to leave? Already my mind heaves the conversations with Dylan back to the forefront. What does she mean he’s not good?
Myf returns and lowers herself elegantly into the chair opposite. “Are you okay to talk about this?”
“You came all this way, the least I can do is hear you out.”
The familiar noise of my place of retreat fades into the background. The voices and music muffle as my attention switches to Myf. “The reason he won’t explain is because he hates the person he was back then, and blames himself for a lot of what happened. But Dylan didn’t rape Lily.”
I twist some of my hair around my fingers, unsure I want her to continue. “How can you be sure? Nobody knows what happened apart from Lily and Dylan.”
“And Jem. Dylan told me what happened that night and how he was dealing with the situation. I warned him to back off before things got messy.”
Her cryptic statements irritate me. “What do you mean? Don’t tell me half a story.”
“There are secrets between them. Something happened one day at Dylan’s house between the three of them that triggered the whole fucked up situation. I know some of the story but not all. Afterwards, Lily saw Dylan as the good guy and she wouldn’t let him go. She was… weird. He did some stupid things, rejected her, and this is the outcome.”
Myf isn’t making sense. Dylan, Jem, and an obsessed girl. I drink my coffee, more confused than before.
“Sky, I can’t explain all this properly and I don’t think it’s my place to. The real reason I came was to ask you to see Dylan and let him talk.”
I choke on the coffee as my throat constricts. Attempting to regain my breath, I stare at her with watering eyes. “No. I can’t.”
Myf passes me a paper napkin and I wipe the coffee from my mouth. I can’t look at her anymore, because the earnest look in her dark brown eyes, and the amount she obviously cares about Dylan, interferes with my resolve.
“Lily has what she wanted, Sky. She tried and failed to get revenge three years ago, and now she’s managed to by coming between Dylan and his chance of a new life.” Myf’s soft voice pierces my resolve.
“Revenge for what? Girls don’t randomly accuse men of raping them.”
Myf blinks. “You’re right; rape is a serious accusation. But in this case, I’m positive that Lily’s accusation is a lie.”
“You didn’t see her face. She was telling the truth.”