Tyson
I lied to Cori.I know exactly what I’m doing here. But how do you explain that the look of disappointment on her face completely broke my heart? It sent every memory I’ve ever had with her crashing back at me. I’d been friends with Dave since we were freshmen in high school. Cori was just a kid then. I watched her grow up, and then one day, she wasn’t just Cori anymore. She wasn’t just my best friend’s sister anymore. She was someone I was truly falling for, even though I knew we could never be together.
“Do you want something to drink?” She asks, shrugging out of her coat. “Tea, water, wine…beer?” Her eyes land on mine, and I know she remembers that night as well as I do.
“I’ll take a beer if you’ve got it.”
“Well, I don’t keep Busch Light in the house like my parents did.” She teases, and my nerves ease a bit. Cori returns with two bottles of a craft beer I’ve never heard of. “Thunder Ale,” she says, “they brew it here.”
We clink bottles, and I take a sip. “Damn, this is really good.”
“Right?” She slips out of her cardigan. Her t-shirt shows off her full chest. She turns on her gas fireplace, and quickly, the room fills with heat. I take off my leather jacket and rest it over the arm of the couch. “So, Tyson Gray, I’m going to ask you again. What are you doing here, at my house?”
Her eyes sparkle against the light of the fire, and any excuse I can think of to avoid the truth goes flying out the window. It’s Cori sitting in front of me. The only girl, now woman, I’ve ever been truly comfortable being myself around. “I wanted to see if you were pissed at me.”
“Yeah, I’m pissed at you,” she says without hesitation. “But I’m pissed at my brother, too.” She takes a sip of her beer, and I can’t keep my eyes from her long, swan-like neck. “You two used to be best friends, and now you’re talking about suing each other. It’s awful and worse? I feel like I’m trapped in the middle.”
“I can understand that.” Words are coming out of my mouth, but I’m mesmerized by Cori. She’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. Given the fact that she’s filled out, thick and soft, she’s even more perfect than she was when we were younger. “I didn’t come here to hurt either of you. I came here to nip the situation in the bud.”
“And if you don’t, it’s my family that’s screwed, Ty. You’ll be fine.”
“Cori, it’s not just the lawsuit that I’m here for.” My heart races in my chest. “I miss Dave. He was my best friend for years.”
“All you have to do is give him the money.”
“That’s not going to bring back our friendship. We don’t have anything connecting us to each other anymore.” The pain of a lost friendship lost punches me in the gut. But it was more than that. “You know what my home life was like.”
Cori’s glare softens. “Yeah, I know it wasn’t great.”
“Divorced parents, both addicts in their own right, never home…yeah, you could say that.” Cori huffs out a sympathetic laugh. “But your family was always there for me, and then things got royally fucked up. I’ve never had anything like it since.” I brave a glance in her direction. Cori scoots closer to me and places her hand on top of mine. Electricity shoots up my arm.
“So, you didn’t just come here to talk Dave out of the money.”
“Cori, I don’t give a shit about that money.”
“You came here to make amends with my brother?”
That was the original intention. Although now that I’m here, it’s clear to me that I’m here for more than one reason. I want to make amends with Cori, too. But why would she want a guy like me now? Back then, I was geeky, comic book-loving, Ty. I’ve tried to fill the void for years with all kinds of things that were bad for me, including other women. No one and nothing makes me feel as good as when I’m with Cori.
“Honestly, I thought you’d forgotten about us.” She takes another sip of beer.
“I never forgot about you guys.”
“Then why did it take the threat of a lawsuit to get you back out here?” There’s no mistaking the hurt in her eyes. “You never called, you never wrote, no texts, emails, nothing.”
“I’m sorry if I hurt you.”
“You did.”
“Tell me how you really feel,” I mutter. “Don’t hold back.”
“Fine, imagine it’s my first time, and it’s with a guy I’d had a crush on for years. A guy who was at my house all the time. Then when it finally happens, he stops coming around completely, and then eventually leaves town without a word. Do you know how horrible that made me feel?”
“I’m sorry,” I remember that night so clearly, so much in fact that I can’t remember much about what Dave and I talked about beforehand, which is what’s tainting this ownership issue. “But your brother made me promise. Dave was so pissed when he found out about us.”
“Screw Dave.” She spits her words. “You made a choice, and you should be a man and take responsibility for it.” She stops herself mid-sentence. “Honestly, it doesn’t matter. You’re not that person anymore, and neither am I. Here I am a small-town girl, still living in Thunder, and you’re jet-setting with models and other billionaires on yachts and all that bullshit. We aren’t the same, Ty. Not anymore.”
She sets down her beer and stretches when she stands. I want to argue with her, to tell her that being back here makes me realize all of the good things I left behind. That I’ve made mistakes and am prepared to make amends, but I don’t have the chance.
“Just give my brother the money, and we can all be out of your life forever.” I open my mouth to object, but it’s pointless. Cori grabs my beer bottle and walks it into the kitchen, letting me know that my visit has come to an end.