I just wanted to get some fruit and veggies. After surviving off diner food and peanut butter for the last couple of weeks, the idea of some pasta loaded with peppers or a bowl of strawberries sounded like heaven. I had eaten so much greasy food lately, it was a miracle it wasn’t coming out of my pores.

Man, if fresh food was what got me excited these days, I guess my standards had gotten pretty low.

My basket had a loaf of French bread along with some other essentials when I finally made it to the produce section. I was focused on the food before me, trying to decide if I had enough cash for a bag of apples when I heard her.

“Ugh.” A sickly sweet voice had sighed from behind me and I made the mistake of turning around to see what was going on. “I wish they would find a way to send all the illegals back to where they came from.”

Before me stood Michelle, my ex. She looked immaculate as ever. Dark hair straightened so not a single strand was out of place. It was so shiny it almost hurt to look at. Her face was covered in so much makeup most people had no clue what she actually looked like without it.

I knew.

When we were dating she had gone through some serious stuff and, in what she called a moment of weakness, had asked me to come over to talk. Her face had been bare of makeup that night and, I swear, she was more beautiful in that moment than the rest of the year we had been dating.

Maybe it was the vulnerability she showed when she usually wore a mask of superiority. Maybe it was seeing her face without the artificial lines she painstakingly drew every morning. Whatever it was, I never saw it again.

Her bare face or the glimmer of helplessness.

“What the hell, Michelle?” I asked, lifting my free hand in question. “You know as well as I do I was born here, my parents were too.”

She took a few steps forward and narrowed her eyes at me. “You’re the one running around getting into fights and doing who knows what else. You’re a danger to the community.” She stopped and looked around before adding in a harsh whisper. “I wish you were illegal, so there was a way we could kick you out.”

“You know that’s not true.”

“Isn’t it.” She raised a brow at me.

While she had never been one of the sweet girls around school, I still found it hard to accept that just a couple of months ago Michelle and I had been making out in her bed, telling each how much we loved each other. This girl in front of me wasn’t the same person.

Michelle was one of the few people who really knew what was going on with Marco and my family life. I foolishly thought since we had been dating for so long and she had opened up to me, she would be supportive through my struggles.

I had misjudged the situation completely.

I had needed some time to figure everything out, and asked if we could just take a break until I got a few things settled. Michelle wasn’t used to coming in second to anyone or anything. It could have been she was jealous I was spending less time with her and more with my family. Whatever her reasons, she took it as her cue to start spreading rumors about what had really gone down. She told everyone how she broke up with me and that I was going off the deep end.

It didn’t help that shortly after our breakup, I had shown up to school with bruises on my face I couldn’t explain.

“He’s in a gang,” they would whisper in the halls. “It’s so good Michelle got out when she did.” Parents started telling their kids I was a bad influence and they couldn’t hang out with me.

And while it hurt like hell to feel abandoned by everyone I thought was my friend, part of me was grateful for it. It made it easier to do what I needed to do to take care of my mom. I didn’t have to explain why I missed wrestling practice again, or why I had new bruises almost every week. I had fallen into a bad crowd, was addicted to drugs and would hopefully be in jail soon.

Except I wasn’t and I didn’t.

Michelle continued to stand near me waiting for a response I wouldn’t give her. She was goading me and wanted me to lose my temper. She wanted validation I was the monster when it came to us.

I noticed we were gaining an audience, some dawdlers in this section of the grocery store. A nearby guy had been examining cantaloupe for longer than necessary. In a town this small, everybody knew everybody’s business. They were waiting on something juicy to happen so they could be the first to share the news.

I thought I had left my high school days behind me. I had almost expected this crap to end with graduation. But it just lingered, like a strong perfume. Or, more accurate in my case, the smell of piss.

“Michelle, I gotta go.” I grabbed a container of fruit and walked away.

She said something to me as I left, but I didn’t bother trying to hear what it was. I just bought my groceries and went home.

I was surprised to see Mr. Lynch at my house when I got back. He practically accosted me as I walked through the door. “Hey, Julian,” he said with a smile just as my mom asked, “What did you do this time?”

“Mr. Lynch.” I looked over to the man sitting at the dining room table with my mom. “Good to see you too, mom,” I said barely recognizing my voice. It sounded rougher than usual, tired. After months of living in this limbo, I wondered how much longer I could keep it up.

“No, Jane, I told you.” Mr. Lynch reassured my mom. “Julian has always been an upstanding boy. I know what they’re saying around town, but I just don’t see it.”

Way to lay it on thick. I rolled my eyes at his praise.

“I was actually wondering if I could ask Julian for a favor.” He looked back at me. “Come outside with me?”

“Yeah, okay.” I set the bags on the counter before following him outside.

“Julian, I know you’re still working at The Farmhouse, and I was hoping you’d do me a favor. Katie’s mom died this summer and she moved back here for a while. I’m not sure how long she’ll be here, but I want to make this time easier on her. Try to get her ready to face the world again like a normal teen.”

“No offense, but what does this have to do with me?” I asked, as I walked to my car and leaned against the hood. The sun was shining down harshly and I squinted my eyes, trying to keep them trained on the man who stood before me.

“You two were always so close growing up. And, well, I talked to Mike and got her a job at the diner waiting tables. I thought you might look after her.”

“You do know most of the town hates that I’m still living here?” I asked. He’d gone insane if he thought I was the guy for the job. “The golden boy and his fall from grace and all. I would think you’d want anyone but me helping your daughter adjust.”

“I’ve told you. I don’t know what is going on in your house right now, but I don’t believe a word of what they say.”

“Sure.”

“Julian.” He said, this time with more authority. “I’m going to trust my gut on this, and my gut is telling me something’s going on, but you are not the bad guy. Please, just consider reaching out to Katie. She’s hurting and she could use a familiar face.”

“What about you? Aren’t you a familiar face?” Surely her dad would be better for this than me.

He looked away briefly before turning back to me, sadness clearly written on his face. “I messed that up a while ago. I’m working on it. But you…you could be the friend she needs right now.”

“I don’t think I’m the guy for the job.”

“Just think about it,” he said before walking away down the street toward his house.

Katie Lynch. I hadn’t given her much thought these last few days. Honestly, I couldn’t remember the last time I thought about her before seeing her in the front yard of the Lynch house the other day.

We had been best friends back before she moved. And there was a time when I missed her like crazy. But even those days were behind me. It might be fun to reminisce if I saw her at the diner. But it wasn’t like I had been sitting here pining away. I had my share of crap going on right now. I didn’t need anything else on my plate. Certainly not charity to a girl I barely remembered.

She had been so funny though, convinced we would get married one day. I hadn’t ever thought that was going to happen, even with her telling me almost every day. Marco had teased me relentlessly about it at the time. He was a few years older than us and would do anything to get me worked up about it.

“I can’t believe you are friends with a girl! Don’t you know she has cooties?” He would joke when we were in elementary school. But as we got older and our friends started going out with one another, Marco’s teasing had changed. “Is that your girlfriend?” He would ask.

It never bothered Katie. She would always respond with a simple “Yep!” or something similar before moving on.

I did get embarrassed by the teasing though. I never understood how Katie could answer so easily and then jump on her bike and ask if I was coming.

The girl was fearless and never had a problem keeping up. Hell, sometimes she was the one leading and I had a hard time not losing her. We’d go to these dirt hills near where we lived. It was a giant field with mounds of dirt piled all over it. We would attempt different tricks, pretending we were stunt devils or something. It’s a miracle we never broke a bone.

Other times, we’d climb the trees in my back yard and jump off different branches onto the trampoline below. One time, she missed the center of the trampoline and busted her lip on the springs on the side. Her lip had bled something fierce; I thought I’d pass out from seeing all of it. And yet, there she was the next day ready for more, stitches and all.

But it was more than that.

She was also my first kiss. It was awkward and over in a matter of seconds. I mostly did it because she asked me to. That, and I didn’t want to be the last kid at school to do it. I hadn’t been interested in dating while I watched our friends hookup. It had been an experiment, nothing more.

Regardless, I couldn’t help but smile at the memory. Katie hadn’t gone crazy after that first kiss wanting to do it all the time. Instead, she scrunched her nose when it was over and was ready to start doing something else.

I wasn’t sure if those fond memories were enough for me to reach out to her though.