Lies I Never Told You

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: BLAIR

Hunter sat up straight and faced me, as though preparing himself for a big revelation about my life. I looked straight into his eyes while my inner thoughts battle as to whether tell him the truth or not.

“I met the woman earlier five years ago,” I started. “That was the time that we found out that she’s Brian’s mother.” I had to choose my words very well, or else I might spill more beans than I should.

I fiddled with my fingers. I couldn’t look at his eyes right now. “Brian didn’t know about her and his father before they showed up and claimed to be his parents. It was my mother who raised him since we were kids. Like, we literally grew up together – we lived in the same house for sixteen years. We were really inseparable. As Ty said earlier, we went through the good and bad times together. We loved each other. We promised to stay by each other’s side no matter what happens. I held on to that promise, but I guess promises are really meant to be broken.” I felt him gazing too intently at me. I reluctantly looked at him. His eyes were soft, like he was feeling the same way I did. I looked down and watched my fingers. “When his parents showed up, they showed interest in taking him away from us. They showered him with expensive gifts. They showed him a world where he can have everything he wanted in life. They provided him opportunities that he won’t even be aware of if he stayed with us. They gave him everything Mom and I couldn’t.

“Mom fought for him so hard. She begged him not to leave us. She even rejected the money they were giving her in exchange for Brian. That’s how much she loved Brian. Yet, he betrayed my mom. I can accept it and I’ll be able to forgive him if he turned his back on me. But with the pain he put my mom through, I could never forgive him for that. He didn’t even dared to visit Mom on her death bed. He didn’t even showed up during Mom’s funeral. It’s like he totally forgot about us now that he had everything he needed.”

Tyrone and Shannon came back from the convenience store with the snacks. They quietly sat beside me. “Didn’t he tell you his reasons why he chose to leave you?” Hunter asked.

I shook my head. “He never showed his face again after he left us. I went to their house countless times to ask him why. He went AWOL from school. It turned out that he was transferred to a private school mid-semester. His mom was the one to always answer me every time I went there– telling me to stay away from Brian and how associating with me will only cause him trouble. So I stayed away.

“And now, five years after, when I had healed and moved on, he had built his own café near the university then show up in my face like nothing happened. The nerve of that guy.” I couldn’t help being annoyed. “And the nerve of his mom coming here to tell me to stay away from him. And how would I do that? Drop out of college just so her son couldn’t come to me?”

Shannon touched my shoulder to calm me down. “B, chill. Just don’t mind her. There’s nothing she could do. I know whatever she is planning, Brian would interfere. He’s not a child anymore. He can now stand up for you if you let him.”

I scoffed. “As if he would do that.”

“Shan may be right, B. Because she wouldn’t be here asking you to stay away from Brian allows them to dictate him on what he should do.” Ty said.

“Well, he should do that by telling his parents to leave me alone. I have nothing to do with them.”

Hunter was hesitating to raise his hand. “Sorry to butt in, but do you not love him anymore? Can’t you not forgive him now? I mean, it’s been five years.”

I shook my head. “You know, no matter how much you loved a person, if they broke you beyond repair, you just learn to stop loving them. You start to learn to love yourself. And it took me five years to do that. It took me years to accept what he did five years ago, but I really couldn’t forgive him for acting as if Mom never existed in his life – for not granting her final wish to see him and say goodbye to him. I still couldn’t forgive him for not showing up to Mom’s funeral to give his respects to the woman who raised him and loved him for the first sixteen years of his life. I just couldn’t.”

Hunter nodded. “Yeah, I now understand your animosity towards him.”

I can see Ty starting to speak but decided otherwise. I know he wanted to make a stand for Brian, but he knows where the conversation will lead us. He too, wouldn’t want to ruin this day for us.

“By the way Hunter, are you free on Saturday?” Shannon asked, changing the topic. “I think Ty might be able to score another ticket for SPAM’s show this coming weekend.”

Hunter looked confused. “SPAM?”

“It’s a spoken poetry group that we are following online. They perform their original poetry pieces,” I answered. “Are you interested in spoken poetry?”

He shrugged. “I’m actually only heard the term spoken poetry from my cousin, Elliot, but I don’t know what it is about.”

“It’s poetry. But instead of reading them on books, you hear them being spoken by the artist, full of emotions and all,” Tyrone answered. “If you want, we can score tickets for your cousin too.”

“Really? I sure Elliot will be thrilled. Let me tell him.” Hunter started dialing Elliot’s number on his phone. “Dude, I’m with Blair and her friends and they are asking if we want to go watch as spoken poetry show with them this coming Saturday.” He paused.

“What time is the show and where?” he asked me.

“7pm at the Rainforest Park.”

He relayed the information to the person on the other line. “What?! That was this Saturday also? Damn, I forgot.” He seemed stressed all of a sudden. “Okay, okay. I’ll let them know. Thanks, Dude.”

“Is there a problem?” Shannon asked.

“Well, we have an upcoming game this coming Saturday. It was a qualifier game to determine who will be playing for the league this season. It’s at four o’clock,” he explained.

“Wouldn’t the game be finished by 7 pm?” asked Shannon. “Maybe you can go after the game?”

“It would. But the drive from here to Rainforest Park will take an hour or so. We would be late.”

Tyrone was looking at his phone. “Why don’t we watch the game and go to the Park after? With this lineup of performers, I’m sure the show will last till midnight,” he suggested.

“That would be a great idea,” I said. “It would help show the majority of the student body about us. I mean, that could spark the rumors about us dating, right?”

Hunter plastered a wide smile on his face. “Yeah, maybe then, Kiera will believe that we’re for real and we’re not just making her jealous.” He raised his hand and I met it with mine in a high five.