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I had done the impossible I had left my mother speechless And it hurtto do, and that I was right about everything And I’d find a way to help Nolan without her I peeled out of the driveway as I sped onto theback to Tucson I replayed my conversation over in le time, I was satisfied, happy I’d finally said what needed to be said

I’d had disagree truly i to last, and I could just tell I thought about talking it over with Pops, but I knew he agreed withhim into it This was my disappointment to bear, and I was finally ready

To clearI’d brainstoresture known to man, and I was half tempted to pull them all out for this one date But I also knew I had to take things sloas pretty satisfied hat I finally settled on, and when I called Sarah to run it by her, she agreed If you would have asked h school if Sarah and I would be as close as we’d becoh in disbelief But noas a different story We were close, and Sarah was no longer just Nolan’s friend--she was , I knew there was soet out of the way I knehen Noles would be at her writing workshop It was the only daiously, so I counted on her being gone for at least two hours It gave h time to show up early and pay a little visit to Gavin

I could hear his puy-ass ot to his roo about how surprised he was about to be before I knocked softly on his door I heard the music turn down and saw the shadows of his footsteps under the doorway before he opened When he made eye contact with me, his face fell instantly It may have been disappointment that I was not Nolan, but I also think there was a little fear in theLOVED that!

"Reed, uh…what’s up,to look relaxed I could tell fro but

"Not otta sec? I think you and I need to talk," I said, just pushingmixture of posters, with deep quotes, poetry and uitar propped up in the corner, andabout how he probably tried to use his talent to woo uess," he said, shutting his door and shrugging at s crossed, and my hands in my pockets He pulled out one of his chairs and turned it around to sit backward I chuckled a little at hiht I saw you coht in I’d played this scene over in h ti down and laughing to hi "Look, what the fk do you want, Reed? Let’s not beat around the bush"

"Sounds good to y And, frankly, I think you owe Nolan one, too…but you can just giveyou anywhere near her" I had pulled my hands from my pockets at this point and crossed my arms at my chest to flex my forearms, just for effect

Gavin just tapped on the back of the chair a bit, looking at his hands and nodding Finally, he took a deep breath "Reed, you don’t own her You don’t get to make decisions for her or control her life And if she wants to spend time with et a say in it," he said Cockydown and shakingback at hiaze to his "I don’t own her But neither do you And when you spun that little tale the other night, you weren’t thinking of Nolan You were thinking of yourself, and how you could get me out of the way so you could make your play Genius, really I mean, damn, I can’t believe I fell for it! But shit didn’t really work out like you wanted Did it, Gavin?"

We stared at each other for seconds after I spoke He was thinking of his next move, what to say But I kneas out of the picture Fuck, he was never in the dairl’s ee of her, and I wanted to knock his goddamn teeth out