"What the fuck are you doing in California?" I stared at him. Marco? This wasn't like Marco, not the Marco I remembered. I thought back to that time in grade 10 when I was kind of failing all over the place with Ashley and he tried to help me with her. Now here we were, standing on the edge of this in ground pool under the low California sky, blue above us, blue below, and he was glaring at me. I took a step back.
If I'd gone to college I guess I'd be in my junior year by now, and I squinted at Marco in the sun. Was he a junior in college?
"Uh, my band, we have a show-"
"Don't give me that bullshit," Marco's eyes were just hard and unfeeling behind his sunglasses. I blinked, kind of shocked at this new version of him. I could see Ellie over his shoulder. I hadn't planned it, if that's what he was getting at. I didn't know they'd all be here now, it was a coincidence. And if I was hanging out with Ellie a little more than I should, well, it wasn't his business.
"Marco, it's true, I didn't know you guys were going to be here-"
"Whatever, Craig. But Ellie doesn't need you to be screwing things up for her. You're toxic to girls like her,"
We both looked at her, and all we could see was her profile and a sheath of red hair. What Marco said kind of hurt my stomach, made it twist in on itself. Maybe he was right, and it wasn't just about girls, either. I wasn't good for anybody. I mean, look at my parents. Look at Joey and Ang. Ashley. Manny. And of course Ellie. People didn't tend to benefit from their association with me. I lowered my head a little bit, felt the sun sparkling in my eyes, shining off of everything.
"We're just, we're just being friends, Marco-"
"Is that all she thinks it is? I don't really care what it is you think you're doing, or not doing. That girl was so hurt by you, and you breezed into Toronto with your little drug addiction and all your fucking lies and you just destroyed her. Well, I'm not going to let it happen again. Leave her alone, I mean it,"
I was almost dizzy. He kind of sounded like Joey back in grade nine when he told me to leave Angie alone. Of course, I was planning on kidnapping her. Maybe my dad had been right.
I was speechless. It was hard to believe, from the way he was glaring at me and standing his ground, it was hard to believe we had been friends.
"Look, it's touching that you want to protect her but I'm not hurting her, Marco. She's a big girl and can make her own decisions-"
"You don't get it, do you Craig? You play with people, you toy with their feelings and their emotions. Do you even know what it is you want? I don't think it's Ellie, so stop leading her on, stop making her think you want what she wants,"
Things kind of trembled there for a second, everything shimmery in the sun. It bounced off of everything. Off the glass tables and the water in the pool and the roofs of the cars. I had to. He didn't get it. I had to hurt people first before they could hurt me.