Free Dust by Mandy Harbin

Not one fucking word."
    "Maybe he thought they were just friends."
    "He knew, Liv. Gabe knew. He told me his mom said not to ever say anything because their happiness was at stake."
    She seemed to mull over that then said, "Yeah, but he was a kid, Kill. Maybe he didn't know any better. Kids tend to trust their parents and his mom abused that trust."
    That was the first time she'd called me Kill. I hadn't been particularly fond of that nickname because it had started with Gabe all those years ago. But I liked hearing it from her. "He abused mine, too. Gabe resented me after my dad died. He let his mom fuel his emotions, and he ran with it. He blamed me. Not only did I lose both my parents on the same night, I lost my best friend."
    Liv nodded. "So you moved in with your grandparents. That's why you don't live on campus. You didn't move out here to go to college. You already lived here."
    "Yes."
    "Do you think he's safe for Jewel?" she asked, frowning. I opened my mouth to respond, but nothing came out. The fact that she was worried about her roommate was very sweet. I was momentarily stunned into silence by her honesty. "Will he hurt her?" she whispered.
    "I'm not sure how to answer that, firecracker," I said softly, wanting to soothe her but not sure how. "He was a good guy once, but that was a long time ago. I'm not even sure he was real back then and not some puppet for his mother. Even if he was genuine, stuff like that changes people."
    "What's your gut tell you?"
    There was no doubt how to answer that. "She should stay away from him. I know first hand how quickly he can turn on someone who trusts him."
    "I'm not sure if she'll take my warning. Can you talk to her?"
    I refrained from cringing, but just barely. "Er, the thing is, Jewel and I, um..."
    "She told me y'all hooked up," she said, looking away. I felt like a bastard, but I wasn’t sure why. I'd always been nice to Jewel.
    "Yeah. We did. It was a long time ago, but I'm not sure I'm the best one to warn her away from other guys." I didn't want Jewel to think I was jealous or anything.
    "I'll talk to her. Not sure how much good it'll do. Not that I'll tell her why you don't get along with him," she said quickly. "That's none of her business."
    And now she was worried about me. I wasn't sure how to process that. If I were trying to get into her panties, I'd turn on the charm. But that just made me feel as if I were a first-rate asshat. Besides, I didn't want to. I wanted to keep things honest between us. Keep things real. I didn't want any of that bullshit that clouds people into thinking they had to play by certain rules to get certain things.
    I just wanted to be.
    "I appreciate that. Gabe and I don't even talk about it. It's the proverbial pink elephant with us."
    "Understandable." She sipped her coffee, and I took the cue to pick up my cup and down the rest of the tepid liquid. "I need to head out. I've got my own paper to write." She chuckled.
    "Sure. Thanks for helping me. You have no idea how much I appreciate it."
    She closed her laptop and stuffed it into her backpack along with the other items she'd dragged out earlier. "You'll never know how much you've helped me, too," she mumbled, not looking at me. If I hadn't known she was talking to me, I'd have thought she was muttering to herself. I looked at her, but she was avoiding eye contact as she stood. I knew from the few times we'd been around each other that she was naturally a shy person, and it was times like this I shouldn’t push her. Normally, my asshole self wouldn't care about something like that, but this was different.
    She was different.
    Yeah, she was different, but I wasn't going to put any label on her other than friend. Maybe that was the only reason she was different.
    Maybe not.

7
    " H ow are you doing at school?" Mr. Noble asked as he sat across from me looking relaxed. God, only two more of these damn sessions to go.
    "I'm at school now sitting with you. I think I'm doing good, but