Second Chances in New Port Stephen - Chapter 16

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Second Chances in New Port Stephen - Chapter 16

That had been fun, too, but there was no way he was going to tell his parents about that piece
of the puzzle. Hell, if he could still afford his therapist, he probably wouldn’t be telling her
either.
“That’s the great thing about being an adult.” Wendall threw the car into park and turned off
the engine. In the quiet that followed once the noise cut out, he said, “You’re past all the
teenage drama, and you can enjoy a shared history. When you were eighteen, that breakup was
the biggest deal in the world to you, and now? Water under the bridge.”
Eli popped open his car door and stepped out onto the concrete. “Well, if anyone was going to
hold a grudge over what happened back then, it would be Nick, right? Since I broke up with
him.” He shut his door, fully expecting to hear the other car doors echo right behind it, but they
didn’t. Complete silence had descended over the carport.
He looked up to find his parents standing beside their open doors, staring at him like he was
from Mars.
“What?” Eli asked.
“Honey,” Cora said slowly, “you didn’t break up with Nick back in high school. He broke up with
you.”
Max popped up from the other side of the car with wide eyes. “Oh shit.”
“Huh? No he didn’t.” Eli screwed up his face, waiting for the punchline that didn’t come. “I told
him I wanted to break up right after senior prom. We were in the cafeteria at school—I can
picture exactly where we were sitting!”
“Your mom’s right, kiddo,” Wendall said. “You came home all in tears.”
“Yeah, because it’s hard to break up with your first boyfriend.”
“No, because he told you he wanted to end things. That’s what you said. I remember that
clearly.” Cora smacked the roof of the car with her palm. “I called up Ming, and we talked about

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it for hours. It was so heartbreaking, seeing you both like that. After all those years growing up
together—poof, it was gone.”
“Because I ended it.” Eli gestured helplessly. He really did remember the whole scene. He’d
been wearing a purple blouse. The cafeteria had been serving
fish sticks; just the mention of fish sticks had made him nauseous for years afterward. He’d sat
with Nick at their usual table and broke the news. He could still see Nick’s tearful, crushed face.
Every inch of his skin felt like it was on fire. “I can’t be misremembering this entire thing!”
“Maybe you can,” Max offered. “I’m taking Psychology as an elective this semester. They say
there’s all sorts of ways you can repress a memory or replace it completely.”
“Exactly!” Cora pointed at Max like the word of an eighteen-year-old goth was gospel. “It’s
probably repressed.”
“I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but I am not a repressed person. Remember?” Eli flapped a
hand up and down next to his body in illustration. “Totally un-repressed.”
“Sure, these days,” Wendall said, “but back then, I imagine you were going through a lot, right?
Maybe it was the only way for you to deal with it, to remember it happening differently.”
“That’s not what happened! Oh my god, this is so bizarre.”
“There’s an easy way to figure out who’s right, you know.” Max stuck a finger in the air. “Just ask
Nick how it all went down.”
“Maybe I will,” Eli said. If he was being Mandela-effected, he wanted to know.
His mom shrugged. “I think you should.”
“Okay. Fine.” His eyes landed on the bike leaning against the house. “I’ll do it right now.” He
grabbed the handlebars and began wrestling it out of the carport. The spokes of the front tire
had somehow become stuck in the tines of a rake that was propped up next to it.
“Let me drive you,” Wendall said.
“No thanks, Dad! Think I’ll confront my ex-boyfriend regarding the circumstances of our breakup
on my own. I could use the exercise.” He tucked a handlebar under his arm and pulled out his
phone to shoot Nick a text.
Hey where are u
The reply was almost immediate: At my dad’s place. Why?

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Eli weighed the pros and cons of inviting himself over to Mr. Wu’s house to have this out with
Nick, but in the end, he knew he’d do whatever it took to
prove he wasn’t losing his mind.
I’m coming over
He pocketed his phone, hopped on the bike, almost fell off, righted himself, and then made his
shaky, tipsy-turvy way onto the street.
“Looking good,” Max called from the driveway, where Eli’s family was watching him bike away.
Very slowly. “You’ll probably get where you’re going in, oh… six years.”
If it had been happening to anyone but him, it would be funny. Eli made a mental note to tell
Margo to add a sad biking-away scene to the pilot script.