Death May Disagree

Chapter 25

"Is it okay if I roll down my window?" I ask the silent car and its occupants. From the driver's seat, Denise tells me she doesn't mind. Demi just nods in the seat beside her.

Clutching his arm on my lap, Dustin tells me to go for it, adding that the fresh air might fix him up. He had spent the first few minutes on the road trying to convince us not to take him to the hospital, but to no avail. He won't admit to himself that he's badly hurt, and try as he might to convince us otherwise, fresh air isn't for anything else other than for breathing purposes. Dustin touches a finger to his bloody nose, which has a napkin twisted in one nostril, and breathes through his mouth.

"I'm really sorry, Demi. I don't know what came over me," says Dustin. "Jason just needed to be punched."

Denise and I laugh by way of a short nose exhale. It's not funny to punch people, even if it was in Demi's defense, but there's a grain of truth in that statement.

"It's okay, Dustin. Please just worry about your body," Demi replies.

I look at the lake that's on my left this time, thinking about Mrs. Iganacio. I can't imagine a woman as nurturing as her wanting a future son-in-law as awful as Jason. He must be a real charmer to the people that matter, and to everyone else, he just turns ugly. Jason's transformation may have been triggered by Dustin, whom he thought was Demi's date, but regardless, if he was as good a person as Demi or the good person Demi deserves, he would have at least stopped himself from beating Dustin.

Demi pulls her knees to her chest in the passenger's seat and I wonder if she's thinking something similar. I wonder what Denise and Dustin are thinking, too, because I can't trust my own perception. The last time I had seen Jason was at the club for our Valentine's Day celebration, and I remember thinking that Jason was making an effort for Demi. Milo had pulled me aside to ask me how Jason knew to be at the club. Nobody had confirmed his means of espionage, and I quickly dismissed the question and Olivia's suspicions with my own beliefs in Jason's intentions to change for the better.

Despite the cruelty he displayed in the last day of winter finals and the other gaslighting unmentionables Demi is able to recall, Jason must have thought that another surprise visit would make amends.

"Demi, how did Jason know where the spring formal was going to be?" I ask.

Demi sighs. "I gave him the address. Two days ago, he told me he could go, so I gave it to him. But... I wasn't thinking about you when I did." She shifts in her seat to face me, eyeliner smudged under her wet eyes. "I caught myself and immediately told him that you were my date. You know, because you're a girl. We got into an argument and I gave in, so I called you to... de-invite you. Then Jason changed his mind about going and messaged me as I was leaving you a voicemail."

"But he showed up anyway," Denise concluded. She tells me that she was with Demi when the call was made. I guess that's how Denise ended up at Dominique's party.

"Demi," Denise follows up. "I know it's a hard pill to swallow, but I need to know that you're truly seeing Jason for who he is. Please don't go back to him, for your sake. He's violent and manipulative. He's not who you want as a boyfriend."

Demi nods. "You're right. It is a hard pill to swallow."

Giving up on verbalizing concern for the rest of the drive, I put a hand on Demi's shoulder and squeeze. She squeezes my hand back with one hand and wipes her eyes with the other. My eyes wander to the electric blue LED light strips around the radio. The frequency is set at the radio station we had been listening to on the way to spring formal, back when we thought we would be dancing for hours. The digital clock says it's 10pm. I smile ironically to myself over the fact that we spent the same amount of time at spring formal as it took Demi to do my hair and makeup.