One Answer

I'm a bad liar and I always have been. But really Tommy should have never come into my room. The door was closed, he didn't knock, and he should know better. But that's an easy thing to say.

It was some girl's purse, I told him. A girl who was over the other night. But that didn't sit right with him, he didn't hear anything, see anyone, and he's only hearing about it now.

Lipstick, tissues, some gum, a mostly empty wallets, easily canceled credit cards, a book of stamps. Laid out on the table, damning evidence. And idiot that I am with my knife still out. It didn't take him long to put it all together. Tommy's a smart guy. Me, not so much.

Things didn't exactly change after that, but they were never quite the same. There were jokes we couldn't make, things we couldn't do. I could never buy a round without a slight shift in his gaze. It was that one time, it was only once, and I wanted to tell him that. But I knew what he would say. And I knew that he'd be right.

I would never hurt anyone. But sometimes you can only see one answer. Sometimes you do a thing you don't want to do. But I would never hurt anyone.