Coda 03 -The Letter Z

fury, I didn’t know. I could tell that Jared’s words were hitting home in a way I never would have anticipated. But I was pretty sure that part of him was pissed, too, and if the pissed-off side of him ended up winning, things were going to get ugly. Jared was tough, but I was pretty sure he had no experience fighting, and as much as I hated to admit it, my money was on Angelo if things turned violent. I also knew that maybe Jared deserved a good punch in the face for what he was saying. But all logic aside, there was no way in the world I was letting anybody lay a hand on him—not even Angelo, and not even if Jared was asking for it.
    Zach was hanging on tight to Angelo. His head was down, and he was whispering into Angelo’s ear. I couldn’t hear what he was saying, but I could tell that Angelo was listening. After a second, Angelo nodded. Zach loosened his grip around him. Ang stayed there for just a moment, then he pushed free. I started to step in front of Jared, to keep Angelo away from him, but I didn’t need to. Angelo didn’t even look at him. He just put his head down and walked away.
    Now I really didn’t know what to do—follow Angelo, or stay with Zach and Jared. Zach solved it for me by saying to me in no uncertain terms, “Don’t.” Then he turned on Jared, and the look in his eyes actually made Jared back up a step. “I don’t know what makes you think you have a right to judge us, but I’m telling you right now, Jared, it better stop.”
    “I’m not judging you ,” Jared said defensively.
    “Right. Because apparently in your mind, I’m nothing more than a doormat for Angelo to wipe his feet on. You’ll excuse me if I’m not exactly flattered by that estimation.” Jared hung his head at that, but it didn’t slow Zach down at all. “Do you have any idea what’s been going on in his head this week? I’m pretty sure you don’t, and I’m sure as hell not going to tell you. But I will tell you this: you’re wrong , about everything! ” He took a step closer to Jared. “And as for last night—you’re wrong about that too. If you had any idea what actually happened, any idea what it cost him—” He stopped short and closed his eyes for a second. He was obviously trying to get his temper back under control. I had never seen him so angry. I had never even imagined Zach could get so angry. He opened his eyes again and took one more step toward Jared so they were only inches apart. “What you think of him is your own business, but I’m telling you right now, you better not ever say anything like that to him again, Jared. If you can’t learn to mind your own business, the least you can do is keep your goddamn mouth shut!”
    Jared had his head down, and his cheeks were red. He knew he had screwed up. He didn’t necessarily know how to go about fixing it yet, but he knew he was the one at fault. Zach stood there for a minute, looking at him, waiting to see if he was going to argue back.
    “I’m sorry,” Jared said.
“Not good enough,” Zach said. And then he left too.
    We were both silent after he left. Jared wasn’t looking at me. I leaned against the stone railing and stared out at the silent lake of the Bellagio, waiting for him to start talking.
    “I did it again, didn’t I?” he finally asked.

    “If you mean you opened your mouth and started spouting off before you had all the facts, then yeah, I’d say you did it again.”

    He looked over at me, his eyes wary. “Do you know what happened last night?”
    “No. I have no idea. Angelo and I don’t talk about that kind of thing. The difference is I can accept that how he and Zach get off is none of my business. And you, for some reason which I absolutely cannot comprehend, cannot.” He turned his back on me, but not before I saw the flash of anger in his eyes. “Tell me what happened,” I said.
    “Well Matt,” he said sarcastically, “I think we’ve just established that I don’t know what happ—”
“Stop!” I hadn’t been angry before, but I was now. I didn’t yell. I kept my tone low, my speech slow and measure. “I am not talking about last night, and you know it.” He slumped a little at that. “I am talking about New Years. Something happened that night, and you and Angelo have been at odds ever since. I know you’ve told me it was ‘nothing’, but that obviously is not true. So I’m asking you again now, Jared, and I would appreciate an answer: what happened ?”
    He turned back