Crushed (25 page)

She
pulled the nearly empty box of waffles out of the freezer.

She
had just popped two of them in the toaster
and thrown the box away
when the kitchen phone rang.

She instantly recognized the number. Ethan called to check on her frequently, especially
the past few months. But he’d never called so early before.

“Hello?”
Curiosity colored her tone as she rushed about the kitchen.

“Hey darlin’,” Ethan drawled comically, making
her
smile
. “Sorry to call so early but I wanted to catch you before you left for school. You
know, since you haven’t joined the world of modern technology and gotten yourself
a cell phone yet,” he pretended to grumble. He knew
she
hadn’t wanted to join the world of cell phone bills.

“Okay, what’s up?”
Cleo
wondered.
She
could already feel the first sparks of concern
and worry igniting inside of her
stomach.

“I thought I should let you know I’ve started seeing someone,” he said.

She
forced a laugh
as she
pulled a plate out of the cupboard and then moved on to getting Luci some milk
. “And you’re telling me this because…you want dating advice?”
she tried
to tease
.

“Hey girl, if anyone would be schooling anyone, I’d be schooling you,” he teased back.
Then he got a little more serious. “No, I’m telling you because Bobbie Fremont saw
us together over the
weekend. Remember that party I told you I was going to? Well, she happened to be there.
I
just wanted to give you a head
s up. You know, mayb
e it’ll come up, maybe it won’t. B
ut
I wanted you to be prepared. And uh, actually, considering the
nasty
look she was giving me, I’m pretty sure it’ll come up,” he said apologetically.

Her
stomach plummeted as the waffles popped up.
She
had been afraid he was going to say something like that.
Of course
she
had known it was just a matter of time. And truly,
she
was surprised that it hadn’t happened sooner.
Ethan
never had trouble finding girls that were interested.

“Thanks,”
she sighed as she
began spreading the butter.

“No problem.
Kylie and I have
only been together a few weeks, so you’re welcome to be my pretend girlfriend until
then. If it
does
come up, just don’t make me out to be some lying, cheating, rat-bastard, okay? I
have a stand-up-k
ind-of-guy reputation to uphold,
”
he joked.

She
smiled, despite the complications this posed. “I wouldn’t dream of tarnishing your
stellar
reputation. So, did you break up with me?”

“No, it was mutual. The distance got to be too much. We’re still friends,” he decided.
“Are you going to be okay?” he asked after a pause.

“It should be fine, Reece is wi
th Mia now.
”
She sighed as she
squirted some syrup onto Luci’s waffles.

“Cleo, I’m sorry,” Ethan told
her
.

“Thanks. I never could’ve pulled this off without you.”

“Yeah, I know,” he said
flatly
. If Ethan hadn’t been there waiting, watching over
her
,
she
would’ve caved.
She knew she
wouldn’t have been able to go through with it.
She did
n’t think Reece would’ve let
her
go. He wasn’t
going
to let
her
go. Not until Ethan
stepped in and pulled
her
away.

She
tried to laugh but it came out sounding all mangled.

“You never should’ve had to do this. That
ass
never should’ve put you in this position,” he said, his voice hardening.

“Which one?”
she
asked with a bitter laugh.

“Good point,” Ethan agreed.

Luci came stumbling into the kitchen
.
Cleo
placed
her plate on the table, motioning for her to sit.

“Eat!”
Cleo
whispered to her.

She picked up her fork and yawned before taking a bite.

“Gotta run so I don’t miss the bus,”
she
told Ethan. “But thanks for the call.”

They
hung u
p and she
turned
her
attention back to
her
sister.

She’d slumped into her chair and was blinking sleepily at her breakfast.

“Holy moly!”
Cleo
exclaimed
. “Look at your hair!”

“Is it bad?” Luci asked
, instantly waking up. H
er hands flew to her head. It was haloed in flying, staticky strands of hair.

“Um,”
Cleo
said impassively, “don’t worry about it. You eat, I’ll get a brush
. I’ll put it in a braid
and we’ll have you f
ixed up in no time.
”

She
was glad for the distraction, no matter how brief. Today,
she
was sure, was going to suddenly be full of complications.

***

As
Reece walked to class, he
wondered how awkward seeing Cleo would be.
He wasn’t sure how she felt. But he
felt li
ke they
’d left things in a weird place.
Then again
,
he thought,
maybe weird i
s just going to be the new normal for
us
.

He
’d seen Mia earlier. She
’d glared at him
and marched away
—her mini entourage trailing behind—
before
he’d
reached her
. Maybe that meant
they
were over even though neither of
them
officially said it?
He
didn’t know.
But he hoped it meant they
were.

The crowd was thinning because first bell was just about to ring.
He
was running late because
he
had tried to go after Mia.
When he was almost to his
classroom
he
s
aw
Adam
standing off to the side with Cleo
right outside of the door
. He ha
d
his arm around her shoulder.
Even though Adam wa
s
his best friend, he
want
ed
to throw it right back off.

Cleo was looking at him like she was
suddenly nervous around him.
Her eyes look
ed
a little wide and her lips
were
turned down. Her fingers
were
fidgeting with the folder she
was
clenching
in one arm
.

“Hey, what’s going on?”
he wondered as he
stopped next to them.

She didn’t look at
him
.

Adam ignored
him
, too.

“How’s Ethan?” Adam demanded
.
He looked at
Reece
after he asked Cleo the question. He had a stupid grin
and raised eyebrows.
A few people were trickling in, giving Adam an odd look for asking the question.

What does he care how
Ethan
is? He’s
my
best friend
, Reece wondered.

Cleo squirmed
awkwardly under the weight of his arm
.
Her gaze swung around
to
Reece
and she definitely looked nervous.
He
d
idn
’t know if he
should be relieved or annoyed that now Adam, who sh
e used to be just fine with, made
her uncomfortable too.

“Ethan is fine,” she said
. S
he turned her eyes away from
him
again
.
Her voice sounded off as well
.
S
he gave
Adam a smile that
Reece
just knew wa
sn’t genuine. “In fact, I talked to him this morning.”
 

Reece thought she was
going for a carefree tone
. She was
not pulling it off.
His
guess? Because
he was
standing right there
he thought
maybe Cleo, being Cleo, d
id
n’t want to rub it in.

“How’d that go?” Adam ask
ed
.

H
er
face f
ell
into a look that Reece
couldn’t
comprehend.

He
was already thinking things with Cleo would be tense enough this morning, after Friday
night.
He
didn’t want to add to that.
He
really
didn’t want to hear about the lovebird’s phone call s
o
he
took off to
his
desk.
He
was
n’t sitting that long when Adam dumped himself into his
desk
and turned around.

“Dude,” he said as he
dropped his elbows on
Reece’s
desk and leaned in.
“What did you take off for?”

“You think I
want to hear about Ethan?”
Reece
gave him
his
W
hat-the-hell?
l
ook to let him know that he
didn’t.

“Yeah, actually I do,”
Adam
said
smugly. “I think you would want to hear what I have to say.”

Reece
doubt
ed it. But Adam just sat there looking at him
, obviously waiti
ng for
him
to take the bait
. H
e
finally
did
. “What?”
he
ask
ed
.

“Bobbie saw Ethan with some chick at a party on Saturday night. Like,
with
her. As in she was on his lap and her tongue was down his throat.”
He stared at
Reece
, the smug look still plastered in place.

Reece
stare
d
back
at
him for a minute
. T
hen
he
shrugged because
he
d
idn
’t know w
hat
he
was
supposed to do with that
information. Bobbie
wa
s Adam’s sister
. I
f she said she saw Ethan,
he
believe
d
she saw Ethan.

“So he’s cheating on her?”
he
ask
ed
pretty much in disbelief
.
He
couldn’
t quite comprehend the concept of cheating on Cleo. It just shouldn’t be done.
He
suddenly want
ed
to kill Ethan for an entirely di
fferent reason than the reason he
’
d
had all summer.

“They broke up.”

“Who broke up?”
Reece
ask
ed.
Adam
couldn’t mean what
he
thought
he meant
because just a few nights ago, it sounded like they were together.