From The Wreckage - Complete (54 page)

West slams the front door to the house he shares with his brothers. A million words, none of which are remotely flattering to Austin, cross his lips as he throws himself on the couch to wait for his brother to come home. He’d lingered at the party waiting to see Jules and make sure Austin was with her, but the sight of them coming out from the back corner of the yard, hand in hand, left a bitter taste in his mouth. Three weeks! They started seeing each other after he came home. In secret.

“Son of a bi-,” West growls into the dark room, punching the pillow on the couch.

It’s the memory of seeing her hand in Austin’s that gnaws at him as he waits. He plays her angry words over and over in his head, thinking about what she’d said. He’d made a huge mistake; he never should have followed them and he certainly shouldn’t have punched Austin, no matter how much he deserved it. No, he owed her way more than she owed him. He shouldn’t have let his jealousy play a part in their meeting.

It’s close to midnight when the front door opens. Expecting Austin, West takes a deep breath; he’s finally talked himself into remaining calm until he can hear the facts from his brother.
No more jumping to conclusions
, he repeats in his head as the light on the table next to him flips on. Mindy and Carson walk in startled to find him slumped on the couch.

“West! You scared the crap out of me!” Mindy squeals, pressing her hand to her chest. “What are you doing sitting in the dark?”

He sits forward, propping his elbows on his knees and taking his head in his hands. “He’s not coming home.” There’s a pause and West looks at his oldest brother. Carson locks the front door behind him, shrugging as he exchanges a questioning look with Mindy. “Tell me you two didn’t know?” West asks.

“Didn’t know what?” Mindy asks, as she crosses the room and sits beside him on the couch.

“Austin is with Jules.”

“What?” Carson’s knee-jerk reaction answers West’s question. He’d had no idea.

“No way,” Mindy shakes her head.

“Why do you think that?”

West laughs at their denial, “Can’t deny it when I saw it with my own eyes.”

“Wait, you mean you saw them together? Tonight?” Mindy asks gently, the more level headed one, as usual.

West explains how he saw them on campus, how Austin said he was going on a date, and then he tells them about the punch and Austin’s comments.

“Three weeks. He said he’s been hanging with her for three weeks… how could he? I told him to come home, that we needed to talk about it.” He checks the watch on his wrist. “It’s almost midnight, think he’s coming home still?”

“Did you call him?”

“Do you think I’m an idiot? Of course I called him!” West snaps at Mindy’s question and Carson jumps on his attitude.

“Hey! I know your pissed, but don’t be rude,” he warns. Mindy pats West’s knee when he gives her his best apologetic look. 

“It’s fine. Of course you’re upset. What did Jules say? She must have been as surprised to see you as you were her. Especially after all this time.”

“Yeah, I don’t think she’s my biggest fan anymore.” He stands, stretching as he looks at Carson. “Always the screw-up, huh, bro?” he mumbles.

Carson grabs his arm, his large hand gripping it tighter than necessary. They stand face-to-face, West an inch taller than his older brother, and they look at each other. Carson, the mentor brother, who’s always tried to be there for his younger brother and blames himself for not doing enough when their mom died and their world fell apart. West, the baby of the family, the one who messes up and brings down the grade curve on the illustrious Rutledge family tree.

“Don’t you dare start that again,” he orders. His fingers squeeze West’s bicep when he tries to look away. “Man, I’m serious. You’re not a screw-up. First, no matter what it might have looked like, Austin would never do that to you behind your back. Second, I don’t think Jules would either.”

“How do you know what Jules would do? I’m not sure I even know.” 

“The girl I met wasn’t that girl, bro. Stop with the puppy dog act.” Carson pushes him away as if he can’t stand to look at him. 

“He’s right, you know. She loved you, West, and Austin loves you. Don’t flip out until you know what’s going on.”

“I told myself the same thing as I sat here and waited for him to come up, but at this point,” he pulls out his phone and checks the time again. “At this point, I think it’s safe to say he isn’t coming home. What does that say?”

“That he stayed at the dorms. That he drank too much and couldn’t drive.” Carson throws the thoughts out and Mindy adds one, “That he wants to piss you off?” Hers is the most believable of the three and West pins his hopes on that.

“You’re hitting the gym with me in the morning, right? Get to bed and we’ll deal with this later.”

“I can’t, I -”

“West. Go to bed. You’ve got other things to deal with right now. You’re going to concentrate on your first game next Saturday and let everything else slide. Football needs to come first right now.”

He catches his brother’s eyes and lets his words sink it. Football over Jules? Suddenly, it’s like he’s back to being thirteen and making a decision that will change his life.

No,
he tells himself, forcing his mind to forget his past way of thinking. They’re not related, football and Austin and Jules; one doesn’t hinge on the other.

He sighs as Carson nods at him. “Screw it. You’re right. I’m going to stay focused on the game. If you talk to him tell him to stay at school. I don’t want to deal with him. Not until after my first game.” 

They say a tense goodnight and he heads to bed, willing his heart to listen to what his lips have just finished saying. 

One hurdle at a time. 

Dr. Steel has drilled those words into his head. One hurdle, one victory. 

Making the team at Freemont, especially after having taken five years off, was a huge victory. The next would be his first game. His first game, which also happens to fall on the one year anniversary of the tornado that started this all. 

 

The next few days fly as West eats, sleeps, and dreams football. Final practices, weight room training, watching game films, and going over his playbook until he knows it backwards and forwards. He attends his first class, a simple Psych 101 class, as if he hasn’t had enough psych to last a lifetime over the past five years.

 

“Hey roomies!” Katie’s giddy scream echoes through the entire building as she bursts into Jules’ dorm room. 

“We’re in here!” Jules and Jess call out from the other adjoining room. They, along with a new student they’ve yet to meet, are sharing adjoining suites. Jess and the new girl, Cassandra, are in one room, while Katie shares with Jules.

“We’re in here?” Katie’s mocks sarcastically coming through the bathroom door. “That’s all I get from the welcome wagon?”

Dropping the pillows she's holding as Jess makes the bed, Jules gives her best friend a huge hug. “Where’s Jeff, I thought he was helping you move the heavy stuff in?”

“Nah, I don’t have much and he wanted to go do some guy thing… besides, that’s what you two are for, right?” She smiles falsely and bats her eyelashes at them.

The girls make three trips from Katie’s illegally parked car to their second-floor door room instead of waiting for a free cart and assistance from the college moving in crew. All around them, students carry boxes of clothing, bedding and mini-fridges - all of the college necessities - to their new rooms; the excitement is tangible. Their building, named Ward, is situated similar to a hotel with interior entrances off of long sterile hallways. Each floor has two common areas on each end, strewn with couches, chairs and tables, as well as snack machines that work eighty percent of the time. Against her parents’ wishes, she’s chosen a co-ed building to live in. It seems to be coming in handy for many of the girls in Ward as the majority of heavy lifting is currently being done by a bevy of hot males. Jules pushes the plastic box of clothing in her arms into Jess’ back as her friend stops to stare at one of the many shirtless boys sweating on their floor.

“Traffic jam, much?” Jules sings and Jess mumbles a distracted apology over her shoulder.

Once they finish unpacking the car, the girls blast some music, order pizza for lunch, and begin organizing their belongings, decorating and gossiping. 

“Oh my word! I forgot to tell you I ran into Candy the other day.” 

Jules rolls her eyes and lets out a breath of exasperation at the mention of her old classmate Candy Crenshaw. ‘Randy Candy’ as the boys preferred to call her had ended up at a different high school after the tornado and, with the exception of two hospital visits after her accident, Jules hasn’t seen her more than a handful of times in the past year.

“Seems she found herself a man in uniform and she’s getting married before he transfers in a month.”

“What!”

“Yep, Army boy. Can you believe it? They barely know each other, but she says it was love at first sight. How much you want to bet there's a bun in the oven already?”

“Wow, who would have thought?” Jules says with a sigh and disappears to the bathroom to unpack Katie's pile of beauty products.

“It sounds kind of sweet,” Jess pipes in. She’s standing on a chair holding up a string of outdoor lights as Katie uses special Velcro hooks to hang them. “Maybe she's in love. Boys in uniforms are mmm, mmm, good!” 

“Oh yeah! I’m partial to superheroes… have you seen those uniforms?” Katie teases and both girls swoon over the spandex wrapped thighs of Thor and Captain America.

 

It’s close to three when they’re done setting up both Jess and Katie’s areas. The commotion both outside their building and inside the hallway is still going strong. Throughout the day, they’ve been hit with invites to three separate events for the night - a dorm mixer, an informal freshman gathering in the quad, and a mutual friend of Austin’s dropped by with an invite to a house party. Katie and Jess beg Jules to attend the house party, but she’s hesitant, worried West might show up. She hasn't spoken to Austin since he brought her home after the incident with West Thursday night. The whole situation seems awkward, and she is doing her best to ignore it as long as she can.  

“Okay, tell us about Austin,” Katie requests.

She gives them both looks of disdain. “There’s nothing to tell. We’re friends.”

“Really?” 

“Yes, really.”

“You know my ‘Jules BS Meter’ can smell that lie a mile away,” Katie points out.

“Your ‘BS Meter’ is faulty then and not appreciated right now,” Jules counters and gives them both stern looks that clearly state the subject is off limits.

“Fine. Then tell us about West,” Katie prods again.

“No.”

Katie’s eyes go wide. “No?”

“No.”

“Jeff said West was pretty upset seeing you two together the other night. He said-.”

Jules slides off her bed, “I don’t care what he said. Jeff kept his damn mouth shut all summer and all last year where West's concerned. He should continue to do so.”

“That’s not fair.”

“No? Life’s not fair.” 

Katie and Jules stare at each other; Katie’s face goes red as Jules starts messing with random junk on the desk that sits at the end of her bed. 

Katie slips off of her bed and walks to the bathroom, “You told us not to get in the middle. I thought you meant it, but clearly you didn’t.”

The bathroom door shuts behind her and Jules lets out a sigh. She looks at Jess, who is still leaning back in the chair with her feet propped on the edge of Jules’ bed.

“Don’t look at me for support,” she says raising her arms in surrender.

“I know,” Jules sighs, knowing she’s been a bitch. She’s always shared everything with Katie who, along with Jess, had been there after the wreck. They’d been there when West wasn’t. They’d watched her cry herself into a mass of skin and bones, as depression and misery took over her life. They’d been there and now she is denying them some simple answers. It is wrong.

Jules knocks on the bathroom door and tries the handle, finding it locked. “It’s only our first day as roommates, K. Don’t you think we should wait until day two before we fight?”

No answer.

“I’m sorry. It’s not your fault, and I don’t blame Jeff.”

Still no answer.

“Fine!” she yells, slapping the door with her palm. “I couldn’t look at him.” 

The door opens and Katie’s blonde head pokes out of the crack, her blue eyes somber as she fixes her stare on Jules.

“Jeff is his best friend. He couldn’t betray his confidence any more than I could have betrayed yours. We kept your secrets and we kept his. I thought you knew that.”

“I did,” Jules replies and she means it. “I’m sorry I took my frustration out on you.”

“What do you mean you couldn’t look at him?”

Jules almost laughs at the way Katie bypasses her apology and goes straight to her original question.

“I saw him standing there and I could barely look above his shoulders. The simple sound of his voice nearly sent me to the ground,” she admits as Katie pulls the door wider. “It hurt, K. It hurt and I don’t know if I can deal with it yet.”

“Awww,” her best friend rushes her and pulls her into a hug. “I’m here for you. Correction,
we’re
here for you.”

Katie leads her back to the bed and Jules explains the entire confrontation at the party Thursday night, but she leaves out the conversation she had with Austin. One boy drama at a time is all she can handle right now.

“You and West obviously still have feelings for each other.” Jules shakes her head and Katie grabs either side of her face to stop her. “Don’t be stupid. You know it’s true.”

“He left me. Did you forget about that? He left me; he didn’t tell me where he was going, he didn’t return my calls, my texts. He told everyone…
everyone
, to tell me nothing. He’s been out for what, two or three months now? He could have come after me if he wanted.”

“You still love him, Jules.” 

“Of course I do. He was everything to me. My strength, my love, my first… I will always love him, but-.”

“But nothing. Don’t close the door for good,” Katie begs. 

Jess nods and adds, “Not until you know the whole story.”

“Austin said the same thing. Let him tell the whole story. What is the whole story? What more could he possibly say that he didn’t say in that letter?”

The girls shrug and Jules frowns at them. Their intense conversation is interrupted by a voice in the other room.

“Hello?”

Jess jumps up and rushes through their shared bathroom to her adjoining dorm and Katie and Jules follow behind. Standing at the door, a huge duffle slung over her shoulder, is a small brunette with black glasses. 

“Hey,” Jess is giddy with excitement and Jules and Katie laugh. “I’m Jess and this is Katie and Jules. They are in the other room.”

“Cassandra,” the newcomer replies, with a timid smile. Her accent clearly identify her southern roots.  “You can call me Cassie. Most people do.”

“I took a bed already. Hope you don’t mind?” Jess asks, and Cassie shakes her head.

“We’ve pretty much set up all of our stuff. Can we help you unpack?” asks Katie.

Cassie looks around the room, taking in the color explosion of purple and teal Jess has decorated with. Pulling her bag from her shoulder, she drops it onto the twin bed and smiles. “Well, I guess we will have quite the teal room,” she hints, popping the lid from one of her boxes and pulling out a teal and white chevron throw pillow. 

They spend the next hour helping Cassie pull things out and organize her side of the small room. Jess, Katie, and Jules had agreed to not decorate their bathroom until they met Cassie so once they’re done with the room the four head to the local shopping center. They pick up a few necessities they forgot, agreeing on a vintage ‘powder room’ shower curtain and shabby chic accessories. Katie, ever the crafty one, drags them into a craft store where she picks out multiple paints, stamps, and other items for projects to complete. 

 

Deciding to skip the parties and mixers for the night, they stop at a local burger joint where they sit and chat.

“So, you three went to school together?” Cassie asks with disappointment in her voice.

“Well yeah, just this last year.” Katie explains they’re from Tyler and Cassie straightens immediately.  She is already aware of the ‘Tyler tornado’ and recalls the story of the schools being combined.

“I saw that on the news. It was all the talk in Dallas; our club sent supplies to y’all.” 

“Hey, eye candy!” calls one of Austin’s teammates as a group of guys walk into the restaurant and Jules sinks down into her seat as eyes from all over the dining room swing her way.

Cassie’s brow quirks at her. “Are they talking to you?” 

She doesn’t get a chance to answer as the guys stop at the booth; they’re all wearing tee shirts and sports shorts, typical jock attire.

“Hey girl, Austin with you?” the tallest of the bunch asks, his eyes scanning over their table and taking in her friends.

“Nope, must be sowing his wild oats before he’s on lockdown," she fabricates playfully. "Is that what you guys are up to, too?” 

“Ha! You know that’s not really the rule.”

“Yeah, sure,” she teases with a wink. Many of the players try to live and die by the rule that game week is all business. The coaches ask that they adhere to a curfew and stay down as much as possible. Typically, the veteran players, and the ones like Austin who are vying for a spot in the NFL, follow the rules more strictly than the others.

Jess gives her a look from across the table, along with a swift kick to the shin, and Jules offers up introductions.

“These are my roommates, by the way. Jess, Cassie, and Katie. Ladies, some of our fine ball players here. This is Scott, the goofy looking one is Chris, and that’s Darren.” She points at each guy as she introduces them. Jess sits straighter, puffing out her chest, and smiles flirtatiously at each guy while Cassie looks around with disinterest and Katie nods.

“You're Parker’s girl,” declares one of the guys Jules doesn’t know as he pushes himself next to Scott. “I saw you with him earlier. Damn girl, he talks about you all the time.”

“That’s my boy.” 

“JP, huh?” Scott asks, calling Jeff by the nickname Austin told her they gave him in practice earlier in the month. Scott looks at Katie differently. “He’s good. He’ll be an asset to the team.” 

She beams, and Jules feels a tug of envy for her best friend. When she dated Stuart people would stop and tell her how talented or awesome he was. It was hard not to let it get to her head, the constant compliments for something she had absolutely nothing to do with. 

“Football players, huh?” Cassie asks when the guys leave a few minutes later.

Jules noticed her disinterest while they were talking and wonders if she has a boyfriend at home.

“Nah,” she answers when Jules asks her. 

“Not a football fan then?” Jess chimes in. Her eyes are still following the guys as they stop at several tables and cause commotion at each one.

Cassie’s cheeks tint pink and she shrugs, “Football’s okay. It’s the players that get on my nerves.”

Jess, Katie, and Jules exchange glances and Cassie rolls her eyes. “You’re all dating players, aren’t you? Well, hell, I guess I can’t expect you to be perfect.”

“Was dating,” Jules says pointing to herself.

Jess interrupts, “I’m single, honey, but I’m not discriminating. These two though,” she teases nodding across the booth at Jules and Katie. “They can’t seem to get away from the jock strap crowd.” Jess giggles and Katie throws a sugar packet at her.

“Hey! Jeff and I have been together for over a year now, thank you very much.”

“What about you, Jules? Who’s Austin?”

Jules shakes her head, “It’s complicated.”

“Yeah,” Katie agrees. “Way too complicated for our first meal together,” she inserts, and Jules could kiss her for helping her get out of that question.

“As a matter a fact, let’s toast!” Katie picks up her cup, and the others follow suit. “Here’s to the best damn freshman year we can ask for!”

“To old and new friends,” Jess adds with a smile.

“To new friends,” Cassie repeats, tapping her cup forward.

“And new beginnings,” Jules adds as her cup hits her roommates’. Cassie’s eyes hold Jules for a moment longer than the others, and there appears to be understanding there.

“New beginnings!” they all repeat and take sips of their drinks.