The Story of Us (22 page)

How did he know it was Lexie and not
his parents, I wonder? Regardless, I’m glad he’s talking to her
openly in front of me now. Before he’d ignore the call altogether
or he’d answer but keep it extremely short.

“I know, Lexie,” “I’ll be back soon,
Lex,” “I miss you too.”

It melts my heart at how attached his
sister is to him. He’ll make a great dad someday. I can’t believe
the thought just crossed my mind, because I’m not even sure I want
kids at all… but it’s true; he would. Craig Morgan. Who would have
thought?

He hangs up and brings his attention
back to me, he opens his mouth to say something but suddenly Hailey
walks in. Her eyes widen in surprise when she sees me and Craig on
my bed, but she recovers quickly.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt
anything.”

“You weren’t,” I tell her
honestly.

“Can I talk to you, Val?”

“That’s my cue to get scarce,” Craig
says, smiling. “I’ll see you.” He turns to me and kisses me lightly
on the lips, ending it too soon for my liking. Then he squeezes my
hand gently before getting up and walking out of the dorm. I can’t
help but feel a little colder in his absence.

I turn my attention to Hailey. She’s
not crying, so that’s a good sign. “What happened?”

“A lot, I guess. A lot that I didn’t
know about. But it’s not what I thought at all.”

I listen intently as she tells me
everything that Drew had revealed to her.

As it turns out, he
was
not
cheating
on Hailey. And he was very upset that she thought that. But then
again, he was keeping secrets from her, so he can’t be too upset.
The Charlie chick I had been worried about is actually his cousin.
He has an aunt from his biological father’s side of the family – a
family he had never known. He’s been talking to them online and
he’s gotten really close to Charlie, who is only a year older than
us. But he didn’t want to tell Hailey about it until he was sure
that 1. They really are his family, and 2. That they are good
people.

“I knew he was looking for his family
though. So I just don’t understand why he didn’t tell me,” Hailey
complains.

“Maybe it’s just one of those things
that needed to be done alone. Hail, Drew loves you, but sometimes
people need to separate themselves from others and deal with things
by themselves. Especially things of that magnitude.”

“I just wish I could have been there
for him,” she says quietly. “And I wish I didn’t think the worst
case scenario.”

“I think he just needed time to
process it on his own. You were there for him with everything that
went on with his mom. Maybe he didn’t want to put that extra burden
on you now. Maybe he thought you had enough of his family drama and
didn’t want to bother you with more of it.”

“That’s ridiculous. He’s dealt with my
family drama too. We’re in this together. We’ve been through too
much for him to just shut me out like that.”

“So you’re mad at him?”

“I guess, a little. I don’t know… I
just wish he could have told me.”

“It sounds like you feel betrayed. I
don’t think he was trying to go behind your back or betray you in
any way though. I honestly don’t. Drew’s better than that. I think
he just wanted to deal with this one thing on his own. It doesn’t
mean your relationship isn’t strong. It doesn’t mean he doesn’t
want you there to help. It just means he needed to go through this
on his own. And I also think in a weird way, he might have been
protecting you.”

“How’s that?” she asks, not
convinced.

“He hasn’t had the best of luck with
family situations. You said he wanted to make sure they were good
people. Maybe he didn’t want you to find out about them if it
turned out that they were scumbags or something. Maybe he would
have been embarrassed if it turned out that they didn’t want
anything to do with him. It sounds crazy to us, but you have to
admit, it wouldn’t be far-fetched to him. It’s not like he’s never
dealt with scum bag family members before,” I rationalize with her,
knowing about his past.

“True,” she agrees, lost in thought,
probably thinking about how hard he had it before he found his
mom.

“You guys will work through this. I,
for one, am relieved. So he has a family that he’s never met.
You’ve been there. Now that you know, you can help him through
it.”

“I’m just really glad he still wants
to be with me. You don’t know how scared I was, Val. I really
thought there was someone else.”

“I know.” I don’t tell her that I
thought the same thing.

“Let’s go out. The four of us, before
our classes start Monday,” I suggest. It’s a new semester, which
means new classes, which I’m not looking forward to, mostly because
I hate change. “You always wanted me to give Craig a shot and now
that we’re officially together, we can double date – two best
friends with two best friends.”

She smiles despite her gloomy mood.
“Let’s do it,” she agrees. “It’ll be a nice distraction for Drew
too… a night where he doesn’t have to worry about the heavy family
stuff, but just relax and have fun.”

So Hailey and I plan it out. We could
do a romantic night out at a fancy restaurant, but it really
wouldn’t suit either Drew or Craig. So instead, we plan on going to
a party. It’s not at the Hansore House, but another house on campus
known for their parties, albeit not to the extent that the Hansore
House is. Still, it ends up being a good turnout, packed but not
overly crowded.

The four of us hang out together in
two side-by-side leather chairs in the living room of the house for
most of the night. We drink and talk and joke and laugh. The music
pulsates through us and everyone, I can tell, is in a good mood.
Drew clings to Hailey and I can see the relief in her face. Craig
draws small circles on my arm even when he’s talking to Drew. His
touch is enough to intoxicate me even without the alcohol. But
there is alcohol, and I drink. And drink. And drink. I stand up at
one point and realize that I’ve had too much. But I’m in such a
good mood, I just don’t care. I can’t stop smiling. Everything
feels perfect, sitting here with my best friend, seeing her happy
with her boyfriend. Feeling happy myself with my boyfriend.
Everything is as it should be.

When we finally decide to call it a
night, I manage to stumble along the path to Craig’s dorm with his
help. Its dark out and my vision is blurred from the alcohol so I
can’t see much of anything, but I feel him holding onto me. “I
swear, I’m not a drunk,” I try to assure him. But I can’t say it
seriously. I’m a giggling mess.

“I don’t think you’ve stopped laughing
all night,” he points out with a smile.

“That’s because I’m happy. Really
happy.”

He stops walking and faces me, still
holding me upright in his arms. “I’m happy that you’re happy,” he
says seriously.

My giggles stop instantly. I don’t
think I’ll ever get over the intensity in his eyes when he looks at
me. “I love you,” I tell him.

“I love you too, princess. More than
you know.”

We’ve said it before, but we don’t say
it often. We don’t want to be that super mushy ‘I love you more, no
I love you more’ couple. But with him looking at me like that, I
couldn’t help it. Because I do love him. With everything I have, I
love him. And I decided that even if he breaks me into a million
tiny pieces that can never be put back together, I will still love
him. And this… us… will have been worth it.

As it turns out, I
am
a drunk, though. I
spend all night on Craig’s dorm room floor puking, and then
dry-heaving into a bucket. I feel too sick to even be embarrassed
about it... that is, until morning. I wake up to the feeling of
Craig’s arms around me, but I don’t feel a sense of comfort like I
normally do. Instead, I feel sore. That’s when I remember that I’m
on the hard floor, with a bucket beside me. I turn over and see
Craig on the floor with me. “Oh, God,” I mumble to
myself.

He wakes up instantly, “Are you
alright?” he asks, full of concern.

“Other than dying of embarrassment?
Yeah.”

“Hey,” he says, turning my face back
to his. “You don’t have to be embarrassed around me.”

“Why are you not on your
bed?”

“Because I wanted to make sure you
were okay.”

“You slept on the floor with me.” It’s
not a question, but a statement. He doesn’t say anything in return.
“I can’t believe you slept on the floor with me.”

“I’d do anything for you. I can’t
believe you don’t know that by now,” he says with a soft, sweet
smile. Then he adds, “Except kiss you right now.”

“That’s my cue to go get cleaned up,”
I say. But he stops me just before I sit up all the way. He grabs
my face and kisses my forehead briefly before letting me
go.

Chapter 17

It’s been a long month, struggling
through classes and trying to find time to be with Craig, while
also finding time to hang out with the girls. I hang out at the
Grind a lot, so I can work on papers and study, while also feeling
Craig sneak up behind me on occasion, kissing the back of my neck
while walking to the other side of the coffee shop. I smile every
time. And for this reason and this reason alone, the Grind has
become my library. That is, until Tiffany shows back up. Craig acts
no different. But jealously overwhelms me when I see them working
together.

He really pays no interest to her,
which helps to ease my fears. But nonetheless, I see her trying to
lure him in. She flirts relentlessly and it’s frustrating to watch.
I know she sees that he’s with me now. How could she not? He makes
it obvious, whether for her benefit or not. But still, she doesn’t
quit. When I overhear her asking about his Valentine’s Day plans, I
can’t take it anymore.

“So next Saturday, do you wanna get
together? At least for old time’s sake? It’s been forever,” she
flirts.

“First of all, next Saturday is
Valentine’s Day. And second, I have plans with my girlfriend, which
brings me to the third point… I have a girlfriend.”

“That’s never stopped you before,” she
purrs quietly and seductively.

And that’s when I lose it. I slam my
book down on the table and march right up to her. “You have
absolutely no shame, do you? If you were delusional enough to think
that you were his girlfriend than I actually feel sorry for you.
But regardless, I am, in fact, his girlfriend. So please, have some
self-respect and take ‘no’ for an answer!”

She looks at me with disgust, but
doesn’t say anything in return. She flips her hair as she walks
away. I can tell by the look she gave me though, that she simply
thinks I’m crazy. I don’t believe for a second that I actually got
through to her. She’ll try again, without a doubt.

“Wow,” Craig says.

“Don’t ‘wow’ me. I put up with it long
enough.”

“I meant wow that was really, really
hot.” He smirks.

“Shut up.” I glare at him as I push
him away. But I can’t help smiling.

“Speaking of Valentine’s Day,” he
mentions, raising his eyebrows.

“Yeah?”

“I just might have something special
planned.”

“Don’t fuss over it. Really, I’m happy
just hanging out with you.”

“I know. Because, I am, after all,
awesome. And handsome. And, you know, just the coolest, and by the
way sexiest, guy around,” he concludes.

“And modest. You forgot modest,” I
add.

“But even though you’d be perfectly
happy simply being in the presence of someone so amazingly perfect,
I still chose to plan something special.”

“Okay, well now that you’re really
building it up, I hope it lives up to my expectations.”

“Oh, it will.”

And he’s right. It does.

Valentine’s Day falls on a Thursday
this year and regardless of the fact that Craig’s classes don’t
start until much later in the day, I wake up to Craig brushing my
hair from my face at seven in the morning, cup of coffee in his
hand.

“Mmmm,” I hum out while he swings the
cup of coffee back and forth in front of my nose.

“That’s it. Good girl. Open your eyes.
Fresh cup of coffee waiting.”

“Best boyfriend in the world,” I
mumble sleepily.

“If this is all I have to do to be
deemed the best boyfriend in the world, I should just quit while
I’m ahead. No more Valentine’s Day surprises for you.”

“No, no. I like the surprises.
Especially if they involve coffee.” I sit up and take the styrofoam
cup from him. “Why are you up so early?”

“I thought it was obvious. I wanted to
bring you coffee to start your day.”

“You don’t have to be up for hours,
though.”

“But you have an eight o’clock class.
Best boyfriend in the world, remember?”

“That you are.” I smile at
him.

“And I have to get everything else
ready for tonight.” He winks.