43 Julian
Julian
Andrew looks like hell when he gets in the next day.
Leti is still fast asleep in my bed as I get the coffee started for us, figuring she’ll be waking up soon, only now all our lazy morning plans are thwarted by her brother’s arrival.
He still looks half asleep with dark circles beneath his eyes and his unstyled hair falling flat over his forehead.
“It’s over.”
My brows furrow as he stumbles onto a barstool, and concern for him only grows. His head falls in his hands, and a sound disturbingly like a sob escapes the back of his throat.
“What do you mean, ‘it’s over’? Andrew, what happened?”
“We took a break, and I thought it was temporary.” His voice warbles. “But I found out last night she’s seeing someone else. God, I can’t believe she’s dating him. Openly dating him, like she doesn’t even care what she did to me—”
“Andrew, you’re not making any sense.” The coffeepot finishes its gurgle and hiss, letting me know it’s finished brewing. “Here, let me grab you a mug. Maybe you’ll make more sense after some caffeine.”
Coffee seems to do the trick. After a few sips, Andrew starts over but I’m not any less confused than I was before he startled babbling. “Kayla broke up with me.”
“What?” I run a hand through my hair. “Oh, man. I’m so sorry. What the hell happened?”
“I found out she cheated on me the week before my birthday,” he says, looking more defeated than I’ve ever seen him.
“Her coworker texted when she was in the bathroom, and I picked up her phone thinking it was her mom or something. When I confronted her, she didn’t try to hide it. I was so mad, I came back here.”
“Kayla cheated on you?” I can’t fathom this. “Wait, I don’t understand. Why would she break up with you if she’s the one who cheated?”
“Because I forgave her.” He sighs. “She said it was a stupid, one-time thing and I believed her. Well, I got batshit drunk at my birthday party, tackled you to the ground after catching you with my sister, and then I chose to believe her.”
“God, no wonder you were so messed up that day,” I say. “I was so focused on Leti, I hadn’t noticed you were hurting or that anything was wrong. I’m sorry. When did you guys break up? I thought you were staying with her last night.”
“It’s not your fault.” He shrugs. “We decided to take a break the morning after my surprise party, and then she officially dumped me last week. I’ve sort of been using Kayla as code for crashing on Elena and Diego’s couch. They’re getting pretty sick of me.”
“You shouldn’t have lied to me,” I tell him. “I’ve been worried about you guys. I can’t believe she cheated and you didn’t tell me.”
“You would’ve hated her, and it would’ve made forgiving her impossible,” he says. “It’s a moot point now that she’s with the guy she cheated on me with. She’s posting him all over her socials, and I’m fucking sick she didn’t block me before I saw it.”
“She’s an asshole,” I tell him. “Seriously. That’s a fucked-up thing to do to someone you loved.”
“What are you guys talking about?” Leti pads into the kitchen wearing one of my oversize sleep shirts and her pajama shorts. She goes straight to the coffee before she notices neither of us has answered yet. “Well?”
“Kayla and I broke up,” Andrew says.
“Good. I hope she dumped you.”
“Leticia.” She looks up at me, shoulders raised in defense like she’s questioning why I would admonish her. I give a single shake of my head, a warning she ignores.
“You got your wish,” Andrew tells her. “She dumped me for the guy she’s been cheating on me with. Are you happy?”
“Ecstatic,” she says casually, unbothered by the glare I send her way. “I never understood what she saw in you anyway. While I don’t normally condone cheating, I do support women’s wrongs as much as women’s rights, so fuck it. Go, Kayla.”
“That’s enough.”
“Have you seen the guy she’s with now?” She ignores me. “Is he hot?”
Before she can say another word, I grab her wrist and yank her all the way back to my bedroom, ignoring how she complains the entire way. Once I shut the door, I crowd her. “What the hell was that?”
“Just deserts.” She snickers, but her smirk falls at my expression. “What? You can’t tell me this isn’t karma at work.”
“He came in this morning crying.” I lower my voice to a whisper, not wishing to humiliate her brother any more than he’s already been for one day. “He’s distraught. Andrew and Kayla were together for over a year. How can you be so cruel about this?”
“Because he’s way crueler to me.” She rolls her eyes. “Why are you taking his side? Kayla can do so much better.”
“Kayla’s side is not the one you should be on.” I grip her shoulders. “I know he’s hurt you in the past—”
“That’s the thing, Julian.” She shakes her head. “There’s no past about it. He hurt me as recently as two weeks ago. He hurt you at his birthday party. How the hell can you forgive him so quickly for something like that?”
“Because we talked it out,” I tell her. “And we apologized. Profusely. Something you two can never seem to do, which explains the vicious cycle you guys get into.”
“I don’t trust his apologies. They’re always backhanded,” she says. “Like he wouldn’t have to apologize if I wasn’t always such a problem. I’m sick of it.”
“Leticia.” I let out a sigh. “He’s my best friend. What we have doesn’t work if you two can’t get along.”
She stills in my arms, and I immediately wish I could take it back. She’s shutting down before my very eyes, and I’m racking my brain for the right thing to say to fix this and come up empty.
“That didn’t come out the way I meant it to,” I say. “I mean, it would be nice if you guys could get along. It would make things easier.” Fuck, that wasn’t any better either. If her expression is anything to go by, it’s worse.
“Easier,” she repeats, pulling away from me. “Right.”
“You know me. I can’t not meddle.” I try to lighten the mood as a different tactic, but that doesn’t seem to do the trick either. “He has his faults, but he’s my best friend. He was there for me in a time when no one else was.”
“You both have mentioned as much,” she tells me, and I’m not sure if I’m more surprised or wary at her careful tone. “He knows you better than I do. I know you’ve been through a lot with your dad, but I don’t know the full story. He’s the only one who does.”
“It’s not something I like talking about,” I admit. “It’s a lot to get into. I don’t want to put that on you.”
“Don’t turn this around on me. I can make that choice for myself,” she tells me. “I can handle whatever you throw at me, Julian. Even if you think it’s too hard or too much. Just let me in, okay?”
There’s a new determination shining in her eyes, and my heart picks up speed at the realization that we’re not talking about Andrew or my messed-up family life anymore. No, this is something else entirely.
“I have, Leti,” I tell her. “You’re in already.”
“Am I?” She tilts her head at me, and I hate how unsure she is.
Despite what I’m telling her, despite every desire I have to let her all the way into my heart, I’m still holding back for fear of losing her. Only this time, we both know it.
“Look, all I want is for you and Andrew to be happy. To coexist together. Does that make sense?”
“Sure it does,” she says, but her smile doesn’t reach her eyes. “I should probably go. Give you guys some bonding time to shit-talk Kayla.”
“He has nowhere else to go. We have plenty of time for that later,” I tell her. “We work through shit together, remember? Not running the minute things get hard.”
“That’s when we’re in a committed relationship,” she says, already moving away from me to pack. It makes no sense, since I know she has a month’s worth of pajamas in there. “Not when we’re dating exclusively, remember?”
“Is this you running, then?”
Her hand stills on the strap of her bag. She doesn’t react when I take it from her, but her eyes do widen slightly when I kick it under my bed, out of view.
“Let me make it up to you. Please.”
“There’s nothing to make up for. I’m not mad,” she says, and even though I believe her, I still know something isn’t right here. “Really, Julian. We’re fine.”
We’re anything but. What I don’t know is how to fix it.