Page 2 of Our Shattered Pieces
Gina laughed. “That’s what you say about every party, Lauren.”
Lauren just shrugged. “Well, they all are if you know how to have a good time.” She looked over at me pointedly.
My freshman year at UC Berkeley, I was a far cry away from Chicago where my family lived. My brother, Lorcan, was in his sophomore year at West Texas A&M, and I missed him terribly, but we spoke often. Our parents were also in constant contact, though they were busy being Chicago royalty.
My father, Lorcan Cavanaugh the Second, was a brilliant doctor and my mother, Emilia Cavanaugh, was the perfect socialite wife, involved in so many charities, it was hard to keep track. But as busy as they were, they still made time for their children.
“I’m just not a partier,” I remarked, truth in every word.
“Oh, c’mon, Molly,” Lauren whined. “It’s been ages since you’ve gone out with us.”
And with good reason.
“Not everyone is interested in drunken parties, Lauren,” Gina chimed in. “Give Molly a break.”
Gina was my dormmate, and it’d been a blessing to be paired up with her. She was clean, neat, and minded her own damn business. Gina was here on scholarship, so she took her shit seriously. She understood what a gift it was to be here, and she never forgot it.
Lauren wasn’t our dormmate, but she did live in our dorm building, and we’d met her on moving day when she’d been trying to carry all her shit by herself. And despite her privileged-party vibe, we’d all become this sort of threesome, and it worked for us.
Lauren sighed. “I don’t get it,” she huffed. “Molly’s one of the prettiest girls here. She drives guys wild wherever she goes and couldn’t care less.” I didn’t necessarily agree with that statement, but I knew I wasn’t ugly.
Where Lauren was your classic blonde bombshell, Gina was the beautiful brunette. Both had voluptuous bodies that drew attention, and both had cool personalities that made them very likable.
I was the petite one with black hair and grey eyes. Lorcan and I took after our father in looks, and while I had all the right body parts that marked me a woman, I didn’t have a huge chest or wide, sultry hips. I was five-foot-five and slim. I weighed pretty close to nothing, something Lorcan teased me about all the time.
“Why would she care,” Gina asked. “She just got out of a relationship.”
Six months ago, I started dating Ethan Harris, and while Gina and Lauren thought I was stupid for getting serious so quickly with a guy during my freshman year in college, Ethan had been charismatic enough to draw me in.
At six-foot-one, he had chocolate brown hair, light brown eyes, an All-American face, and a body he kept fit by playing basketball. And he was lucky enough to have the type of complexion that always tanned and never burned.
And though I had lost my virginity in high school-a secret my brother knows nothing about-I had held off for two months before sleeping with Ethan, and the buildup had been worth it. The first night we slept together had been everything. While I had lost my virginity in high school, it had been a one-time deal. Ethan had introduced me to new things and sensations, and a part of me could admit that sex was one of the reasons I had let things get so serious so quickly.
“I still think it’s ridiculous to get serious your freshman year in college,” Lauren grumbled. “I mean, talk about closing off so many other opportunities.”
I almost laughed because Lauren couldn’t have been more wrong. Dating Ethan had not closed the door on other opportunities. Dating Ethan had busted all the doors wide open. Dating Ethan had been something I had never seen coming.
But it was, now, something I saw every time I closed my eyes at night.
“Well, it hardly matters anymore,” I said, “since we’re no longer dating.”
Two weeks ago, I had called it quits. Finding out Ethan wasn’t who I had thought he was had been brutal and heartbreaking. While I hadn’t any plans on marrying the guy, I had trusted him in a way I’ve never trusted anyone else, and he had betrayed me in the worst way.
And the worst part about it?
I couldn’t escape what’s been done. Every day was spent wondering if my secrets were going to be revealed because things had ended badly. And while it would be my word against his, whose side would the witnesses be on? That was the question.
And I was pretty sure it wouldn’t be mine.
I had made the huge mistake that most young people do; I trusted too blindly in a person who hadn’t deserved it.
Always in the moment, we never think that things will turn badly. We send nude selfies never thinking they’ll come back to haunt us. We tell our lovers our deepest, darkest secrets never thinking they’ll use them to hurt us later. We didn’t think of the ‘what ifs’ when we were in the middle of being in love. We didn’t think of the ‘what ifs’ when we were in our emotions and needed to talk to someone.
We just didn’t fucking think.
“Well, you know what they say,” Lauren sing-songed. “The best way to get over someone is to get under someone else.”
That’s where she was wrong. I didn’t need to get under someone else.
